Schedule at a Glance
Thursday, October 4th
7:00 am–7:30 pm
7:00 am–10:30 am
NOTE: Coffee Stand and Coffee Cart will remain open
Starbucks 6:30 AM – 5:00 PM, Hall D: 7:00 AM – 4:30 PM, Market Fresh: 7:00 AM – 4:30 PM
7:15 am–8:15 am
Sponsored By:
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8:30 am–9:45 am
NORA DENZEL
Technical Executive and Corporate Board Member
Thursday, October 4th at 8:30am;
Nora Denzel currently serves on two technical public boards in the Silicon Valley: SABA- a people cloud company, and Overland Storage – a computer storage company. In addition, she serves on the non-profit boards of the YW of Silicon Valley and the Anita Borg Institute which is dedicated to help industry, academia, and government recruit, retain and develop women leaders in high tech fields.
Nora has over twenty-five years of experience in high technology all in the Silicon Valley where she began as a software engineer and has experience as a software executive in four different companies. Learn more about Nora..
10:00 am–11:00 am
Abstract: As has been widely reported in the news lately, heath care errors are a major 
cause of death and suffering. In the University of Massachusetts Medical Safety Project, we are exploring the use of process modeling and analysis technologies to help reduce medical errors and improve efficiency. Specifically, we are modeling health care processes using a process definition language and then analyzing these processes using model checking, fault-tree analysis, discrete event simulation, and other analysis techniques. Learn more..
Biography: Lori A. Clarke is chair of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and co-director of the Laboratory for Advanced Software Engineering Research (LASER). She is a Fellow of the ACM and IEEE, and a board member of the Computing Research Association’s Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W). She is a former vice chair of the Computing Research Association (CRA), co-chair of CRA-W, IEEE Publication Board member, associate editor of ACM TOPLAS and IEEE TSE, member of the CCR NSF advisory board, and ACM SIGSOFT chair. Recent awards include the 2012 SIGSOFT Outstanding Research Award, 2011 University of Massachusetts Outstanding Accomplishments in Research and Creative Activity Award, the 2009 College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Outstanding Faculty Service Award, the 2004 University of Colorado, Boulder Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award, and the 2002 SIGSOFT Distinguished Service Award. Read more about Lori Clarke ...
Moderator: Marie desJardins (University of Maryland, Baltimore County)
Panelists: Dr. Freeman A. Hrabowski, III (University of Maryland, Baltimore County), Dr. Maria Klawe (Harvey Mudd College), Dr. Manuel Pérez-Quiñones (Virginia Tech), Dr. Mary Lou Soffa (University of Virginia)
Abstract: Senior leaders in academia will share their experiences in successfully mentoring diverse populations. The panelists are nationally recognized for their outstanding contributions to increasing the representation and retention of underrepresented groups in STEM areas. Specific panel topics include addressing stereotype threat, perceptions of reverse discrimination, getting buy-in from the “majority groups,” building self-confidence/self- esteem, fear of failure/fear of success/imposter syndrome, and filling the pipeline.
Marie desJardins is a Professor of Computer Science at UMBC, and was previously a researcher at SRI International. She is a AAAI Senior Member, an ACM Distinguished Member, an NSF CAREER Award recipient, and AAAI-13 Program Co-Chair. She has advised 11 Ph.D. students, 23 M.S. students, and nearly 50 undergraduate researchers. She published the widely read “How to Succeed in Graduate School,” has been involved with the AAAI Doctoral Consortium for eleven years, was a CRA-W Distinguished Lecturer, was one of UMBC’s ten “Professors Not to Miss” in 2011, and is regularly asked to speak to student and faculty groups.
Freeman A. Hrabowski, III, has been President of UMBC since 1992. He chaired the National Academies committee that produced the report, “Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America’s Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads.” He received the TIAA-CREF Hesburgh Award for Leadership Excellence and the Carnegie Corporation of New York’s Academic Leadership Award. He was named one of America’s Best Leaders by U.S. News & World Report and one of seven Top American Leaders by The Washington Post. TIME magazine named him one of America’s 10 Best College Presidents and one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World.”
Maria Klawe became Harvey Mudd College’s first female president in 2006. Since then, the percentage of female CS majors has more than tripled as a result of her initiatives. Dr. Klawe served as dean of engineering and professor of computer science at Princeton University, and held positions at the University of Toronto, IBM Research, and the University of British Columbia. She is a past ACM president, past chair of the Anita Borg Institute trustees, a board member of Math for America, an AAAS Fellow, and a member of the Stanford School of Engineering Advisory Board and the CSTA Advisory Council.
Manuel A. Pérez-Quiñones is an Associate Professor of Computer Science, Associate Head for Graduate Studies, and a member of the Center for Human-Computer Interaction, at Virginia Tech. His research interests include human-computer interaction, personal information management, user interface software, and educational/cultural issues in computing. He has served as chair of the Hispanic/Latino Faculty and Staff Caucus, Associate Dean of the Graduate School and Director of the Office for Graduate Recruiting and Diversity Initiatives, and a Multicultural Fellow. He was Chair of the Coalition to Diversify Computing (2010-2011) and continues to be an active member of that group.
Mary Lou Soffa is a Professor and Chair of Computer Science at the University of Virginia. She is an ACM Fellow whose research interests include optimizing compilers, software testing and security, and parallel architectures. She received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring, was named a Girl Scout Woman of Distinction, and received CRA’s Habermann Award for increasing diversity in computing. She is a former member of the CRA Board and a current member of CRA-W. She has directed 26 Ph.D. students to completion, half of whom are women, and over 60 M.S. students.
Moderator: Monica Martinez-Canales (Intel)
Panelists: Janet Ramey (Cisco), Moira Burke (Facebook), Eva K. Lee (Georgia Tech)
Abstract: The next decade will be transformative as we move from a PC-centric focus to one that is computing focused to one that is human-centric focused. Cloud computing, smart devices, and sensors are changing how we think about computing, data, and analytics behind the scenes. The focus of this panel will be to describe how big data and analytics are coming together, in these different computing vehicles, to solve human/social-impact problems.
Dr. Monica Martinez-Canales is a Principal Engineer at Intel Corp. She manages Strategic Initiatives and Validation Business Intelligence & Analytics programs within the Platform Validation Engineering Division. Because of the multiple and diverse market segment products, platforms, and systems that Intel delivers annually, Monica’s interests are in enterprise operations research, big data (velocity, volume, variety, variability, viscosity), big computation, and crowd-sourcing. Monica has over a decade of industry experience in high-performance computing algorithms, big science/big engineering models, and in validation. Monica holds a PhD in Computational and Applied Mathematics from Rice University and a BS in Mathematics from Stanford University.
Janet Ramey is Senior Director for Strategic Planning and Enablement within Cisco Services at Cisco. Janet's team enables Cisco's Global Technical Center to translate business strategy to operational execution at scale by providing business intelligence, global support laboratories (worth $1.2B), project management office and business effectiveness, global service lifecycle enablement, which includes product serviceability design and readiness, customer assurance engineering, and delivery forecasting and planning for a team of 2.5K engineers who resolve 1M service requests annually.
Janet holds a BA from Wake Forest University, an MA from University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and a C.S. certificate from NCSU.
Dr. Moira Burke is a Research Scientist on the Data Science team at Facebook. She performs research that bridges computer science and social psychology, particularly large-scale computational analysis of social patterns in online communities. She completed her PhD in Human-Computer Interaction at Carnegie Mellon University, advised by Bob Kraut, and a BA in Computer and Information Science from the University of Oregon.
Dr. Eva Lee is Professor and Director of the Center for Operations Research in Medicine and HealthCare at the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. She is also a Senior Research Professor at the Atlanta VA Medical Center. Eva works on mathematical programming and large-scale computational algorithms with a primary emphasis on medical/healthcare decision analysis and logistics operations management. Eva earned a Ph.D. at Rice University in the Department of Computational and Applied Mathematics, and received her undergraduate degree in Mathematics from Hong Kong Baptist University, where she graduated with Highest Distinction.
Abstract: Inspired by today’s teens, we began by thinking about how young kids can be encouraged to be creative by making the kind of software they love to use: games, search, and social networking programs. Typically it is very challenging to build complex experiences. We’ve built several tools to simplify this experience. Learn more …
Biography: Lili Cheng is General Manager of the Future Social Experiences (FUSE) Labsin Microsoft Research, FUSE. The focus of FUSE Labs is to work in partnership with product and research teams to ideate, develop, and deliver new social, real-time, and media-rich experiences for home and work. FUSE Labs experiences give users new ways to create, connect and collaborate with the people, information and ideas that matter to them.
