It remains to be seen whether the panel chair will actually consent to read this one out loud... but I'm bad at doing the "formal bio" thing, because it's boring. So.
Mel Chua wanted to be an art major in high school, but her parents said no, so she studied electrical and computer engineering at Olin College and became a professional hacker and technical community really-excited-person for several open-source software companies. Right now, she's trying really hard to graduate from Purdue University. You can help! Mel is currently trying to finish her dissertation, which looks at how faculty interact and communicate during curriculum revisions. She would love to talk through her draft with anyone who's interested, because she's at that stage where she's not sure what the "so what" is anymore.