CABE

Adrian Cunningham

Adrian was born in Houston, TX, and grew up in Kensington MD, Baton Rouge, LA and Thousand Oaks, CA. She became fascinated with computers and computer hardware in high school when she was a tech at her high school’s help desk and knew then that she wanted to study computer engineering.

Adrian’s parents stressed the importance of education, so strived to do the best in school and attend the best undergraduate school that she could. She attended the University of Notre Dame (ND) and majored in Computer Science and Engineering with concentrations in Japanese and Harp performance. At ND she was very engaged with The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) as both a senator and treasurer and the Society of Women Engineers, as well as serving as a university Student Ambassador for new international students. 

She then went on to work at Microsoft as a Support Engineer and Apple as a Genius for couple of years until going to the University of California, Riverside (UCR) for her master’s degree in Computational Neuropsychology. While at UCR she was again engaged in NSBE as a graduate advisor and joined CABE as a member of the Board. She was very involved in tutoring local high school students. Her Master’s thesis focused on creating a mobile application to help test for Alzheimer’s Disease, which she is still kworking with and presenting on to this day.

After finishing at UCR, she became employed at a major telecommunications company as a member of their Technology Development program, where she was able to experience several different roles like being a data analyst, a front-end programmer, and a financial analyst. She currently works as a project manager and is still very involved in online high school tutoring. 

In her free time, she likes to read new books, do origami, partake in yoga and biking, and enjoy time with her dog, Dacre.

Désirée Smith

Désirée, raised in the heart of Silicon Valley, is the product of the Bay Area in California. She earned a bachelor's degree in Physics from Xavier University of Louisiana and a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Polytechnic Institute of New York University (now known as the New York University Tandon School of Engineering). She also earned her Master degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Riverside (UCR). During her time at UCR, she re-established the Mechanical Engineering Graduate Student Association (M.E.G.S.A.) and participated in the Council for the Advancement of Black Engineers (C.A.B.E.). Five years after graduating from UCR, Désirée now works at Ford Motor Company as the Core On-Board Diagnostic & Functional Safety Calibration Engineer for Diesel vehicles in North America. In 2020, she received the Henry Ford Technology Award. With a desire to advance inclusion and support diversity in the automotive industry, Désirée volunteers as a Ford Motor Company recruiter for the Women of Color conference held every year in Detroit, Michigan. She also develops training which she presents to her team to increase awareness and foster environments to have courageous conversation about diversity. She is also active within her community as a member of the Board of Trustees for Hope United Method Church. She leads the Video Production team as the Audio-Visual Trustee, developing both pre-recorded and live stream services. She is also the lead film editor for Hope United Methodist Church. 

Camille Davis

Camille Davis graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2015 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Bioengineering. She then went on to complete a two-year post baccalaureate research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, specifically the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). Her research at NIBIB focused on the engineering of fluorescent proteins for super-resolution imaging. Currently, Camille is a fourth-year medical student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Her research at Pitt is focused on how information about patients’ social determinants of health can be a part of health care systems, with her most recent published research focusing on the association of social determinants of health and emergency department utilization. She is currently applying to pediatric residency programs with the goal of giving back to her community as a pediatric hematologist-oncologist. As a future pediatrician, she envisions a career that involves community engagement both inside and outside of the clinic. She is also looking forward to doing meaningful social justice and antiracism work through a community-based project to help give a voice to and provide impactful interventions for black and brown children.

Aside from her educational pursuits, Camille is regularly involved in STEM outreach programs for underserved and underrepresented K-12 students. She has been a strong advocate for increasing STEM enrichment in underserved communities in Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and Pittsburgh. Sparking children’s curiosity about science and improving the pipeline to careers in STEM is her life-long commitment.

Camille’s hobbies include reading, running, traveling, playing board games and Animal Crossing, writing short story fiction, and cooking. Eager to progress in something outside of medicine, she decided to resume her study of the French language from her high school days. She is most proud of the progress she has made throughout all four years of medical school, allowing her to foster new friendships with people from Algeria, France, and Senegal.