At Microsoft since 1995, she has worked to make future visions a reality. She was previously the director of the Creative Systems Group within Microsoft Research. Lili was also director of user experience for Microsoft Windows from 2004 to 2006 where she oversaw design, user research, user assistance and advanced development for Windows Vista. Read more about Lili Cheng ....
Presenter: Ann Mei Chang (US Department of State)
Abstract: Mobile and Internet technologies have the potential to transform lives in low-income countries. Yet, a significant gender gap exists in accessing such technologies that is creating a new digital divide in which women are being left behind. This session explores the challenges and opportunities in developing countries of bridging the access gap, leveraging technology to improve women’s lives, and engaging women in jobs and careers in the technology sector.
Ann Mei Chang is the Senior Advisor for Women and Technology in the Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues at the US Department of State. Prior to State, she spent 8 years as a Senior Engineering Director at Google, most recently leading product development for Emerging Markets, with a mission to bring relevant mobile and Internet services to the half of the world's population which is not yet online. During her tenure at Google, she also led worldwide engineering for Google's mobile applications and services where she oversaw 20x growth in just three years, delivering over $1B in annualized revenues.
Moderator: Patricia Collins (Carnegie Mellon University, Silicon Valley)
Panelists: Natalie Bennett (Credit Suisse), Luz Jaramillo (Ernst & Young, LLP), Nandita Narla (Ernst & Young, LLP)
Abstract: Panelists will present their experiences as graduate students working for a real Disaster Management Initiative client in the emergency medical services field. Panelist will discuss the benefits of selecting a real-life problem as a capstone project, the challenges the team faced during the semester-long project, and the gratification of contributing to areas with a direct impact on the community, such as emergency medical services.
Patricia is an assistant professor of the practice at CMUSV, where she teaches graduate studies in software engineering and software management. In recent years, Patricia’s research has focused on mobile technology support for older adults and emergency/disaster responders. Employing Agile adaptations of contextual design, this applied research focuses heavily on understanding customer and end-user needs through observations and interviews with representatives of those stakeholders. Prior to joining CMUSV, Patricia managed and conducted research at Agilent Laboratories and HP Laboratories in diverse application areas (from speech recognition to bioinformatics) and served as a company-wide HP consultant on software reuse.
Luz holds a Masters degree in Information Security from Carnegie Mellon University. She currently works as an IT Advisor at Ernst & Young LLP, where she performs technology and business risk advisory services for financial institutions.. More information at http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/ljaramil/
Natalie holds a master’s degree in information technology - software management from the Information Networking Institute (Carnegie Mellon University). She has a bachelor’s degree in computing with management studies with a major in enterprise computing from the University of Technology, Jamaica (UTECH). She has experience in software development and is currently an IT Analyst in the area of application development at Credit Suisse. Prior to this she worked for several years in the Jamaican financial sector where she gained experience in the areas of investment trading and portfolio management. She’s a committee member of Credit Suisse’s IT Women’s Council.
Nandita graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a master’s degree in information security and holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (India). Her work experience includes software development, information security implementation, privacy assessment, vendor risk management, information assurance and project management. She is currently a Technology Advisor at Ernst & Young LLP where she provides IT advisory services to financial services clients.
Moderator: Alida Cheung (salesforce.com)
Panelists: Virginia Alinsug (Demandware ), Laura Cheung (Raytheon), Nadyne Richmond (VMware)
Abstract: Organizations have become so complex nowadays that amidst the formal organizational structure and hierarchy, there is a shadow system of relationships and stakeholders that make up the political environment. It is in here that real action takes place and influencing without authority becomes imperative. The panelists will talk about how influencing without authority applies to their jobs, the strategies and skills they use, and their learning along the way.
Alida Cheung is a Senior Program Manager at salesforce.com. Prior to having a regular desk in an office, she worked in professional services as a consultant for a decade. As a project manager, program manager, or ScrumMaster on client sites and in matrix organizations, influencing without authority is her modus operandi to get things done. Alida is active in the Agile community and has organized and spoken at Agile conferences. She holds a M.Sc. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University and a B. Comm. from the University of Alberta. She is also a Certified Co-Active Coach.
Virginia Alinsug is Senior VP of Worldwide Services at Demandware, responsible for managing Demandware’s global delivery business including customer support and training. She has more than 20 years experience in strategic development and management of consulting and services businesses. Most recently, she was VP of Professional Services in North America for Vignette, where she managed its professional services organization. Prior to Vignette, she was VP of Global Services for FAST Search and Transfer, where she managed a consulting business that supported its customers in the Americas. Virginia has also held executive and senior management positions at Softscape and BMC.
Laura Cheung is a Systems Engineer at Raytheon Company in Fullerton, CA, where she leads system integration and test for a GPS-based navigation system. Her career focus has been the development and integration of GEO satellites for civil aviation navigation systems, and she has held a variety of technical and management positions in this area during her twelve years at Raytheon. Laura holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Iowa and California State University, Fullerton, respectively.
Nadyne Richmond is a Staff Researcher at VMware, directing user experience research efforts across VMware's product suite. At VMware, Nadyne created and led the company's first internal user experience conference. As a user experience researcher, she has to continually influence the decision-makers to make the necessary user experience changes to improve VMware’s products. Nadyne has also worked as a researcher in the Macintosh Business Unit at Microsoft and the Information Management team at IBM. At Microsoft, Nadyne architected the user experience for Outlook:Mac 2011, which won a PC Magazine "best of" award for 2010.
Presenter: Carol Evanoff (Lockheed Martin)
Abstract: Facilitate a workshop on how to use a structured approach to soliciting mentors, clearly identifying capabilities/work experience, identifying gaps(what’s missing in your experience/education), how to solicit help in filling in or mitigating those gaps, and understanding selection panels and how they operate. This will allow the women/minorities to be more competitive for promotions and win job selections.
Carol Evanoff is a renowned strategic planner, coach and mentor across the aerospace/defense industry, education arenas and professional organizations. 30+ years of engineering and leadership experience in industry focused on strategic planning, individual empowerment and professional development. She is a published author with over 1,042 successful mentees. She retired in January 2011 from the Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific where she was the Lockheed Martin Resident Director leading 430 employees. Carol is the Chairperson of the Puget Sound Regional Council Defense Cluster, President Elect for Puget Sound Naval Base Association and Advisory Board member for Olympic College 4 year Engineering program.
10:00 am–7:30 pm
Sponsored By:
10:00 am–12:30 pm
The Technical Executive Forum convenes C-level technology executives in a discussion of the challenges their organizations face in the recruitment, retention, and advancement of technical women and the knowledge sharing of solutions to these challenges.
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11:00 am–11:30 am
11:30 am–12:30 pm
Abstract: Although it is widely understood that working together when geographically distributed is difficult, such work is becoming increasingly prominent. We have been studying distributed work for 20 years, resulting in a rich body of cases and an emerging theory about the factors that should be in place to ensure success. In this talk I will offer a brief overview of these success followed by a description of an online assessment tool, the Collaboration Success Wizard, which embodies the theory and provides advice about how teams can mitigate the areas where they might be vulnerable. This tool provides a helpful (free) assessment with advice to those who take it, while providing data for us to verify and refine our theory of collaboration success.
Biography: Judith Olson is the Bren Professor of Information and Computer Sciences in the Informatics Department at the UC Irvine, with courtesy appointments in the School of Social Ecology and the Merage School of Business. She has researched teams whose members are not collocated for over 20 years, summaries of which are found in her most cited paper, “Distance Matters,” (Olson & Olson, 2000), and in her key theoretical contribution in the book Scientific Collaboration on the Internet (Olson, Zimerman, and Bos, Eds., 2008). Her current work focuses on ways to verify the theory’s components while at the same time helping new scientific collaborations succeed. She has recently been engaged in studying remote collaboration in an interesting form–telemedicine where a remote physician is connected via videoconferencing but seated atop a remote controlled robot, creating a sense of “presence.”
Moderator: Judith Redi (Delft University of Technology)
Panelists: Maria Gini (University of Minnesota),Mylene CQ Ferias (University of Brasilia), Birna Van Riemsdijk (Delft University of technology)
Abstract: Finding balance between private life and work and between employer requirements and personal goals is at the core of a successful career in academia. In the struggle for balance women can be supported or hindered by policies enforced in their countries and institutions, or by cultural factors. The aim of this panel is to learn from such cultural and geographical diversities how to obtain optimal balance and a successful career.
