Session 1: 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Making Waves: Navigating the Transition from Graduate Student to Faculty Member
Location: Sunrise Conference Room
Panel: Cynthia Y. Lester (Tuskegee University), Raquel Hill (Indiana University), Melanie Eddins (Elgin Community College)
In this era of globalization, the world economy has created a strong and constant demand for new and innovative scientific and technological knowledge that can only be gained from a talented, skilled and diverse workforce. Despite the many strides made by women in STEM disciplines, women only account for approximately 21% of science and engineering faculty at four-year colleges and universities. The objective of this panel session is to share information and personal insights on how a graduate student can navigate the transition into academia. The panel consists of three first year junior faculty members at institutions which include a community college, a small research institution and a large research institution. Topics of discussion include the interview/application process, responsibilities/expectations as a first year faculty member and the “T” word… tenure.
Invited Technical Speaker: Radia Perlman
What’s a PKI, why would I want one, and how should it be designed?
Location: Royal Palm 4, 5 & 6
Presenter: Radia Perlman, Senior distinguished engineer, Sun Microsystems
Secure communication over the Internet requires cryptography. Often academics get too focused on the mathematics and abstruse provable properties of the various cryptographic algorithms, and ignore the deceptively easy but politically difficult system issues. This talk explains what a PKI-based system is, and how it compares in functionality with other approaches. Then it describes various pitfalls involved in actually deploying it. How do you avoid cementing in monopolies? How do you make it manageable, and easy to use?
This talk is intended to serve both as an introduction to the world of cryptographic-based network authentication systems for those who are not in the field and discussion of some provocative deployment issues for those who are familiar with the basic approach.
This talk will also serve to illustrate a more general problem with engineers; that they often focus on small details rather than the big picture.
Women Leading Change: a Research-Based Framework for Transforming Organizations
Location: Sunset Conference Room
Presenter: Carol Tisson, Being First Inc.
Based on 30 years of action research, this session introduces core models, critical change leadership skills and a roadmap for enabling successful transformational change. We will explore the unique capacities and skills which women naturally bring to change leadership, and will discuss strategies for positioning ourselves as key resources for sponsoring, leading and implementing the changes to which we are committed. The session includes take-away materials, articles and pragmatic tools for immediate application to your own change initiatives. Whether we are students, faculty members, technologists or executives, we can each be change leaders, working individually and collectively to cause transformation in our schools, organizations, professions and world. Here’s to the journey!
Split Session
Location: Golden West Conference Room
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Next Generation Internet with end to end connectivity
Presenter: Sinead O’Donovan, Microsoft
The Internet has a profound impact on how we live our lives. The protocol used to allow connectivity is IPv4. It is a testimony to the inventors on how it has scaled to billions of people and devices. The Internet is still growing at an incredible rate with more adoption of devices and richer applications. There is a huge convergence happening between traditional networks such as voice, cable to IP based networks. Today the Internet touches almost every facet of our lives, how we communicate with people, how we create & share our experiences. However this growth is not without pain, application hosting costs are high.The Internet needs an upgrade. It needs IPv6 and end to end connectivity.
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Wireless Sensor Networks and Real-World Applications
Presenter: Nirupama Bulusu, Portland State University
Wireless sensor networks are being touted as disruptive, Come learn about the opportunities and computing challenges in wireless sensor networks, how they are being applied such as digitized health care, energy management, condition-based maintenance and habitat monitoring.
Mentoring by the Numbers: Research and results drive mentoring programs that last
Location: Royal Palm 1, 2 & 3
Panel: Katy Dickinson (Sun Microsystems), Carol Muller (MentorNet), Mary Jean Harrold (Georgia Tech)
Mentoring is a powerful learning and professional development strategy, resulting in organizational and individual growth and development. This session will present best practices in structured mentoring, featuring experts from successful programs in the corporate, academic, and nonprofit sectors.
Panel members include: Katy Dickinson, who runs Sun Microsystems’ SEED Engineering mentoring and leadership grooming program; Carol Muller, who founded and guides MentorNet, a nonprofit e-mentoring network for engineering, science and mathematics; and Mary Jean Harrold, who created a technical infrastructure for women faculty at Georgia Tech. One panelist may be added.
This panel will be of particular interest to those in industry and academic institutions who want to start a technical mentoring program or who want to learn about best practices to improve their existing program. If you are a prospective or current protégé or mentor, you may also find this session useful.
