Kimberly Kukurba

Dr. Kimberly Kukurba serves as Executive Director of Data, Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) within Digital Technology organization at Raytheon, In this role, she leads the strategic direction and operational execution of data, advanced analytics, and AI to enable data-driven decision-making and drive operational excellence across the business.

Since joining Raytheon in 2015, she has held progressive technical and leadership roles. Specifically, she has served as a Technical Fellow, AI/ML Products & Services Lead, Principal Investigator for internal R&D (IRAD) and contract R&D (CRAD) efforts with customers such as the Air Force Research Laboratories (AFRL) and USG customers. She’s also led enterprise-wide technical communities, including serving as Chair for the Artificial Intelligence TIG and Chair for the Information Systems & Computing Technology Network, and instructor for the AI/ML Center of Excellence. She completed RTX leadership development programs, including Gnosis Innovatus, the Systems Engineering Technical Development Program (SEtdp), and WILLRise.

Prior to joining Raytheon, Kukurba developed and applied statistical and machine learning approaches to characterize how genomic variants affect health and disease for personalized medicine at the Biodesign Institute in Tempe, AZ and at the Departments of Genetics and Pathology at Stanford University School of Medicine.

An accomplished researcher, Kukurba has published extensively in top journals, including Nature and Science. Her work at Raytheon has resulted in multiple trade secrets, a patent, and awards such as the 2020 GBS Excellence Award, 2019 IT Excellence Award, and the 2017 Raytheon Innovation Project of the Year Award. Externally, she has received honors, including the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship, the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, and the 2022 Great Minds in STEM HENAAC Scientist of the Year Award.

Dedicated to advancing STEM, Kukurba actively supports numerous nonprofits focused on inspiring students from grade school through college. She serves as a Board Member for Great Minds in STEM (GMiS) and frequently volunteers for STEM initiatives, including serving as a panelist for the National Science Foundation Fellowship, the National Defense Science & Engineering Graduate Fellowship, and mentoring programs like Girls Who Code.

Kukurba holds a bachelor’s degree with a double major in biochemistry and genetics from Arizona State University, a master’s degree in medicine from Stanford University, and a doctorate in genetics (bioinformatics) from Stanford University.