Mylene C.Q. Farias received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil, (1995) and State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil (1998). She received her Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB), USA (2004). Dr. Farias has worked as a researcher at CPqD (Brazil) and Intel Corporation (Phoenix, USA), and as an intern for Philips Research Laboratories (Netherlands). Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Brasilia (UnB). Her research interests include video quality metrics, and multimedia signal processing.
Maria Gini is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota. She works to design autonomous systems that are capable of making autonomous decisions. This includes autonomous robots, economic agents, allocation of tasks, and learning of opponent behaviors. She is on the editorial board of the Journal of Autonomous Agents & Multi-Agent Systems, Web Intelligence and Agent Systems, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, and Integrated Computer-Aided Engineering. She is a Fellow of AAAI, a Distinguished Scientist of ACM, and a Distinguished Professor of the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota.
Judith Redi received her PhD from the Univesity of Genoa, Italy, in 2010, with a thesis on machine learning for visual perception modeling. She was then appointed as a postdoc at Eurecom, France, and since October 2010 she is Assistant Professor in the Interactive Intelligence group of Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. As ambassador of the Delft Women in Science network in the faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, she is actively involved in the organization of initiatives to promote networking, student involvement and career development for female researchers in the faculty.
Dr. M. Birna van Riemsdijk has been assistant professor in the Interactive Intelligence group at Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands since 2008. She received her PhD in computer science in 2006 from Utrecht University. After her PhD she spent two years at LMU Munich as a postdoc. She has been ambassador for the women’s network of TU Delft in the faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science since 2010. She has been involved in outreach activities for high-school girls since 2009, and received an ICT role model award for this in 2012.
Presenter: Susan Zwinger (Oracle)
Abstract: Are you a student wondering if a management career is a possibility to begin with? Or are you considering a career change from technical responsibilities to leadership roles? Then this session will show you it is possible! Sharing the journey one woman took from being a software developer to a successful corporate VP, Sue describes successes and failures alike, bringing a wealth of tips and hints to the stage.
Sue leads Oracle's Systems Tech Support Center, responsible for providing remote support to Oracle's Server, Storage, and Solaris customers worldwide. Sue has held a series of leadership positions in Service, Engineering, Quality and Corporate Planning in high tech companies such as Sun Microsystems, Silicon Graphics, Cray Research, 3M and Control Data. She has extensive experience in business planning, process excellence, technical support, acquisitions and program management. Sue has built, developed, managed and restructured diverse teams, demonstrating a knack for planning, organizing, delegating and driving execution with positive employee morale. She has received numerous awards for her vision and leadership.
Hackathons – Social Collaboration for Innovation (30 mins)
Presenter: Cathy Polinsky (salesforce.com)
Abstract: What’s a Hackathon? How does it work? How does it encourage collaboration and innovation? Hackathons are all the buzz in the software industry right now. The presenter will share her experience organizing the Hack Day program for salesforce.com to promote social collaboration for innovation and offer tips for developing a hack day program tailored to your own organization.
Identity in the Cloud : Are we there yet ? (30 mins)
Presenter: Prathima Rao (salesforce.com)
Abstract: As more and more services reside in the cloud today enterprise IT administrators are faced with complicated identity management issues. Identity federation (“single sign-on”) capability is one of the important solutions being adopted by organizations to overcome some of these issues. This presentation will provide an overview of the cloud identity management challenges, solutions and cover two important identity federation protocols SAML and OpenID that are widely adopted.
Cathy Polinsky is Sr. Director of Development at salesforce.com and creator of the company’s Hack Day program. She manages an org of 40+ developers for the salesforce.com Platform Division and is passionate about building a culture of innovation in her organization. Cathy has a CS degree from Swarthmore College and has over 12 years experience working at top software companies such as amazon.com, Oracle and Yahoo!. She has two daughters (ages 1 and 5) and her husband is a hacker at github.
Prathima Rao is a member of technical staff in the Authentication and Identity group at Salesforce.com since December 2010 where she works on all things related to making seamless identity possible in the cloud. She is passionate about identity and access management in the cloud. Before joining Salesforce.com she completed her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Purdue University. Her research focused on access control policy analysis and management and led to several publications and a patent. She takes keen interest in women in technology initiatives and is a member of the advisory board of Women in Technology network at Salesforce.com.
Presenter: Jennifer Marsman (Microsoft)
Abstract: Are we there yet? Are women enjoying thriving, successful careers in the computing industry? With the help of Taylor Swift, Frank Sinatra, Britney Spears, and more, we will share 10 secrets for success in the computing industry. Each tip will be backed by personal stories and of course music! You will dance away from this session with sound career advice.
Jennifer Marsman is a Principal Developer Evangelist at Microsoft. In this role, Jennifer is a frequent speaker at software development conferences across the United States. In 2009, Jennifer was chosen as "Techie whose innovation will have the biggest impact" by X-OLOGY for her work with GiveCamps, a weekend-long event where developers code for charity. Previously, Jennifer was a software developer in Microsoft’s Natural Interactive Services division where she earned two patents for her work in search and data mining algorithms. Jennifer holds a BSE and MSE in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan. Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/jennifer Twitter: http://twitter.com/jennifermarsman
Presenter: Jessica T. McKellar (Oracle)
Abstract: How do you bring more women into programming communities with long-term, measurable results? In this talk we’ll analyze one successful effort, the Boston Python Workshop series, which has brought over 500 women into local programming communities in the US. We’ll talk about lessons learned running the workshop, the transformative effect it has had on local user groups, and how to conduct effective programming outreach for women in your city.
Jessica McKellar is a Linux kernel engineer from Cambridge, MA. She is a Python Software Foundation board member and an organizer for the largest Python user group in the world. With that group she runs the Boston Python Workshops for women and their friends -- an introductory programming pipeline that has brought hundreds of women into the local Python community and is being replicated in cities across the US. Jessica is a veteran open source contributor and a maintainer for several open source projects, including OpenHatch and the Twisted event-driven networking engine.
Moderator: Elisa Camahort-Page (BlogHer)
Panelists: Robin Chase (BuzzCar), Asmau Ahmed (Plum Perfect), Sandy Jen (Google)
Abstract: This session will highlight the different personal journeys that our guests underwent to become technology entrepreneurs. Learn more…
Biography: Robin Chase is founder and CEO of Buzzcar, a service that brings together car owners and drivers in a carsharing marketplace. Buzzcar.com empowers individuals to take control of their mobility, without looking to governments or big businesses for solutions. Robin is also founder and former CEO of Zipcar, the largest carsharing company in the world, and GoLoco, an online ridesharing community. Read more about Robin Chase...
Biography: Elisa Camahort Page co-founded BlogHer, Inc. in 2005 with Jory Des Jardins and Lisa Stone, and serves as its COO. Elisa leads events, marketing, PR and research, growing the BlogHer conference business from a single conference hosting 300 attendees to multiple events that will host over 5,000 attendees in 2012. Elisa’s other major focus is to bring the story of BlogHer, and the influence of the women in its community, to life via research. Elisa’s work leading BlogHer’s research, marketing and PR, has resulted in coverage in many leading media outlets. Read more about Elisa Camahort-Page...
Biography: Founder/CEO Asmau Ahmed, brings over 12 years of experience in chemical engineering, math/statistical data analysis and strategic consulting to Plum Perfect. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a B.S. with honors in Chemical Engineering from the University of Virginia.
Her story begins with years of unsuccessfully navigating store aisles in search of make-up and clothing colors to make her look her best. As an engineer, beauty & fashion enthusiast, she was compelled to address the problem with technology. And so she built Plum Perfect, a visual search engine that provides instant personalized recommendations to shoppers using their photos.
Sandy Jen was the CTO and Co-founder of Meebo, a consumer Internet company that helped connect people to who and what was important to them. Meebo was founded in 2005 and Sandy led Meebo's engineering team. In June of 2012, Meebo was acquired by Google and Sandy now works on the Google+ team.
Jen, a rock climber and ultimate frisbee player, mentors young entrepreneurs and students in her spare time. She graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in Computer Science, and is a recent recipient of the Founders Fund TechFellows Award in Engineering Leadership.
