Avideh Zakhor: the brains behind Google Earth and Street View
Computer vision pioneer Prof. Avideh Zakhor is the subject of a Mercury News profile titled “Avideh Zakhor: the brains behind Google Earth and Street View,” which touches on her emigration from Iran, the creation of the 3-D city modeling technology for a Defense Department-funded start-up which she ultimately sold to Google, and her current research on indoor mapping. She also discusses the value of encouraging skilled immigrant workers to come to the U.S and the importance of getting more women into STEM fields. “Maybe then we wouldn’t in Silicon Valley have a shortage of STEM workers — it makes it very hard for tech companies to operate; the labor market is very tight.” she says.