Favour Nerrise (she/her) is first-year Electrical Engineering Ph.D. student at Stanford University. Her doctoral research is supported by the Stanford Graduate Fellowship, EDGE Fellowship, and NeuroTech Training Program Fellowship. She holds Bachelor’s degrees in Computer Engineering and Mathematics and minors in Arabic and Global Engineering Leadership from the University of Maryland, College Park (Go Terps!). Her current research interests are in optimizing neuromorphic chips for applications like brain computer interfaces and other organic bioelectronics, closed-loop adaptive control systems, deep learning, and self-assembly nanotechnology. She has previously conducted research with NASA Harvest on estimating cropland using ML techniques, with the Battle Data Lab on visualization recommender systems, with NASA JPL in novelty-based targeting for Mars Rovers, and with the federal and intelligence community for ML and agent-based modeling for hurricane forecast trajectories.
When not tinkering in the lab or on her computer, Favour is dedicated to leadership, teaching, and global engineering. Having been a member and leader of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) for 10+ years, she currently serves as the National Chairperson for NSBE. She teaches K-12 students throughout the year in AI/ML and core STEM programs. Favour has traveled to 21+ countries by age 21 and speaks over 5 languages.