Moderator: Jamika Burge (Information Systems Worldwide)
Panelists: Maria Alvarez (Microsoft), Janet Rutledge (University of Maryland, Baltimore), Stephanie Ludi (Rochester Institute of Technology), Linda Werner Campbell (University of California Santa Cruz)
Abstract: The general lack of diversity in computing is well-known (National Academies, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm”; NSF National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering, 2011). What is not well-understood, however, are reasons – grounded in empirical research – that account for the diminished numbers of underrepresented girls and women who wish to pursue computing careers (Ong and Hodari, “Beyond the Double Bind: Women of Color in STEM”). This panel will provide rich and useful discussion for what it means to actively increase the numbers and participation of women from underrepresented groups. Specifically, panelists will share successful inclusion/intervention strategies, which can also help other organizations provide support for this special population.
Jamika is a Senior Behavioral Computer Scientist at Information Systems Worldwide, a company that provides technical and research services to the US Government and other customers. Her research interests lie in HCI, in the intersection of behavioral methodology and technology use. She was a postdoc in the College of IST at Penn State (2007-2009), where she worked with John M. Carroll on wireless informatics initiatives for non-profit organizations. She has several publications in books and conferences, and is a member of ACM and the CDC (The Coalition to Diversify Computing), where she currently co-directs the Collaborative Research for Undergraduates (CREU) program.
Maria Alvarez joined Microsoft in June 2011 as a chief of staff of the Microsoft Advertising Research and Development group leading the transformation office. She serves as the right hand of the Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Advertising Research and Development and advisor on issues regarding culture, process, and leadership. Most recently, she was appointed to be the Privacy program lead across the Microsoft Online Services division including compliance, strategy and outreach. Alvarez has a B.S. in Information Technology as well as an M.S. in Computer Science from California State Polytechnic University. She is bilingual in both Spanish and English.
Dr. Janet C. Rutledge serves as the Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), and a faculty member in the Computer Science and Electrical Engineering Department. Before coming to UMBC she served as the Program Director at the National Science Foundation. Dr. Rutledge received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She received the M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. Dr. Rutledge has held several committee positions in the IEEE, and serves as a member of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Board of Trustees.
Stephanie Ludi is an associate professor in the Department of Software Engineering. She earned her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Arizona State University in 2003. Her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science are from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. In addition to teaching, Stephanie also serves as Graduate Program Director for the Software Engineering Department and is active in both research and outreach. Her research includes the design and development of systems that are accessible to the visually impaired. Dr. Ludi actively seeks interested undergraduate who are members of underrepresented groups.
Linda Werner has a Ph.D. in Computer Science and is an Adjunct Professor in Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Cruz and faculty member since 1985. Dr. Werner was the PI on an NSF-funded project on the retention of female university students in computer science that stands as the scientific basis for defining pair programming as a ‘best practice’ by NCWIT. Dr. Werner has extensive experience as an educator and researcher at the UC, Santa Cruz, community college, high school, and middle high school levels.
12:30 pm–2:00 pm
All attendees will be encouraged to buy their lunch from the food stands in the hall, and join a table to discuss various topics with their peers. This is a great opportunity to get together, make connections, and discuss what’s on your mind. You can connect over a common interest, sit at a table with amazing individuals such as our speakers or Award winners or enjoy a quiet lunch.
View the Topics: http://gracehopper.org/2012/lunchtime-table-topics/
This is a lunch for the LGBT community.
SPONSORED BY:
Sponsored By:
Steering Committee Track
Mentors: Angie Chang, Elisa Camahort Page, Kathy Kleiman, Ivo Lukas and many more accomplished and successful mentors
This session will offer the opportunity to talk with mentors over lunch casually and candidly, including Entrepreneur Attorneys, Venture Capitalists, Successful Entrepreneurs. Learn more…
12:30 pm–1:30 pm
A private lunch for Partner company executives and teams only
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1:30 pm–3:30 pm
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2:00 pm–3:15 pm
Abstract: This hands-on workshop is designed to allow you to experience elements of entrepreneurial thinking. Attendees will get to experience the -
“Ideation” phase where you will learn how to transform an idea into an actionable business plan AND “Pitch” phase where you will get to prepare your “Elevator pitch” and get to practice this at this session.
At the end of the Workshop all the attendees will leave with resources kit. Learn more …
The “Faculty Lightning Talks” are a series of 5-10 min presentations on topics of the participants choosing. The intent is to provide a forum for faculty to share their research and hopefully form connections for collaboration and assistance with their research from other faculty and students respectively. You can sign-up to give a talk at Registration time
All attendees will be encouraged to buy their lunch from the food stands in the hall, and join a table to discuss various topics with their peers. This is a great opportunity to get together, make connections, and discuss what’s on your mind. You can connect over a common interest, sit at a table with amazing individuals such as our speakers or Award winners or enjoy a quiet lunch.
Abstract: Jump start your career by asking those questions you’ve always wanted to ask. The speed mentoring session will allow participants to meet professionals in the industry/academia and find their next mentor, career path, research partner, and more. The sessions are structured and focused on particular area. Participants should come prepared with a list of questions or discussion topics. These informal meetings have proven to be very effective and beneficial for all who participate.
3:45 pm–4:45 pm
Abstract: Many argue that innovation has peaked, that the best days are behind us. This couldn’t be further from the truth. This will be the most innovative decade in human history. And the next decades will be even more so.
A range of technologies are rapidly evolving and converging that will make it possible to solve some of humanity’s grand challenges. Advances in fields such as robotics, AI, computing, synthetic biology, 3D printing, medicine and nanomaterials are allowing small teams to do what was only once possible by governments and large corporations.
Vivek Wadhwa will discuss why he believes that a world with abundant energy, food, and water is possible, detail some of the advances, and discuss the opportunities for you to help make this change happen.
Biography:Vivek Wadhwa is Vice President of Academics and Innovation at Singularity University; Fellow, Arthur & Toni Rembe Rock Center for Corporate Governance, Stanford University; Director of Research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at the Pratt School of Engineering, Duke University; and distinguished visiting scholar, Halle Institute of Global Learning, Emory University.
Wadhwa oversees the academic programs at Singularity University, which educates a select group of leaders about the exponentially growing technologies that are soon going to change our world. These advances—in fields such as robotics, A.I., computing, synthetic biology, 3D printing, medicine, and nanomaterials—are making it possible for small teams to do what was once possible only for governments and large corporations to do: solve the grand challenges in education, water, food, shelter, health, and security. Read more about Vivek Wadhwa ....
Moderator: Laura Dillon (Michigan State University)
Panelists: Carol Frieze (Carnegie Mellon University), Bettina Bair (Ohio State University), Devan Sayles (Michigan State University), Summer Olmstead (Tennessee Tech University)
Abstract: The panel consists of four women—two with experience as students leaders of successful WIC/WIT student organizations and two with experience advising such organizations. Each panelist will give an 8-10 minute presentation.
The topics they will present are:
1. Carol Frieze: Goals/mission of a WIC student organization and benefits both for members and for a department.
2. Bettina Bair: How to get a WIC student organization started.
3. Summer Olmstead: Recommended types of activities for a WIC organization.
4. Devan Sayles: Recruiting new members and grooming new leaders.
The audience will be invited to share their comments and ask questions of the panelists in the remaining time (20 – 25 minutes).
Carol Frieze is Director of Women@SCS in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon where she gained her Ph.D. Her research interests are in the culture of computing and broadening participation in computer science. She has worked with Women@SCS for the past 12 years. She designed and teaches a course on the Images of Computing and works daily with faculty, graduate and undergraduate students in the School of Computer Science to implement a wide range of professional, academic and social activities.
Summer Olmstead is a Computer Science graduate student at Tennessee Technological University (TTU). Her research interests include information assurance and security in the smart grid. Summer has served as the charter chapter chair of the TTU ACM-W, on the organizing committees of the 2011 Tennessee Celebration of Women in Computing and the 2013 Ohio Celebration of Women in Computing, and on panels working to engage women in STEM.
Devan Sayles graduated from Michigan State University this past spring with degrees in Computer Science and Media & Communication Technology. Throughout the last four years Devan has been active in the student group MSU Women in Computing, and held the position of President during her senior year. She is currently working in her first "big-kid" job as a Programmer/Analyst at General Mills in Minneapolis, MN.
Bettina Bair is a senior lecturer and former diversity coordinator for the CS&E department at the Ohio State University. She was the founder and a faculty sponsor of the ACM-W student chapter at OSU. She also founded the Ohio Celebration of Women in Computing (OCWiC) which serves the entire state. She has been a member of the Association for Computing Machinery Committee on Women (ACM-W) working committee and the OSU President’s Council on Women’s Issues. She has received the Association of Staff and Faculty Women Mary Ann Williams Leadership award and the Ohio State University Distinguished Diversity Enhancement Award.
