Thema (Tay-mah) Monroe-White is an Associate Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Policy in the Schar School of Policy and Government and the Department of Computer Science at George Mason University. She is particularly concerned with understanding the pathways to achieving social and economic empowerment for minoritized groups via AI education, and emancipatory data science, a justice-centered approach to computational and quantitative inquiry that challenges algorithmic biases, advances racial equity, and reimagines how data and AI can serve marginalized communities. She investigates the intersections of bias mitigation, critical computational methods, and racial equity across science and technology education. 

Dr. Monroe-White has received multiple grants to study equity in K-20 learning ecosystems for the purpose of designing inclusive, data-driven pedagogies that broaden participation in AI and data science. She is an advisory board member and fellow of the Institute in Critical Quantitative and Mixed Methodologies (ICQCM), has served on the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Technical Advisory Committee, and contributes regularly to national dialogues on equitable and emancipatory AI education through forums at the White House, the National Academies, and other convenings. Thema holds a PhD in Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from Howard University.