cathy pearl is a uc san diego alumnae and current head of conversation design outreach at google. she earned her degrees in cognitive science from uc san diego, and a computer science master's from indiana university. she is the author of the 2016 book, 'designing voice user interfaces,' published by o'reilly media and has worked with many innovators in the voice-recognition sphere including nuance. her broad background makes her a popular speaker, having done some rocket science, as a software designer for nasa, integrating voice recognition for banks, airlines and healthcare. she's also known for her degital expertise on love and romance, writing a love data blog focused on 'data-driven love in our modern world' - even performing analysis of the use of twitter in dating.