Laura Dillon is a professor and past chair of Computer Science at Michigan State University (MSU). Before joining MSU, she was on the faculty of Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research centers on formal methods in software engineering, emphasizing specification and analysis of concurrent software systems. An ACM Distinguished Scientist, Laura has served on numerous editorial boards, program committees, funding panels, and professional advisory committees. She has enjoyed mentoring students and new faculty in CRAW workshops and ACM SIGSOFT mentoring events since the early 1990’s. Currently, she is the Vice Chair of ACM SIGSOFT, a co-chair of the 2012 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing and finance chair of the 2013 Michigan Celebration of Women in Computing. Laura was awarded the 2012 MSU College of Engineering Withrow Exceptional Service Award.
Moderator: Wendy DuBow (National Center for Women & Information Technology)
Panelists: Mike Younkers (Cisco), Catherine Ashcraft (National Center for Women & Information Technology), Steve Tolopka (Intel Labs, Retd).
Abstract:Drawing from new research, NCWIT research scientists and male advocates will share six common situations that technical men experienced prior to becoming advocates for technical women. A practical research-based brochure outlining the top 10 ways men can become advocates will also help attendees enlist more men into gender advocacy efforts, as it offers tips to well-meaning men about how to recruit or retain technical women in their organizations.
Wendy DuBow is a research scientist and director of evaluation at NCWIT. For the past 11 years, DuBow’s research has focused on gender diversity and social equity, the factors that contribute to initiating individual and organizational change, and the circumstances that are necessary for that change to be sustained. Recent relevant publications include “Get girls into computing: Free, evidence-based materials from the National Center for Women & Information Technology” (Journal for Computing Teachers, 2011), Scorecard: A Report on the Status of Women and Information Technology (NCWIT, 2011) and Women and Information Technology: By the Numbers (NCWIT, 2012).
Catherine Ashcraft holds a PhD in education and is an expert in issues related to race, class, and gender in educational and organizational settings. She currently serves as a senior research scientist for NCWIT and is author of Women in IT: The Facts (NCWIT, 2010), a report on the status of women in corporate tech. She has published a number of articles in top-tier education, communication, and interdisciplinary journals and has also presented at a wide array of regional, national, and international conferences. Ashcraft has studied bias in other single-gender dominated professions (e.g., men in elementary school teaching).
Steve Tolopka retired as Senior Principal Engineer from Intel in January 2011 after nearly three decades. At Intel Steve worked on operating system architecture, computer supported collaboration, videoconferencing, networking, PC manageability, and digital home technology. He holds four patents, has received two Intel Achievement Awards, and was named a Purdue University Distinguished Alumnus. Steve has a long-standing interest in career paths for technical women, and co-chaired the NCWIT Workforce Alliance from 2005-2011. To preserve his remaining sanity, he plays saxophone with jazz and rock ‘n’ roll bands and recently co-founded The Beat Goes On Marching Band.
Mike Younkers, Senior Director of Systems Engineering for Cisco’s US Federal team, directs teams of system engineers to support a $2B business in civilian, defense and intelligence areas. He has 20 years of experience designing, deploying and maintaining large-scale enterprise and wide area networks for the US intelligence community. Prior to Cisco, Mike worked for the Central Intelligence Agency as a Network Engineer and Cooperative Education Trainee. Mike has a MS in Telecommunications and Computers from George Washington University and a BS in Electrical Engineering and a BS in Computer Science from the University of Maryland.
Moderator: Neetu Jain (HP)
Panelists: Kathryn Minshew (The Daily Muse), Sheryl John (University of Southern California), Lina Akiki (Mitsulift Group, Lebanon)
Abstract: The objective of this panel is to explore trends in the use of Internet technologies and social media for advocacy and activism of social causes,explore a diverse set of internet activism case studies, discussing the pros and cons of approaches and critically examining the effectiveness of each. Speakers will provide ideas, guidance and advice on how to successfully leverage social media and emerging technologies to help their cause or organization.
Kathryn Minshew is the Founder & CEO of The Daily Muse, a rapidly growing career platform for women that has been featured on Forbes, The Huffington Post, INC, TechCrunch, PBS and Business Insider. She was recently named to Forbes' 30-Under-30 in Media and INC's 15 Women to Watch in Tech. Previously, Kathryn worked with McKinsey & Company in the New York office before taking a job with the Clinton Health Access Initiative in Rwanda, which she left to work on her company. Follow her on Twitter @KMin or @DailyMuse
Neetu Jain,is a Senior Software Engineer in device management software team of at HP (TippingPoint Technology) since 2008. Neetu holds a Bachelors in Electronics from Delhi University and Masters in Computer Application. Prior to working in the Internet security domain( ESP-HP), Neetu had experienced working in EDA and Telecom domain with Interra Systems and ST Microelectronics respectively in India. Neetu has been part of the Non Profit Organization called AID (Association for India’s Development).She has volunteered for AID-Austin chapter in various roles as a secretary, fundraising coordinator, website coordinator, and project coordinator over the past few years. nuts14jain@yahoo.com
Stephanie co-founded Alliance for Youth Movements (AYM) to synthesize best practices of successful digital movements and arm them with tools and resources to scale their efforts. AYM is a global network that promotes innovative uses of technology to safeguard human rights, promote good governance and foster civic empowerment. Taking this a step further, Stephanie is personally committed to empowering changemakers with technological savvy & organizational guidance so they can strengthen their networks and achieve their end-goal.She leads technical workshops on applying tech to drive social change as well as speaks on the impact of tech in our rapidly evolving world.
Sheryl John, is a recent graduate from University of Southern California. As a masters student in computer science, she was introduced to the open source community at Apache Software Foundation during her research and development internship at Children’s Hospital LA As a software developer and an active Apache OODT committer PMC member, she has organized an open-source panel at the Southern California CWIC to encourage women to contribute to open source projects. she now embarks on her career in the Healthcare Big-Data field, she has also been mentoring and reaching out to students that need guidance in academics and research.
Lina is an electrical engineer who graduated from one of the top universities in Lebanon. She currently works as a sales and business development engineer at Schneider Electric, launching new products into the Lebanese market. She enjoys her work and is always looking for new challenges and new opportunities to grow and to learn from. Lina volunteers at the Free Patriotic Movement Party in Lebanon, where she has worked her way up the ladder; she started as an activist among the engineers and later ran for and won the elections to serve on the alumni board. Today, she supervises school students inside the party, working with them to help them improve their political and leadership skills, and supporting them in their political and patriotic aspirations. Lina is currently working on starting her own company, and hopes to find success in this new endeavor.
Moderator: Katy Dickinson (Huawei Technologies)
Panelists: Hania Gati (LVSC Mediterranee), Maysoun Ibrahim (Office of Palestinian President), Reham Nasser (Hewlett Packard), Sukaina Al Nasrawi (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia)
Abstract: Arab countries are witnessing a rise in female participation in the ICT sector; however this rise remains modest and varies from one country to another. This panel will explore the status of ICT sector in the region, opportunities, and challenges facing Arab technical women. It will also share the personal experiences of technical Arab women who experienced TechWomen 2011, participated in GHC2011 and received its TechWomen Change Agent Scholars Award.
Director, Huawei, Enterprise Global Competency Center (since 2010). Mentoring Process Architect, TechWomen mentoring program, U.S. State Department (2010-2011). Director of Business Process Architecture, Sun Microsystems Chief Technologist’s Office (1984-2010). Created and ran Sun's global Engineering mentoring program. ABI Advisory Board Member.
Hania is a Lead Developer at LVSC Mediterraneé, an Algerian software development company specialized in location based services and GPS technology. She participated in TechWomen 2011, during which she was hosted at NetApp in Silicon Valley and received TechWomen Change Agent Scholars Award at the Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing 2011. She led workshops as part of the TechWomen delegation 2011 to Morocco, aimed at encouraging women to pursue ICT career. Hania holds a diploma in Computer Engineering from the University of Sciences and Techology Houari Boumedien. She is currently pursuing her masters’ of Science in mobile computing.
Maysoun is an Acting Director General of Information and Communication Technology at office of Palestinian President and a part time lecturer at Al-Quds Open University. She is a member of the office strategic planning team, system analyst for its applications and databases, and advising to Palestinian eGovernment team. Maysoun holds a BSc and MSc in Computer Science from Al-Quds University and the University of Jordan respectively. She participated in TechWomen 2011, during which she was hosted at CISCO Systems Inc. in Silicon Valley and received TechWomen 2011 Change Agent Scholars Award at the Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing.
