We arrived in Tuscon right around 4-5pm, so we missed most of the talks during the day! We had a chance to walk around, meet people, and go to some of the poster sessions.

The most interesting poster session I attended today was one about testing web applications. Two undergrads had devised a method for testing web applications by using real user data. They first collected user data in the form of query parameters. This data came from five web apps provided from the professor. Though this method will automatically generate realistic test cases, the problem with this solution is that there is a lot of user data, and it’s very slow and impractical to test all cases, as many different user scenarios may test the same area of the web app. They also had an in-depth discussion of how they would most effectively test the software by targeting the areas that the users use most (based on user browsing history) — and use weighted randomness to select test cases. Overall, a very good poster session and interesting discussion!

Random pictures from today

Some girls from UW waiting for a flight to Tuscon.

A beautiful view from the resort.

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This week 16 undergrad and grad UW CSE women are off to the Grace Hopper Conference in Tucson. Very exciting!

We’ll blog about our experiences there, so stay tuned for posts from the GHC…

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What do you think?

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From the ABI blog on June 25th:

The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI) announced today it has received a $30,560 Innovation Generation grant from the Motorola Foundation. This award will fund a K-12 Computer Science Teacher Workshop at the 2009 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference in partnership with the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA)University of Arizona. The attendees will engage in discussions with community and national leaders, generating and disseminating solutions that are grounded in teacher perspectives readily applicable. The sessions will represent teachers serving diverse populations of students.

See the full press release here.

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In the interesting article “He Said, She Said: Gender-Typical Speech Can Sour Teamwork” by Joanna Wolfe and Elizabeth Powell, researchers examine the communication differences between genders that may contribute to women leaving engineering disciplines at higher rates than men. Negative interactions reported by women during teamwork experiences tend to lead to self-doubt about whether engineering is a good fit, and the purpose of this research was to examine everyday exchanges that may influence this perception.

This study was conducted through surveys given to 522 undergrads in engineering and other disciplines that asked for feedback on different team interaction scenarios. The results show that engineering men have low tolerance and impatience with the female-typical behaviors of admitting mistakes, showing weakness, or engaging in self-belittlement, regardless of which gender is displaying this behavior. “This trend was most pronounced among students majoring in mechanical and computer engineering and least present in bioengineering and industrial engineering, the latter two being disciplines with comparatively high levels of female enrollment.” Interestingly, other groups outside of engineering found male-typical behaviors more bothersome.  Across the board, however, participants in all groups expressed annoyance at aggressive acts/communication of self-promotion.

Bottom line from the article: “Based on this research, engineering educators might coach female students to avoid self-belittling discourse and teach all students to avoid aggressive displays of self-promotion. Such coaching might not only help women and other ‘at risk’ groups fit into an engineering community but might also improve the interpersonal skills of all engineering students.”

Your thoughts?

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CSE Women,

Details on the 2009 conference from the GHC site:

“Creating Technology For Social Good”
Tucson, Arizona
September 30 – October 3, 2009

“The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing is a series of conferences designed to bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront. Presenters are leaders in their respective fields, representing industrial, academic and government communities. Leading researchers present their current work, while special sessions focus on the role of women in today’s technology fields, including computer science, information technology, research and engineering.

Past Grace Hopper Celebrations have resulted in collaborative proposals, networking, mentoring, and increased visibility for the contributions of women in computing.”

All UW CSE women planning to go must submit a scholarship application. The deadline to apply is May 27th.

Please contact me with any questions and to let me know if you would like to attend.

Thanks!

Megan

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Congratulations to Saleema Amershi, who has won a 2009 Google Anita Borg Scholarship, and to finalists Kristi Morton and Julia Schwarz!

http://googleforstudents.blogspot.com/2009/04/announcing-2009-us-anita-borg-scholars.html

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Today’s fantastic Seattle Times piece “The UW’s Yoky Matsuoka is leading the quest for robotics that take orders from the brain” highlights Yoky’s life and background, her neurobotics research focused on helping people with disabilities live fuller lives, her mentoring of students and the desire to encourage female participation in the sciences, her leadership in creating the Pacific Northwest Center for Neural Engineering, and her non-profit efforts with the goal to bring professional women and engineering students together to produce custom devices for people with various disabilities.

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CSE professor Susan Eggers is the recipient of the 2009-2010 Athena Lecturer Award.  The Athena Lecturer Award, given by ACM-W, recognizes women researchers who have made fundamental contributions to computer science.  Susan was recognized for her work on computer architecture and experimental performance analysis has led to the development of Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT), the first commercially viable multithreaded architecture. Read the full press release here.

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In the Computerworld article, Every IT Woman Needs a Peer Network: Here’s Why, computer scientist Gail Farnsley makes a case for participation in peer networks, citing numerous personal and professional benefits. Not only do these networks give women the opportunity to connect with other women in the field, and possibly advance their careers, but they also provide an outlet for women to share and address topics they may feel uncomfortable discussing with male colleagues, such as child care or fitting in workouts at the gym.

Details on the types of peer networks can be found in the article, but here is a summary of the four Farnsley describes.

1. Formal Networking Groups (local, regional, national, or international). These are “organized groups that meet regularly and provide a career-oriented agenda and an excellent way to make contacts in industry.” Benefits: connections with top women in the field, increased leadership opportunities, and participation in a community that’s geared toward exploring issues from a female perspective.

2. Informal Networking Groups. Not an established organization; members meet when they want. Benefits: no set agenda, so members can talk about whatever is on their minds. Group can remain cohesive as lives, careers, and interests grow and change paths.

3. Affinity Groups. Networks made up of people from the same company who share a common interest, not necessarily the same job category. Allows participants to get to know and meet women they may never have met otherwise. Benefits: broader connections could be beneficial to your career within a company or in a new direction. Allows women not in management to take on more responsibility in an organization.

4. One-on-One Mentoring. While not truly a peer network, mentoring is recommended as it provides similar advantages. Benefits: personally and professionally rewarding, whether you’re in the role of mentor or mentee. Provides an opportunity to share insights and wisdom with others.

While many women with already over-full schedules may not initially make networking a priority, Farnsley states that being part of a peer network could be the smartest career move a woman can make. She encourages others to get involved or to create a group of their own.

What are your thoughts on peer networks? Have you found a particular type of network or mentoring program helpful in connecting with other women in computer science? What kinds of connection-building opportunities would you recommend to women in technology? For the students currently in or fresh out of college, do you find student organizations, like the ACM-W, a good way to create support and lasting relationships with women in the field?

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