The Texas A&M University Department of Computer Science and Engineering sent 21 students, including four male students, to the 2014 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference (GHC).
GHC is the largest conference for women in computing in the world.
This year the conference took place in Phoenix, Arizona, and the theme was “Everywhere. Everyone.” The department was a silver sponsor and hosted a booth at the career fair that was visited by nearly 1,000 people.
CSE Associate Professor, Dr. Tiffani L. Williams, was general co-chair for this year's conference. Dr. Dilma Da Silva, Ford Motor Company Design Professor II and CSE department head, and Unocal Professor Dr. Nancy Amato, were speakers in the CRA-W Career Workshops. These workshops were designed to provide guidance to graduate students, early professionals and mid-career academics. During these workshops, Da Silva spoke on ”Preparing for promotion” and Amato spoke on “Senior Career Mentoring Topic Tables”. Da Silva was also a speaker on the panel, “Why Women in Technology should patent their ideas” and Amato was also co-chair of the scholarship committee and a member of the faculty-track committee.
Texas A&M traditionally brings a large group to the conference and is expected to have an even bigger presence next year when it will be held in Houston. The department was able to send so many students this year due to support from the college and from CSE Industrial Affiliate Program members Chevron and ConocoPhillips. Corporations or individuals interested in sponsoring the participation of students for next year's conference are encouraged to make a donation to the department's Excellence Fund.
“The Grace Hopper conference is an inspiring, encouraging and exciting conference to attend, regardless of age, education or gender,” said Kathy Waskom, CSE organizational services manager. “The diverse group of attendees and presenters made for a very welcoming and inclusive event. The conference is one that will raise awareness and influence for its attendees. It is an amazing experience to see the sheer number of powerful, influential and impressive women in one venue.”
GHC was founded with the intention of acknowledging women who have made significant contributions in technology and this year was the very first to also recognize the men who have also influenced the computing world. The very first male keynote speaker, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, gave a presentation during this year’s event.
The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing is named for Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, a mathematician who played a vital role in the early expansion of computer science. The conference is produced by the Anita Borg Institute and presented in partnership with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).