Meet Marian Croak, the engineer who paved the way for online calling and meetings platforms like Zoom. With over 200 patents to her name, she encourages girls to pursue engineering and was one of the first women of color to be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Marian began her career in the legendary Bell Labs in the 1980s, where she worked on advancing VoIP technology.
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“I firmly believe that any technology we are designing must have a positive impact on society,” she explained in an interview. Marian, born in 1955 in New York City, was always fascinated by plumbing and electrical systems as a child. After earning her degree from Princeton in 1977 and a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California, focusing on statistical analysis and social psychology, she joined Bell Labs in 1982, which later became AT&T.
While at Bell Labs, Marian worked on network engineering, focusing on combining traditional phone lines with the Internet, laying the groundwork for VoIP adopted by Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, and more. She accumulated 200 patents throughout her career, including a system for SMS charity donations used after Hurricane Katrina and the Haiti earthquake.
In 2014, Marian joined Google as the Vice President of Engineering, leading the Research Center for Responsible AI and Human-Centered Technology. She continues to encourage girls to pursue engineering and offers advice to inventors to not give up and listen to criticism during the creation process.
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