Rita Orji

Rita Orji is a Nigerian-Canadian computer scientist who is a Canada Research Chair in Persuasive Technology and the Director of the Persuasive Computing Lab at Dalhousie University.[1] Her work is in the area of human–computer interaction with a major focus on designing interactive systems to achieve health and well being objectives.[2] She has won over 70 awards and recognitions from both national and international organizations.[3] She has addressed a United Nations panel about the status of women and at the Parliament of Canada.[4]

Rita Oluchi Orji
Born
Enugu State, Nigeria
Alma mater
Known forHuman–computer interactions
Scientific career
Institutions
Websitehttps://web.cs.dal.ca/~orji/

Early life and education

Orji grew up in Enugu State Nigeria. She is Igbo by tribe. She was raised by parents, Maria and Okonkwo Orji, who never attended school, in a remote town called Owelli with no electricity and pipe-borne water. She is one of nine siblings and her parents supported the family through peasant farming. Orji did not have access to a computer growing up, and was admitted to study Computer Science at Nnamdi Azikiwe University without having used a computer.[5][6] She graduated top of her class with First Class Honours. During her secondary education, she entered the Nigerian team for the International Mathematical Olympiad. In 2002, she launched "Education for Women and the Less Privileged in Nigeria", a nonprofit organisation that provides mentorship and scholarships for women in education.[6] Orji joined a master's program at Middle East Technical University, where she was the only African student in class. She completed her master's in 2009 and moved to Canada as a graduate student.[7]

Dr. Rita Orji in 2017 in Colorado

In 2012, Orji presented at the Parliament of Canada, where she spoke about health promotion and disease prevention.[8] She was awarded a Vanier scholarship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.[9] Orji earned her PhD at University of Saskatchewan in 2014.[10] She was the first woman from her town of 50,000 people to earn a PhD.[5] She joined McGill University as a postdoctoral fellow, where she worked on technological interventions that can effect behavioural change.[11]

Career

Orji joined the Games Institute at the University of Waterloo as a Banting Fellow in 2016.[12] She is interested in persuasive technology and how to design technologies that can promote health and wellness and technologies for promoting social and public goods.[13] Orji joined the Faculty of Computer Science at Dalhousie University as an assistant professor in 2017.[14] She designs interactive systems and persuasive technologies, particularly to benefit under-served populations.[15] She has studied how culture and age influence the efficacy of persuasive technologies. She analysed how reward, competition, social comparison and social learning differ between men and women in collectivist and individualist cultures, finding that in collectivist cultures, men are more susceptible to reward and competition.[16]

Advocacy and engagement

Orji is a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) diversity ambassador, working towards increased participation of women and minorities in computing, including using herself as a practical example. She is passionate about youth empowerment and women's access to education.[17] She was honoured by hEr VOLUTION as one of the top 150 women scientists in Canada.[18][19] She attended the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York City.[5] She spoke at the 2018 United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW62) Panel: It is Up to Me.[20]

Awards and honours

References
  1. "Faculty of Computer Science-Staff & Faculty". Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  2. "Rita Orji | McGill University - Academia.edu". mcgill.academia.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  3. "AWARDS". Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  4. "Ms. Rita Orji (Ph. D. Student, University of Saskatchewan, As an Individual) at the Health Committee". Retrieved 2020-09-25.
  5. "Computer Science prof recognized for digital leadership". Dalhousie News. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  6. "Inclusion and diversity are a default". My East Coast Experience. 2018-08-24. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  7. artsandscienceUofS (2013-08-15), Rita Orji, retrieved 2019-03-04
  8. "Ms. Rita Orji (Ph. D. Student, University of Saskatchewan, As an Individual) at the Health Committee | openparliament.ca". openparliament.ca. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  9. "U of S grad student awarded Vanier scholarship". News. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  10. "Researchers". HCI Games. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  11. "Interaction Lab | Rita Orji". hci.usask.ca. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  12. "Rita Orji". Games Institute. 2016-11-17. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  13. "Download". HCI Games. 30 March 2015. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  14. "Dr. Rita Orji". Dalhousie University. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  15. "School of Computing Seminar with Rita Orji, McGill University". Clemson University. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  16. Oyibo, Kiemute; Orji, Rita; Vassileva, Julita (2017). "The Influence of Culture in the Effect of Age and Gender on Social Influence in Persuasive Technology". Adjunct Publication of the 25th Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization. UMAP '17. New York, NY, USA: ACM. pp. 47–52. doi:10.1145/3099023.3099071. ISBN 9781450350679. S2CID 23199073.
  17. "Rita Orji". Mathew Kanu Orji Foundation. 2018-06-21. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  18. "Computer Science prof celebrated as one of the top 150 Canadian Women in STEM". Dalhousie News. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  19. "Dal magazine winter 2018". Issuu. 6 February 2018. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  20. "Awards: Rita Orji, PhD". web.cs.dal.ca. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  21. purityrita (2013-07-03), Rita Orji, 2013 Research Excellence in Science Award's Acceptance Speech, retrieved 2019-03-04
  22. "Diversity champions announced at Nova Scotia's 3rd Digital Diversity Awards". Channel Daily News. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  23. "A Nigerian Recognized as One of the Top 150 Canadian Women in STEM". Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  24. "COMPUTER SCIENCE PROF RECOGNIZED FOR DIGITAL LEADERSHIP". Channel Daily News. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  25. "SHINING A LIGHT ON EXCELLENCE AT DAL". Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  26. "ISRII The Next Generation – a short dip down under". 13 May 2019. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  27. "Canada Research Chairs". Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  28. "ROYAL RECOGNITION: GET TO KNOW THE FIVE DAL RESEARCHERS NEWLY APPOINTED TO THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA". Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  29. "Women's Executive Network (WXN) Announces 2021 Canada's Most Powerful Women: Top 100 Award Winners". Retrieved 2021-11-01.
  30. "Okonjo-Iweala, Aisha Yesufu, Amina Mohammed, others lead Pack of 100 top women leaders in Nigeria". Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  31. "Dalhousie University's Rita Orji named one of Top 25 Canadian Immigrants". Retrieved 2021-12-07.
  32. "Outstanding Young Computer Science Researcher Awards". Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  33. "Computer science researcher becomes Dalhousie's second global young academy member, Rita Orji one of only two new members from a Canadian institution". Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  34. "100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women, 2022". Retrieved 2022-09-22.
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