Travis McPhail

Travis McPhail, PhD. is a Staff Software Engineer and Engineering Lead-Manager at Google who works with Google Maps.

He was hired to help rebuild the technical infrastructure for Google Maps on Android around the time that Apple launched Apple Maps. Travis has worked on Google Maps and Google Earth on multiple platforms and is currently a lead for rendering maps in Google’s Maps across Android, Web, 3rd-party APIs, Car dashboards as well as lead rendering for Streetview on Android/iOS.

Travis also focuses on Google's engagement with Black and Brown communities. He champions expanding access to computer science education and partners with Google in fostering tech talent at HBCUs. Earlier this year Travis unveiled his interactive at National Museum of African-American History and Culture (NMAAHC) that allows visitors to explore artifacts managed by the Smithsonian but not shown within the museum. Travis joined the board of the Urban League in Seattle where he desires to establish more partnerships between the Urban League and tech companies to work on challenges facing our communities.

Travis was born in Dallas, TX and later attended Rice University in Houston, TX to double major in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. He would later complete his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science from Rice contributing research to the specials effect, biomedical, gaming communities.

He would later work with M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Schlumberger, and IHS before moving to California and joining Google.