Dr. Uma Jayaram is the co-founder and COO of VOKE VR that was acquired by Intel Corp in November 2016 for an undisclosed amount. We recorded our interview with Dr. Jayaram earlier this year before it was acquired by Intel.

We sat down with Dr. Jayaram to find out how she and her husband Dr. Sankar Jayaram came up with the idea to build VOKE VR and how they built an end-to-end VR solution. Their goal was to provide real-time, immersive experience to their audience and they succeeded in doing that. Their solution is used to stream live concert and sports events she shares.

Dr. Jayaram grew up in Durgapur, India and credits her mother for nurturing her interest in math and science. Her mother was one of the first women engineers in India, who  got her master’s in electrical engineering from University of Washington in 1954. Instead of staying back in the US her mother elected to go back to India to teach physics at an Engineering college in Durgapur.

Dr. Jayaram shares her mother was her  role model for her career and family. Dr. Jayaram fondly reminisces an evening when her mother taught her  about Einstein’s theory for her exams, while rustling up a sumptuous dinner for her family.

Dr. Jayaram followed her mother’s footsteps and studied engineering and eventually ended up in Washington state, where she taught at Washington State University, Pullman. The Jayarams founded a couple of companies before founding VOKE.

This interview is part of our TV series on Women in Science & Tech sponsored by Zoho Corp.

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