Interview with Melissa Oh from the Department of Homeland Security in Silicon Valley
Melissa Oh has an important job. She helps bring the best technology to the security practice within the Department of Homeland Security. How does the world of fast-paced innovation mix with the high stakes world of security?
A big thanks to Joanne Northey (who I went to school with) for the introduction.
Melissa sent through some information about her life and we also did a video chat below.
This interview is in support of the book for teenage girls : She’s Building A Robot.
What is your current job?
I’m the Managing Director for the Silicon Valley Innovation Program at the Department of Homeland Security’s Science & Technology Directorate. I engage with entrepreneurs and tech startups developing commercial solutions that can be applied to the homeland security mission.
How did you get into technology?
I grew up in the Silicon Valley so I was surrounded by tech. Despite that I didn’t know what to study when I went to college until I took a class on Cognitive Science and was fascinated by the interplay of human-computer interaction.
My dad studied engineering at Cal Berkeley and got his MBA at Stanford. So talk about pressure. When he said I needed to study Computer Science, I tried. But for the life of me I could NOT teach the spider how to get out of the maze. So instead I started taking other classes and that’s when I found Cognitive Science. When my dad asked me what I was going to do as a career with that, I was embarrassed I didn’t know what to tell him. But September 11th occurred, and I knew exactly what I was going to do. I went into public service to the newly formed Department of Homeland Security. And the rest is history.
Both the hardest but also most rewarding is cutting through the bureaucracy to get things done for the mission. Rules, protocols and laws exist to maintain checks and balances so I have total respect for that. So it’s like solving a puzzle to find the path to ‘yes’ within all of those constraints. Seeing the startup founders and engineers get excited about how their technology can contribute to an important cause. I have no favorite child but our projects can be found on our website at:
https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/svip
Follow your curiosity. My experience has shown me that my interest in STEM comes from how curious I was at how things worked, always asking questions of how and why. This lead me into a field that captured my attention. And when it had my attention I dedicated more time and effort to it which allowed me to push myself to excel and do my best at it.
Here is the video of my chat to Melissa.
Thanks Melissa!
This interview is in support of the book for teenage girls : She’s Building A Robot.
