Karen Ann Panetta is an American computer engineer and inventor who is a professor and Dean of Graduate Education at Tufts University.

[4] Both her master's and Ph.D were paid for by the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), in exchange for her returning to academia as a Professor and researcher.

[5] The DEC believed that if more real engineers were put back into college as teachers, students would receive a better education surrounding the science, which could be more easily applied to real-world issues and challenges.

[11] With her innovations, she addressed the pain point of computer and robot's inability to sufficiently process real-world visuals, as perceived by the human eye.

Part of her inspiration for this project was the events that transpired during 9/11, leading to her desire to create a image/video enhancement in real time for safety and security applications.

Her research in imaging, computer visual processing, artificial intelligence, and more, have had significant impacts on several fields, including that of security, agriculture, biomedicine, and more.

She has used her visual technology and developed AI-equipped drones to monitor elephants, in order to learn the best environment for their safety, away from poachers, farm areas, etc.

[5] She is also the co-author of Count Girls In, a book for families that looks to encourage parents to raise authentic young women.