Reham works for the software support team for Hewlett Packard Egypt - Enterprise Services serving Procter and Gamble. She worked as IT and business instructor at Nile Academy for Science and New Horizons Egypt. Reham holds a BA in Business Administration and is currently pursuing her MBA. She participated in TechWomen 2011 during which she was hosted at Huawei Technologies in Silicon Valley and received TechWomen Change Agent Scholars Award at the Grace Hopper Celebration for Women in Computing 2011. Reham is one of the founders of “Nozom” for Information Technology, an NGO for empowering IT entrepreneurs in the region
Sukaina is an Associate Social Affairs Officer at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), Lebanon. She joined ESCWA, Information and Communication Technology(ICT) division, in 2003 and contributed to ICT related studies, meetings, and regional projects. In 2011, Sukaina joined ESCWA Centre for Women focusing on women inclusion and empowerment in the knowledge society. Sukaina holds a BSc and MSc in Computer Science from the American University of Beirut. She published several technical papers, participated in TechWomen 2011 during which she was hosted at Huawei Technologies in Silicon Valley and participated in Grace Hopper Celebration 2011.
Presenters: Chiu-Ki Chan (Square Island LLC), Rupa Dachere (CodeChix.org), Christina Schulman (Google)
Abstract: If there was a time machine, we would go back and tell ourselves these valuable lessons we learned as we progressed through our careers. Failing that, we can pass that knowledge onto the younger generation now. Come hear us share stories about how we acknowledged and overcame our ignorance to get the hang of real-world software engineering: identifying the right job, negotiating salaries, surviving office politics, and professional networking.
Chiu-Ki started her career at Google, where she learned the ropes of working in an engineering company. She ultimately discovered that it is up to her to take charge of her career, and has been involved with various mentoring efforts ever since. After almost 7 years at Google, Chiu-Ki went to work with two different startups. Last year she decided to go independent, and she now runs her own mobile app development company.
Rupa Dachere is a Member of Technical Staff at VMware and Founder of CodeChix.org. She has worked in the Telecom/Datacom and Mobile industries over 17 years as a software engineer. Having worked at 3 startups and 4 multinationals and living through both success and failure scenarios, has given her a lot of experience beyond the technical/engineering aspect of a job. She received her Computer Science degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder and is an avid hiker, cook, sole homeowner (aka impromptu plumber, painter, gardener etc.) and into north-indian as well as other classical/folk music.
Christina Schulman is a software engineer at Google, where she works in ads. Before joining Google in 2008, she worked at several startups, including Lycos, MediaSite and Take Two Interactive. She is the co-founder of Pittsburgh Geek Night, a high-tech networking event that has been running since the first dot-com boom, and was selected by Pittsburgh Magazine as one of Pittsburgh's "40 Under 40" in 2000. She received a bachelor's degree in computer science from Princeton in 1992.
The semi-finalists will now be required to give a 15 min formal PowerPoint presentation about their research. The winners will be announced at the Grace Hopper Awards Ceremony on Thursday night
Moderator: Jakita O. Thomas (Spelman College)
Panelists: Barbara Ericson (Georgia Institute of Technology), Andrea Lawrence (Spelman College), Quincy Brown (Bowie State University)
Abstract: While enrollment among Computer Science (CS) undergraduates in the United States increased by 10 percent, and the percentage of women (overall) who earned bachelor’s degrees in CS increased from 11.3 percent to 13.8 percent, the percentage of minority students who earned bachelor’s degrees in CS did not increase, remaining at 10.3 percent (Taulbee Survey, 2010). Research studies suggest students form opinions about whether they enjoy science or non-science subjects as early as middle school and make course selections based on their interests of preparing for college (Hardnett, 2007). This is especially true for girls (Stone & Church, 1984). This panel is for undergraduate students, graduate students, teachers (K-12), researchers, faculty members, industry workers, and anyone else interested in not only increasing the representation of women of color in CS, but also in shaping how CS engages girls and women of color during K-12.
Jakita O. Thomas, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Computer and Information Science at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA. Her research interests include exploring the development of Computational Algorithmic Thinking (CAT), promoting access to healthcare information and services for under-served populations, reasoning using expert cases, scientific reasoning, complex cognitive skills learning, and computer-supported collaborative learning. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer and Information Science from Spelman College in 1999. In 2006, Dr. Thomas received a Ph.D. in Computer Science with a specialization Learning Sciences and Technology from Georgia Institute of Technology, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Barbara Ericson is the Director of Computing Outreach for the College of Computing at Georgia Tech. She has worked to increase the quantity and quality of secondary computing teachers and the quantity and diversity of computing students since 2004. She is also on the executive committee for the National Center for Women in Information Technology (NCWIT)’s K-12 Alliance. She has a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Wayne State University. She and her husband, Dr. Mark Guzdial, were the winners of the 2010 Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Computing Educator Award. She is also an author of four books on Media Computation.
Andrea Lawrence is Associate Professor and Chair of Computer Science at Spelman College, an historically Black college for women in Atlanta, GA. Andrea Lawrence received her B.S. degree in mathematics from Purdue University, and her Ph.D. in computer science from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She teaches a wide variety of courses and supervises independent study projects in the areas of human computer interaction and remote sensing related to Antarctic ice. One of her main interests is increasing the number of minority students and women who pursue graduate degrees in computer science. Thus, she has been involved in a number of mentoring activities including the Academic Alliance of NCWIT and the STARS Alliance. She is immediate past president of the Association of Departments of Computer Science/Engineering at Minority Institutions (ADMI).
Quincy Brown, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Bowie State University. Her areas of interest include: Computer Science Education, Broadening the Participation of Underrepresented Minorities in Computing, Mobile Device Human Computer Interaction, and Intelligent Tutoring Systems. As a graduate student she worked to provide STEM education to middle school students in Philadelphia public schools. Upon joining the faculty at Bowie State University she founded Girls Who Will, a summer program for middle and high school girls. Each summer approximately 30 girls engage in computer science education activities including game design, mobile application, and development.
4:45 pm–5:15 pm
5:15 pm–6:15 pm
Moderator: Rosario Robinson (Anita Borg Institute)
Panelists: Jakita Owensby Thomas (Spelman College), Monica Martinez-Canales (Intel), Shiri Azenkot (University of Washington), Sandra Begay Campbell (Sandia National Labs)
Abstract: Women of underrepresented minority groups (Black/African Americans, Latinas/Hispanics, Native Americans and persons with disabilities) are vastly underrepresented in computing. Being a women and a minority places unduly challenges in education and the workplace. Women in underrepresented groups often contend with the “double minority” label and the strong negative perceptions influenced by race and ethnicity in educational institutions and corporations. To increase recruitment, retain and advance women of traditional underrepresented groups in computing fields, this panel aims to recommend coping and mentoring mechanisms that addresses cultural and ethnic biases, engagement practices and empowerment strategies for professional development.
Jakita O. Thomas, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Computer and Information Science at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA. Her research interests include exploring the development of Computational Algorithmic Thinking (CAT), promoting access to healthcare information and services for under-served populations, reasoning using expert cases, scientific reasoning, complex cognitive skills learning, and computer-supported collaborative learning. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer and Information Science from Spelman College in 1999. In 2006, Dr. Thomas received a Ph.D. in Computer Science with a specialization Learning Sciences and Technology from Georgia Institute of Technology, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Shiri Azenkot is a third-year PhD student in Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, advised by Richard Ladner and Jacob Wobbrock. Her research interests include accessibility and mobile computing. Shiri’s dissertation work involves new nonvisual interaction techniques on smartphones and tablets. Before graduate school, she received a MS from the University of Washington and a BA from Pomona College, both in computer science. Before graduate school, Shiri worked in the Bay Area for a few years.
Sandra Begay-Campbell is a Principal Member of the Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories and is a former Regent (Trustee) for the University of New Mexico. Sandra leads Sandia’s technical efforts to assist Native American tribes with their renewable energy developments. Sandra received a Bachelor of Science – Civil Engineering degree from the University of New Mexico and earned a Master of Science – Structural Engineering degree from Stanford University. Sandra is a recent recipient of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society’s Life-time Achievement Award; and numerous other awards.
Being a long-time Systers community member and Anita Borg Institute volunteer is why I was glad to step into the role of Systers Program Manager. The Systers community holds a very special place in my heart, and my Systers really helped me through many challenges in my life and career through great support. I consider myself to be a technology evangelist and an industry veteran in software development and implementations. As an independent consultant, I have extensive experience in managing large complex projects and geographically dispersed virtual teams. My specialty areas include java technologies, mobile development, telecommunication billing systems, CRM and a huge proponent of open source software.
