Neema Mduma is a computer science professional working as an assistant lecturer in the School of Computational and Communication Science and Engineering (CoCSE) at the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST). She is a Ph.D. holder in Information and Communication Science and Engineering (ICSE) from NM-AIST.
Her focus is on supporting education and presently she is conducting a study on developing a data-driven approach for predicting student dropout in secondary schools. Neema enjoys conducting community services as well as sharing her experiences and knowledge among youth to strive towards making a difference in their lives. This triggered her passion to offer inspiration and career coaching to youth in her community. She has thus been among the advisors of a peer educators group that voluntarily provides education to the youth and other people around the community, at no cost to the beneficiaries. As part of the community work, Neema organizes free training and workshops with the focus on inspiring and exposing girls in data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. The workshop and training aim to encourage exploration with technology, promote self-confidence, and support aspiration to technical careers among girl students. Currently, she is serving as the reviewer in the International Conference of Machine Learning (ICML), Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), Black in Artificial Intelligence (BAI), and Women in Machine Learning (WiML).
Academic qualifications
- MSc in Information and Communication Science and Engineering (2014-2016) - The Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology
- BSc in Information Technology (2009-2012) - Tumaini University Iringa