The Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University was well represented at the 2015 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference (GHC) in Houston.
The conference, hosted by the Anita Borg Institute for Women in Technology in partnership with the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), is the world’s largest technical conference for women in computing. GHC’s 2015 theme was #OurTimeToLead.
GHC set records with almost 12,000 attendees and 1,352 organizations from 63 countries who met to network, collaborate, and promote women in computing. According to the annual impact report, there was a 50 percent increase in attendance and 69 percent increase in organizations from the previous year.
Throughout the conference, 76 faculty, staff and students represented the department. While the conference is designed to celebrate women in computing, the department representation included 11 males, a demonstration of how aware the student body is of the importance of diversity in computing. Joining the department were two students, Yvonne Chukwu and July Alejandra Romero Garcia, who are enrolled in the Texas A&M-Chevron Engineering Academy at Houston Community College.
“I enjoyed every minute of the conference,” said Chukwu. “One thing that stood out to me was the overwhelming sense of sisterhood that I felt from all the ambitious and successful ladies that I was surrounded by. It was a great experience overall.”
In addition to current student attendance, Dr. Lydia Tapia, former student of computer science and engineering, was awarded the Denise Denton Emerging Leader Anita Borg Institute Excellence Award. The award is given to a junior faculty member who has high-quality research and has made a significant impact on diversity within the profession. She was recognized for her work with disabled minorities and research at New Mexico State University.
Four faculty members from computer science and engineering represented the department as speakers at GHC. Dr. Dilma Da Silva, department head, professor and holder of the Ford Motor Company Design Professorship II, Dr. Valerie Taylor, senior associate dean of academic affairs for the Dwight Look College of Engineering and Royce E. Wisenbaker professor, Dr. Nancy Amato, Unocal professor and Dr. Tracy Hammond, associate professor, each presented mentoring and technical sessions to the attendants.
“From the impressive career fair opportunities, the people they meet from all fields in computing, and the career advice they are exposed to, our students benefit tremendously from attending the conference,” Da Silva said. “They do a great job representing the Aggie spirit. One of our transfer students recently told us that their decision to move to Texas A&M was due to spending time with our students at GHC.”
In addition to her presentation, Amato was the co-chair of the GHC scholarship committee. This year there were over 1,800 scholarship applicants. The committee awarded over $800,000 in scholarships to 500 students at the conference.
Both the Look College of Engineering and the Department of Computer Science and Engineering provided funding for the GHC this year. Computer science and engineering was one of only 15 departments to be a gold sponsor of the conference.
The 2016 GHC will be in Houston from Oct. 19 until Oct. 21. For more information about the upcoming conference, please visit the GHC website.