Facilitators: Natalia Vinnik (Box), Heidi Ellis (Western New England University), Silona Bonewald (SLC), Avni Khatri (Massachusetts General Hospital), Seema Iyer (University of Baltimore Merrick School of Business), Rachel Leventhal (Nomadic Stories/Women’s Peer-to-Peer Network)
Abstract: Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) adoption and usage is becoming wide-spread and many employment opportunities require experience on FOSS projects. It can be daunting to know how to contribute to existing projects or release your individual software application under an open source license. Join us for a discussion on finding your place in an open source community and learn about the FOSS projects participating in GHC12 Open Source Day.
Heidi Ellis is one of the founding members of the Humanitarian FOSS (HFOSS) project which focuses on involving students in OSS projects that improve the human condition. Heidi is PI on the NSF project “SoftHum: Student Participation in the Community of Open Source Software for Humanity,” which develops course materials that support student involvement in HFOSS projects. She is also co-PI on the NSF project “HumIT: Exploring a Student IT Practicum Supporting Open Source Software for Humanity.” Heidi has been active in computing education for the past 15 years and has multiple publications related to involving students in HFOSS projects.
Avni Khatri is a Web Applications Architect in the Lab of Computer Science at Massachusetts General Hospital. She builds database-backed medical applications using OpenACS, an open source web application toolkit. She is also Vice President of Kids on Computers, an organization that sets up computer labs in areas where kids have no access to technology. Before starting at MGH, she worked at Yahoo! Inc. as a Senior Front-end Engineer on the Flex Force Tiger Team. She was also founder and co-president of the Southern California chapter of Yahoo! Women in Tech. In her spare time she reads and plays guitar.
Rachel Leventhal is Executive Director and Founder of The Women’s Peer-to-Peer Network, a global effort to connect the world’s women by leveraging local technology. It was first deployed in Haiti, where 55,000 market women were connected together. The project was inspired by Rachel’s 20 years as a journalist and consultant. Her vision is bringing together local women's communities and global women's technical communities for empowerment and collaboration. Rachel has received awards from the Open Society Institute, Freedom Forum, and Third Coast Documentary Festival. She has chaired mobile media for PotoFanm and serves on the Open Source Committee for Grace Hopper.
Sumana Harihareswara manages projects and people, currently as Engineering Community Manager at the Wikimedia Foundation. She has worked at Collabora, GNOME, QuestionCopyright.org, Fog Creek Software, Behavior, and Salon.com, and contributed to the MediaWiki, AltLaw, Empathy, Miro, and Zeitgeist open source projects. She is a blogger at GeekFeminism, an advisory board member for the Ada Initiative, and was editor for GNOME Journal. Harihareswara has presented at Foo Camp, Open Source Bridge 2010 & 2011, MindCamp Seattle 2008, keynoted PICC, led or organized Wikimedia hackathons, and taught courses at UC Berkeley. She holds an MS in Technology Management from Columbia University.
Seema D. Iyer, PhD is associate director and research assistant professor for the Jacob France Institute in the University of Baltimore’s Merrick School of Business. The Jacob France Institute is home to Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance, which is part of the Urban Institute’s national partnership of sites that provide community-based data on demographics, crime, education and sustainability. Prior to joining UB, Iyer managed Baltimore’s division responsible for data and policy analysis, GIS services and population forecasting. Iyer holds a Ph.D. in urban and regional planning from the University of Michigan and MA in regional science.
Silona first began her work in OpenSource Communities in 2004 when she started a 501c3 asking for OpenData in Government. Since then she helped create the grid.org community by both advising on license and proper release of code, designing a community website in drupal and recruiting 300 devs at OSCON to make GridEngine free and open. Currently she works at the SLC where she has helped design their developer centric website dev.slcedu.org and is organizing social media campaigns to recruit more participants.
Natalia Vinnik is a Senior Software Engineer at Box where she is responsible for end-to-end development of enterprise features for Box's cloud-based collaboration platform. She is also an active member of Box's Women In Tech group. She was previously a co-president for Yahoo! Women In Tech chapter in Southern California. She received her BS in EECS from UC Berkeley and her MS in CS from UCLA.
Facilitators: Dr. Cynthia Peterson (NIMBioS), Dr. Judy Day (NIMBioS), Rachel Adams (Oak Ridge National Lab), Sally Ellingson (Oak Ridge National Lab), Denise Koessler (SCALE-IT Graduate Fellow)
Abstract: Finding a common ground for communication is a significant hurdle in interdisciplinary research. This Birds of a Feather session will identify successful strategies, employed by the panel and the audience, which help foster successful interdisciplinary work. Participants of this session will establish a network of individuals and institutions interested in advancing interdisciplinary research, and exchange advice on ways to create a nurturing environment for evolving research.
After receiving her B.S. in Computer Science and Mathematical Sciences at Florida Institute of Technology, Sally joined the Department of Genome Science and Technology at the University of Tennessee through the SCALE-IT program. She is pursuing her PhD, including a minor in Computational Sciences, while working at the Center for Molecular Biophysics at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Her research interests include the development of virtual drug screening tools that run on high-performance computers that reduce the time and cost for novel pharmaceutical discovery. She is always looking for the right balance between the technical and scientific aspects of her training.
Dr. Judy Day contributes a unique perspective to this panel as she currently holds a joint position in the Departments of Mathematics and Electrical Engineering & Computer Science at the University of Tennessee and is Senior Personnel at NIMBioS. Her primary research is focused on the development and analysis of mathematical models of host response to infection and the application of control methodologies to modulate the response. Her objective is to conduct research within an interdisciplinary group to promote a symbiotic relationship among the various areas of expertise to acquire results and develop tools of clinical relevance and academic significance.
Dr. Cynthia Peterson provides invaluable insight regarding multidisciplinary experiences to this panel. She serves as Principal Investigator on the NSF IGERT project entitled SCALE-IT (Scalable Computing and Leading Edge Innovative Technologies). Additionally, she worked on a campus-wide committee to launch the Interdisciplinary Graduate Minor in Computational Science. Dr. Peterson's research focuses on the interactions among circulatory proteins and their role in regulating hemostasis, the inflammatory response, infectious disease, and the biological clock. These efforts integrate protein biochemistry, biophysics, and molecular, cell, and structural biology. She also has extensive knowledge regarding the application of computational methods to issues of structural biology.
Rachel received a BSI in Bioinformatics with a minor in Chemistry from Baylor University in 2008. Since then, she has been working towards her PhD in Life Sciences from the Genome Science and Technology program at the University of Tennessee. She has received additional opportunities for funding, training, and coursework in computational biology through the SCALE-IT fellowship, including an Interdisciplinary Graduate Minor in Computational Sciences.
Her research within a mass spectrometry group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's BioEnergy Science Center primarily focuses on evaluating and developing informatic tools that alleviate computational bottlenecks and enhance researchers' confidence in high-throughput proteomic studies.
For this panel, Denise’s insight in navigating the graduate student experience highlights the importance of effective communication when working in interdisciplinary teams. A capstone project of her SCALE-IT Fellowship involved organizing and directing a graduate level course titled: “A Survey of Biology for Computational Researchers”. This course aimed to cross the lexicon barrier and bridge the culture gap between engineers, mathematicians, and life scientists. Denise plans to continue working in a multidisciplinary field for her dissertation. Her research combines the worlds of business, marketing, and computer science through the application of data mining techniques on large scale communication graphs.
Facilitators: Adriana Compagnoni (Stevens Institute of Technology), Susan Staffin-Metz (Women in Engineering Proactive Network), Elaine Weyuker (AT&T Labs)
Abstract: Participants will engage in a discussion focused on the challenges experienced by women in academia and industry at the mid-career stage. Studies that address this topic will be highlighted. Speakers will share specific issues, strategies and opportunities they have encountered. Through small group work, participants will develop a short list of action items to pursue to move their careers to the next level.
Adriana Compagnoni is the Chair of the Presidential Commission on the Advancement of Women at Stevens Institute of Technology and the Chair of the ACM-W Fellowships Committee. After completing her PhD in 1995, she became a Marie Curie Fellow (TMR and EUROFOCS), and later joined the department of Computer Science at Stevens, where she is now an Associate Professor.
Following a career in cybersecurity, for which she received an NSF CAREER Award (2001), she transferred her technology to computational biology. Her group developed BioScape, a stochastic modeling and simulation language, currently being used to model antibacterial surfaces for medical implants.
