2023 Shirley and Ting-wei Tang Endowed Lecture
TURN SIGNALS: LEARNINGS FROM AN ENGINEER'S LIFE OF TURNS
Content
The Shirley and Ting-Wei Tang Endowment Lecture Series, founded in 1999, brings engineering leaders to campus to present a major talk to the University.
This year’s Tang Lecture will be presented by:
Heather Rothenberg, Director, Program Management/Product Operations, YouTube
TURN SIGNALS: LEARNINGS FROM AN ENGINEER'S LIFE OF TURNS
Thursday, October 5
Amherst Room, Campus Center
Reception begins as 4:00 PM, with the lecture at 4:30 PM
The event is free and open to the public.
Abstract
Heather's presentation will cover three areas - 1) her non-traditional path to her current role at YouTube including how her time at UMass built a necessary foundation for innovation, 2) areas of innovation/new opportunity YouTube is exploring, and 3) key takeaways from her time in tech using YouTube products to bring these takeaways to life. This will be an inside look at how to use academic learnings in potentially unexpected ways, how to maintain an expansive view of professional opportunities regardless of academic background, and at how tech companies, including YouTube, are thinking about what’s next.
Bio
Heather Rothenberg joined YouTube in July 2020 having spent her career working at the intersection of technology, policy, and safety. In her current role she works across product and business areas to deliver data for a range of externalization needs - including product launches, executive communications, regulatory reporting, and sales/marketing collateral. She received her undergraduate degree from Smith College, a PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and then spent the first 20 years of her career working in private and public organizations focused on highway safety. In 2016, she joined Uber as director of Trust and Safety Research - a role which opened her eyes to the opportunities presented by scaled technology. This opportunity to drive impact with great efficiency fundamentally shifted her ways of thinking and working and has led her to continue to find ways to make the world a better, more fun place through technology. She lives with her wife and dog in San Francisco. She likes travel, spicy/salty/sweet food combos, Bravo TV, and 90s hip hop.
