Rita Orji

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

Rita Orji is a Nigerian-Canadian Computer Science Professor, a Canada Research Chair in Persuasive Technology, and the Director of the Persuasive Computing Lab at Dalhousie University in Canada.[1] Her work is in the area of human–computer interaction with a major focus on designing interactive systems to achieve various health and well being objectives.[2] She has won over 50 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]

Early life and education[]

Rita grew up in Enugu State Nigeria. She was born and raised by parents (Mr. and Mrs. Maria and Okonkwo Orji) who never attended school, in a remote town called Owelli with no electricity and pipe-borne water. Rita is one of 9 siblings and her parents supported the family through their peasant farming. Rita did not have access to a computer growing up, she was admitted to study Computer Science at Nnamdi Azikiwe University without having used a computer for the first time.[5][6] Nevertheless, she graduated on top of her class with First Class Honours. Rita graduated as a top student from all her studies with First Class Honours grades, a rare feat that attracted numerous awards and scholarships. At the age of 13, 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] Rita Orji joined a master's program at Middle East Technical University, where she was the only black student. 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, she presented at the Parliament of Canada, where she spoke about health promotion and disease prevention.[8] Rita Orji was awarded a Vanier scholarship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.[9] Orji earned her Ph.D. at University of Saskatchewan in 2014.[10] She was the first woman from her town of 50,000 people to earn a Ph.D.[5] She joined McGill University as a postdoctoral fellow, where she worked on technological interventions that can effect behavioural change.[11]

Career[]

Rita 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] Rita 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[]

Rita is a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) diversity ambassador, working towards increased participation of women and minorities in computing through dedicated work and 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[]

  • 2021 Top 100 Leading Nigerian Women [21]
  • 2021 Outstanding Young Computer Science Researcher Awards [22]
  • 2020 Canada Research Chair in Persuasive Technology. [23]
  • 2020 Inducted into the Royal Society of Canada College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. [24]
  • 2019 Dalhousie University President's Research Excellence Award.[25]
  • 2019 International Society for Research on Internet Interventions Rising Star Award. [26]
  • 2018 Women Leaders in the Digital Economy Award, Digital Nova Scotia. [27]
  • 2017 Enugu State Award of Excellence in Recognition of Scholarly Achievement and Contributions to Advancement of Education[28]
  • 2017 Nnamdi Azikiwe University Award of Excellence in Recognition of Contribution for the Advancement of Knowledge in Computer Science.[20]
  • 2017 Top 150 Canadian Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)[29]
  • 2013 University of Saskatchewan Research Excellence in Science Award/[30]

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. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Computer Science prof recognized for digital leadership". Dalhousie News. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b "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. 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: 47–52. doi:10.1145/3099023.3099071. ISBN 9781450350679.
  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. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  20. ^ Jump up to: a b "Awards: Rita Orji, PhD". web.cs.dal.ca. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  21. ^ "Okonjo-Iweala, Aisha Yesufu, Amina Mohammed, others lead Pack of 100 top women leaders in Nigeria". Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  22. ^ "Outstanding Young Computer Science Researcher Awards". Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  23. ^ "Canada Research Chairs". Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  24. ^ "ROYAL RECOGNITION: GET TO KNOW THE FIVE DAL RESEARCHERS NEWLY APPOINTED TO THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA". 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". Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  27. ^ "COMPUTER SCIENCE PROF RECOGNIZED FOR DIGITAL LEADERSHIP". Channel Daily News. Retrieved 2021-01-17.
  28. ^ "Diversity champions announced at Nova Scotia's 3rd Digital Diversity Awards". Channel Daily News. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  29. ^ "PressReader.com - Your favorite newspapers and magazines". www.pressreader.com. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  30. ^ purityrita (2013-07-03), Rita Orji, 2013 Research Excellence in Science Award's Acceptance Speech, retrieved 2019-03-04

External links[]

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