Mia Advisor Announcement: Maria Pace

Meet Maria Pace – a titan of innovation in Extended Reality (XR) hardware, global partnership, and strategy. Maria's incredible journey stretches from the hallowed halls of Stanford and UC Berkeley to the innovative teams at Microsoft and Google.

A specialist in MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems), resonators, and 2-D materials, Maria's illustrious career is rooted in her knack for breakthrough thinking. Her fascination with technology spurred her journey into realms of nanofabrication, modeling, designs as well as product management, deeply influencing her strides in VR, AR, and XR.

Her groundbreaking work with projects such as the Bi-X-Layer Field Effect Transistor (BXLT-FET), Graphene transistors, and resonators has left a significant imprint on the tech sphere. Yet, it's not just her academic prowess that sets her apart; her dedication to nurturing the next generation of tech leaders manifests in her active engagement in tech communities and hardware conferences.

Maria's career trajectory is a testament to her relentless pursuit of knowledge and innovative solutions. Starting her journey as a Research Scientist at Stanford University, she worked on fabricating graphene devices that significantly impacted the study of electron mobility.

Her tenure at Sandia National Laboratories involved experimental research to fabricate CVD graphene resonators, further underscoring her expertise in the field. At the University of California, UC Berkeley and San Diego, she extended her contributions to spectroscopy techniques for ion identification in solution using Silicon nanowires.

This experience served as a springboard to her tenure at Microsoft, where she progressed to become a Technology Leader in Mixed Reality, focusing on innovative technical solutions for the next generation of Mixed Reality devices.

Presently, at Google, Maria channels her expertise into XR Hardware, Global Partnership, and Strategy. The experiences amassed throughout her career render her an invaluable resource in the ever-evolving landscape of emerging technologies.

We asked Maria—

Why Mia?

Mia has a strong foundation to support women in tech. One of my dreams has been to help women in tech, job retention, growth, and inspiration. Through Mia, we can help women develop the skill sets we need in the tech industry and make a difference in the gender gap. We continue to see a gender gap in Optics and Photonics, the Semiconductor industry, etc with ratios of 20:80 (female: male), also lower salaries for women, etc. I'm excited to join Mia and cultivate these efforts to foster leadership and skill sets with a strong impact to help close this gender gap.

What is your superpower?

The ability to take on challenges and work through them to find the answers to difficult questions. The ability to work on complex problems while fostering a positive, inclusive environment

One motto or career tip you would like to share with the world

Go for it! You have nothing to lose

Outside of her professional endeavors, Maria Pace is deeply invested in the tech community's future, exhibiting her commitment as a Judge at the FIRST LEGO League - Fundación Scientia.

She also serves as a Committee Member for the Global Semiconductor Alliance's Women Leadership Initiative (WLI), bolstering women's representation in technical careers and the SPIE (International Society for Optics and Photonics) where she serves on the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee and Conference Program Committee, Author, etc.

We look forward to working with Maria and leveraging her deep industry knowledge to take Mia to the next level and together build the skills of tomorrow, today.

Thank you!

•  More about Maria •

Find Maria Pace on LinkedIn

Mia is a future-of-work platform created to unlock powerful economic opportunities for women globally through in-demand tech skills training, career development, inclusivity, and belonging.

Our mission is to unlock new economic opportunities for one million women and accelerate the impact of one billion people by 2030.