Andria Smith
PhD Student
Bio
Andria Smith is an IMPRS-IS PhD scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart. She is jointly supervised by Dr. Ksenia Keplinger at the research group Organizational Leadership & Diversity and Dr. Charley Wu. Andria holds a BSc in Civil Engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and a MSc in Environmental Resource and Management from Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus-Senftenberg.
Prior to her start as a researcher, Andria worked as an international project manager for several years. From her experience in the industry, she has learned what companies and organizations are lacking in terms of leadership and workplace culture. A major area of focus is on diversity and inclusion initiatives and overall awareness. Her passion for improvements of these topics in the workplace have led her to pursue a PhD at MPI-IS, where she is currently conducting research on the intersection of diversity and inclusion with AI and how to reduce bias within the human-machine partnership. She is interested in how simulations and virtual reality can be used to help improve diversity and inclusion in organizations. She has the goal of creating her own business that helps train and educate organizational leaders in these areas with the use of AI-based technology.