Professor Emerita of the Computer Science Department at the University of Kentucky, Dr. Hayes retired after 20+ years in the department. Previously, she was a Corporate Vice President and the Manager of the Integrated System Technologies Operation of Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). She has over 16 years of experience in the field of verification and validation, testing, software development, and process improvement. She has been the verification and validation technical lead and/or program manager on numerous trusted software development efforts. She has led and participated in numerous management process/product audits and assessments of large projects. She is a Co-Founder and was the elected Director of the Center of Excellence for Software and Systems Traceability (COEST).

Dr. Hayes is the Project Manager for EduceLab, applying her industry and academic experience to this Mid-Scale RI-1 Infrastructure grant that is poised to change the landscape in Heritage Science.  The project will make mid-scale infrastructure imminently accessible and useable by sectors of the population who have not previously had such opportunities.  Smaller organizations will now be able to submit project requests for analysis and commemoration of important artifacts, regardless of the organization’s budget.  Along those lines, Dr. Hayes is also the founder and team member of the Red River Gorge Discovery Zone, an all volunteer  organization that runs pop up discovery zones featuring STEAM activities for kids that also tie to the mixed mesophytic forest, conservation, and local history.  In that capacity, she works with the Red River Historical Society and Museum who may possess artifacts that will eventually be analyzed by EduceLab.