Three Computer Science Grads Among Stony Brook's 40 Under Forty Honorees

Three Department of Computer Science (CS) graduates selected for Stony Brook University’s Alumni Association’s annual 40 Under Forty list. All of the CS honorees were double majors and for the first time, all are women.

The 2019 CS honored alums are Yana Bromberg '01, BS, Computer Science/Biology; Renee Diresta '04, BS, Computer Science/Political Science; and Surabhi Gupta '05, BS, Computer Science/Applied Mathematics and Statistics. Professor Samir Das, Chair of the Department of Computer Science commented on the honorees, “We are proud, once again, to congratulate CS alumni for their post-SBU accomplishments that truly go ‘Far Beyond.’”

Yana Bromberg, honored in the Science & Engineering category, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology at Rutgers University. Her work, which includes building a computational method for evaluating genome data for Crohn’s disease signature, has been recognized by NASA and the NIH, and she has received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award. She has also been appointed incoming vice president of the board of directors of the International Society for Computational Biology.

Renee DiResta honored in the Civil Service & Activism category, is a Research Manager at the Stanford University Internet Observatory; a Mozilla Fellow, Media, Misinformation and Trust; an Ideas Contributor at WIRED; and a National Security Fellow for the Truman National Security Project. She is the co-founder of Vaccinate California, a grassroots political and social advocacy group that aims to improve immunization rates in the state of California and is a leadership council/advisory board member for The Resolution Project, a global nonprofit fostering youth leadership development through collaborative social entrepreneurship.

Surabhi Gupta honored in the Science & Engineering category, is the Director of Engineering at Airbnb and a former software engineer at Google. At Airbnb, she created an event series for female engineers called “Taking Flight.” In 2017, she was No. 36 on Business Insider’s List of Most Powerful Female Engineers of 2017.

The 2019 40 Under Forty event will be held on January 15, 2020 at Current at the Chelsea Piers, New York City. Nominees for these alumni awards can be made by anyone who knows the nominee and had access to the required supporting information (including but not limited to a colleague, client, employer, family member, peer or member of the University faculty and staff). Self-nominations are also accepted.

We offer our sincerest congratulations to these three individuals, and to all of the 40 Under Forty honorees. They truly represent what a Seawolf is and should strive to be.