Swapnaa Jayaraman
Driving Growth and Innovation | Guiding Philanthropic and Strategic Initiatives
- Role
- Director of Growth and Innovation at EarthDefine
- Location
- Redmond, WA, US
- LinkedIn followers
- 500 followers
About Swapnaa Jayaraman
My work has always centered on inclusion: in products, education, and everyday life. Until 2025, I led efforts to make Microsoft products more inclusive and accessible for people around the world, deepening my belief that empathy, design, and technology can come together to make life a little fairer for everyone.Since 2005, I have led Pudiyador, a nonprofit in India* and the US** that helps children and families build better futures through education and community programs. One of our projects, Playquity, helps teenage girls in rural India grow into leaders through sport.Before that, I was a developmental scientist studying how infants’ brains respond to their environments. That curiosity about how causes and conditions shape people still drives much of my work.I’m entering a new chapter that brings together data, inclusion, and technology to better understand the living world. I live in Vancouver, Canada, and spend much of my time with my large vaazhappoo (Tamil for banana flower; my layered and protective support system of family and friends) just across the border in Seattle.* 12A/80G certification** 501(c)3
Experience
Director of Growth and Innovation
Nov 2025 — Present · Redmond, WA, US
I lead strategic innovation and growth at EarthDefine, where we combine cutting-edge AI and machine learning to transform geospatial data into intelligence that helps organizations make better decisions for people and planet. Think precision mapping that exposes environmental inequity, land cover analysis for climate resilience planning, or building footprint data that enables sustainable infrastructure management. Our work serves federal agencies, Fortune 500 companies, research agencies, and nonprofits. I bring together academic research rigor and product-building experience from big tech to scale solutions that deliver both methodological precision and real-world impact.
Education
Stella Maris College
BA, Economics
1999 — 2003
University of Michigan
MS, Human-Computer Interaction
2004 — 2006
University of Michigan
Doctor of Philosophy - PhD, Industrial Engineering
2006 — 2010
University of Michigan
MSE, Industrial Engineering (Ergonomics)
2004 — 2006
University of Michigan
Ph.D., Cognitive Ergonomics
2006 — 2010
Skills
- Spss
- Human Computer Interaction
- Teaching
- Qualitative Research
- Science
- User-Centered Design
- Matlab
- Research Design
- R
- Simulations
- Neuroscience
- Statistics
- Data Analysis
- Experimental Design
- Research
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