Through funded multi-institutional program and research efforts, Susan has worked with over 200 universities to increase access, retention and advancement of women in STEM fields. She has participated on advisory boards for the National Science Foundation, National Academy of Engineering, and AAAS. Under Susan’s leadership, Stevens Institute of Technology, where she serves as Director of Special Programs in Engineering Education, and WEPAN have been recognized by the White House with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. Susan received the Maria Mitchell Women in Science Award and is an Association for Women in Science Fellow.
Elaine Weyuker recently left AT&T Labs and is currently looking for the perfect position. Her research expertise focuses on the improvement of the reliability of software systems through systematic validation, including the development of testing, assessment and software fault prediction models. Before the Labs, she was a CS Professor at NYU, a Lecturer at CUNY, a Systems Engineer at IBM, and a programmer at Texaco. She received a PhD in CS from Rutgers, an MSEngineering from University of Pennsylvania, and a BA in Mathematics from Harpur College, SUNY, Binghamton.
She been chair of the ACM Women's Council (ACM-W) since 2004.
Facilitator: Sara Smollett, Leslie Carr (Wikimedia Foundation)
Abstract: 10 Women in 10 Minutes is a fast paced activity that opens with a 10 minute lightning talk about 10 women not represented in Wikipedia, followed by an “edit-a-thon” where experienced and new editors will work together to create articles about the 10 women presented. The 10 women will be announced day of and resources will be provided that day. A cap of 60 attendees is suggested.
Sara fell into systems administration by accident in college, when she discovered Linux and wired her campus. She has been in the field for more than a dozen years, including at Google, where she worked on several projects including the Google Apps infrastructure, security, and internal systems. She was instrumental in making Google’s Site Reliability group more explicitly welcoming to women. In the past year she has studied computational linguistics and contracted for the Wikimedia Foundation.
Leslie has 10 years of professional experience in varied computer fields. Her love affair with computers started when her pre-school got a shiny new Apple II and she was subsequently sent to time out for not letting the other children play with it. She started out in lower level technical support positions and grew her career to become a hybrid Network Engineer and Systems Administrator. She has worked in production operations roles at Google, Craigslist, Twitter, and the Wikimedia Foundation.
Facilitator: Francine Gordon (F Gordon Group), Sabina Nawaz (Sabina Nawaz Consulting)
Abstract: During GHC 2009 & 2010, panels on the Imposter Syndrome attracted a lot of interest. Those programs helped attendees understand that they are not alone in doubting themselves, making it easier for them to talk about it. In this interactive BOF, participants will have a chance to explore when and why they feel like impostors, some common misconceptions underlying the experience, and ways to mitigate it.
Francine Gordon, Ph.D. works with global companies addressing innovation, teamwork, leadership, and the advancement of women. She is also chair of SVForum Tech Women and organizer of the TEDxBayArea Women program. She received a PhD from Yale and then began her professional life as one of the first two women on the Stanford Graduate School of Business faculty. She has held senior management roles at several high tech firms, spent more than five years with Boston Consulting Group as a global organization manager, and co-founded a professional repertory theater. She is currently working on a book on gender and innovation.
Sabina Nawaz’s best days are those that contribute to the growth of others, whether they are senior leaders, frontline managers, or her young children. Sabina grows through pushing the limits of her comfort zone and helps others learn to do the same.
Prior to starting her own business in 2005, Sabina spent 15 years at Microsoft, first in software development and then in Human Resources. As Senior Director of Leadership, Management, Employee Development and then of Succession Planning, Sabina launched several worldwide programs to help identify and cultivate Microsoft’s current and future leaders.
Sabina holds a B.A. in Computer Science with a minor in Electronics from Smith College, an M.S. in Computer Systems Engineering from the University of Massachusetts, and several certifications and advanced training in leadership development.
The semi-finalists will now be required to give a 15 min formal PowerPoint presentation about their research. The winners will be announced at the Grace Hopper Awards Ceremony on Thursday night
Facilitators: Valerie Barr (Union College), Mary Anne Egan (Siena College), Jennifer Goodall (University at Albany), Sharon Mason (Rochester Institute of Technology)
Abstract: In her 2011 Grace Hopper keynote, Sheryl Sandberg said “make your partner a real partner.” This BOF explores the challenges and rewards of balancing motherhood and academic careers. The four organizers each have a different experience: single motherhood, lesbian parenting, traditional dual-career family-life with kids after tenure, and traditional dual-career family with both biological and adopted children in various life stages (industry, grad school, academia).
Jennifer Goodall is a Service Assistant Professor in the College of Computing and Information at the University at Albany, on a non-tenure track line. She has a fabulous partner, a less-than-fabulous ex-husband, two biological children, and one stepdaughter. Jennifer teaches information and computer sciences courses, manages the Women in Technology program in the College, and directs the CCI Student Center.
Sharon Mason is a tenured Associate Professor and Faculty Associate to the Dean’s Office in the College of Computing at Rochester Institute of Technology. Sharon was tenured before having children. Professionally, she splits her time between teaching networking courses and administrative duties for the Dean’s Office, including managing the Women in Computing program. She lives in Rochester, NY with her husband, two daughters (ages seven and five), a garden in the back yard and a patch of black raspberries in the woods.
Mary Anne Egan is a tenured Professor at Siena College. She teaches at her alma mater where her father is still a faculty member, she met her husband and three of her children were/are students. Her children range in age from 11 to 23 and are involved in everything from basketball, running, robotics and car/job searches. Mary Anne focuses on the first year computer science sequence for majors and non-majors at Siena.
Valerie Barr is a Full Professor in the CS department at Union College. It was the right job at the right time in the wrong place. Her family (lesbian partner and daughter) said “you can take it but we’re not moving” so she created a two-body problem, has a 3-hour one-way commute, and is away from home 3 nights per week.
Facilitators: Elena Agapie (Harvard University), Elena Caraba (University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign), Judy Hoffman (University of California, Berkeley), Aude Hofleitner (UC Berkeley), Claire Le Goues (University of Virginia)
Abstract: Armed with our present knowledge, we seek to equip undergraduate women and professionals with the insight, support and encouragement to successfully navigate the graduate school application process. The speakers are current graduate students who through their recent struggles and post-application experiences now possess unique perspectives and can offer invaluable advice. We will present general information and especially stress individual feedback about the graduate application and admissions process.
Judy Hoffman is a second year studying computer vision and machine learning. She received her BS in EECS from UCB in 2010. She has hosted multiple workshops at UCB to encourage undergraduate women to participate in research and to advise undergraduate students on the application and admission process for graduate school. She can speak from experience about transitioning directly from undergraduate to graduate school.
Claire Le Goues is a PhD candidate in Computer Science at the University of Virginia. She studies automatic program repair, with a broad focus on the intersection between programming languages and software engineering. She holds a BA in Computer Science from Harvard College, class of 2006. Before beginning her graduate studies, she worked as a software engineer in the XML compilation technologies group at IBM in Cambridge, MA.
Elena Agapie is a PhD candidate in Computer Science at Harvard. She is working in the area of Human Computer Interaction. Her focus is on developing technologies that help readers better comprehend the information and diversity of opinions present online. Elena received her bachelor degree from Jacobs University Bremen, Germany. During her undergraduate degree she did research at institutions such as UCLA and UC Berkeley. She has completed internships at Intel and FX Palo Alto Laboratory. Elena enjoys teaching and her most exciting experience was to teach Computer Science to Israeli and Palestinian students in the MEET program.
Aude Hofleitner is a third year in statistical modeling and estimation with applications to location based services. She received her B. Sc. in applied mathematics from the Ecole Polytechnique, France in 2007. She has served on the admission committee for the PhD program of the EECS department at UC Berkeley. Aude is an active member of WICSE, where she served as co-president and participates in outreach activities, including SWE’s mini U, Expand Your Horizons and Girls Go Tech.
Elena Caraba is a fifth year in Scientific Computing at UIUC working on combining modeling with numerics to analyze materials used in airplane construction. Before joining CS @ UIUC, she received her B.S in Pure Mathematics from Louisiana State University - Baton Rouge. She has been president of the local SIAM student chapter, grad-representative for WCS, reviewer for grad school applications to UIUC, and mentor for first year students and undergraduates interested in pursuing Ph.Ds.
5:00 pm–6:00 pm
6:15 pm–6:30 pm
6:30 pm–7:30 pm
Open to all attendees
7:30 pm–8:30 pm
Announcement of the Anita Borg Awards, Denice Denton Award, Change Agent Awards, and Richard Newton Award recipients; New Investigator Best Paper and SRC Competition results.
8:30 pm–12:00 am