Scholarships Available - Anita Borg Institute - Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC) of Women in Computing, October 2 - 5, 2013

On behalf of the Anita Borg Institute and the Association for Computing Machinery, I would like to invite University of Technology, Sydney - Women in Engineering & IT students and staff to participate in the Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC), October 2 - 5, 2013 at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minnesota, USA.

GHC is the world’s largest gathering of technical women in computing.  Technical women gather to network, find or be mentors, create collaborative proposals, and increase the visibility of women’s contributions to computing. We are expecting over 4,000 attendees this year. Here are some ways you, other faculty, and students can participate in GHC:

GHC Scholarships for Students and Faculty – Application Deadline: May 15^th

Undergraduate, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows from around the world are encouraged to apply. The GHC Scholarships for students cover a combination of conference registration, meals, lodging, and fixed amount of travel reimbursement funds. Faculty, at all levels, are also encouraged to apply. The GHC Scholarship for faculty covers conference registration only.

‘ABI’ Awards given at GHC – Nomination Deadline: May 15^th

Nominate a colleague for one of the awards given at GHC:

·       ‘ABI’ Award for Social Impact

·       ‘ABI’ Award for Technical Leadership

·       ‘ABI’ Denice Denton Emerging Leader Award

·       ‘ABI’ A. Richard Newton Educator Award

·       ‘ABI’ Change Agent Awards

Please let me know if you have any questions about the conference or these opportunities to participate.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Kindest regards,

Tina

Tina Pratt

Program Manager, Academic Initiatives and New Program Development

Anita Borg Institute 

+ 1 - 650.857.2419 OFFICE

tinap@anitaborg.org

www.anitaborg.org | www.gracehopper.org

Alternative Funding Opportunities
Please note: UTS students can apply for BUiLD grants (undergraduate and postgraduates) from UTS:International and Faculty researchers can apply for FEIT conference funding to present at these conferences.

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Women in BOC Networking Event

On 14 March, BOC, a leading global gases and engineering company, and Chandler McLeod, a large provider of human resources solutions, hosted a Women working with BOC networking event.

The event was a great opportunity to network with women from BOC and Chandler McLeod as well as a number of women students pursuing a career in engineering, IT and other sectors. The highlight of the evening was a discussion panel with three successful BOC managers. These women shared their experiences in the company in terms of engagement, career opportunities, mentoring, working conditions, parental leave and flexible working arrangements.

One of the speakers was a young manager - Kate. Kate has secured a position at BOC after completing the BOC Graduate Development Program. Kate shared her passion for the industry and how she has seen real possibilities for women to move up in an industry traditionally dominated by men. She said that she was reading a BOC magazine featuring top managers in the company and realised they were all men. She then turned to the Master of Ceremonies and said: “I would like to change that”.

I was impressed by the structure of BOC‘s graduate development program, where this year, a large number of participants are women. Each graduate is assigned a mentor from BOC who helps with the learning experience and with any difficulty arising. The mentor also discusses topics like career paths with the graduate.

BOC seems to be genuinely interested in supporting women in engineering and IT so I suggest its worth checking out their graduate program!

By Maritza Messina, Industry Liaison Manager, Industry Partnering Unit, FEIT

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Women in Tech

This infographic can be found at: http://www.mbaonline.com/women-in-tech/

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Engineers Australia - Women striving for Leadership Panel Discussion

Our friends at the Sydney Wie Division-Engineers Australia recently hosted a 'Women striving for Leadership' panel discussion on Thursday 21 June from 6pm at Rydges Hotel, World Square Sydney. Guest Speakers included Dr Marlene Kanga, Chemical Engineer and most importantly upcoming 2013 National President of Engineers Australia, the peak industry body in the Southern Hemisphere. Marlene re-iterated what we all know yet refuses still to be addressed; that it "is no longer acceptable for bias against any group in the workplace"  and "diversity is needed if we are to solve most of the world's problems such as sustainability etc, diversity is efficient and makes the best use of human capital-logical but not always practised, diverse boards avoid Groupthink". 


Marlene also reminded us of how far Australia has to go reflecting that our neighbour Malaysia has a target of achieving 30% women on boards by 2015. This cannot be achieved as long as one guy continues to tap the other on the shoulder when recruiting for boards, as this is one way of only recruiting from a 'very small pool of talent'. One best-practice example given by the speakers was highlighting the diversity is the recently elected French Government Francois Holland's ministry which consist's of 50% women, including a Minister for Women with Moroccan heritage. Most pointedly Marlene vision for Engineers Australia would be to return the organisation to be 'for and by the members'. A very thoughtful and gracious remark. 


Other speakers included Lucy Baker, Sustainability Leader at Aurecon who spellt out the perception that 'People are perhaps socially conditioned to take leadership suggestions from a man' and the notion that there are still backward 'preconceived ideas about 'waht is acceptable for a woman', as well as some great tips for women in leadership positions and managing a work/life balance with family responsibilities.


Final speaker, Dr Bronwyn Evans from Cochlear and Fellow of Engineers Australia, shared her journey from being an engineering cadet at the Electrical Commission to doing a PhD/becoming a lecturer, to working at Standards Australia  and GE Healthcare and finally moving to Cochlear, one of the worlds' biggest medical device organisations. The key message which was communicated and is relevant to all UTS students and graduates is that if there is case of pay inequity.........i.e. not being paid the same as your male colleagues for the exact same work, you are not only being undervalued and underpaid, but you are doing others a disservice'. Organisations will continue the trend if you do not speak up. Current pay inequity within the engineering profession sits between 10-20% within Australian workplaces. (see APESMA).


Thank you to all speakers for a wonderful and very enlightening event, and particularly for communicating the obvious..........YES, it is worth it! 

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Lucy Mentoring Program Launch

The 2012 Lucy Mentoring Program was launched on the evening of Wednesday 23 May, and was kindly hosted by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia at their Darling Park offices. 

Empowerment, support and development were the themes of the Lucy Mentoring Program Launch, an industry event launching a four-month-long partnership of creativity and professional development between current female Engineering and IT students, and females in senior management and technical roles from some of Australia’s largest organisations.

The Program Launch saw a record forty four students matched with mentors from twenty four private and public organisations, including Accenture, Alcatel-Lucent, Attache-Software, Boomworks, C Smart Technologies, Deloitte, IBM, Qantas, Unilever, Woolworths, Construction Assignments, Hurstville Council, Coca Cola Amatil, Arup, John Holland, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Roads and Maritime Services, Railcorp, Siemens, Ausgrid, Hi Fraser and event host Commonwealth Bank. With an excitement akin to starting a new role or walking into their first ever university lecture, students were matched with senior professional women who will mentor them throughout the program and share their insights, life experience and expertise. 

Students were treated to an official welcome by Executive General Manager Steve McGregor, a self-confessed “Male Champion of Change” from Wealth Management IT at CBA. His welcome extended to the students chosen for the program as well as the mentors who volunteered to take part, thanking all responsible for the Lucy Program at UTS. His final words to the students, “Accept this invitation presented to you tonight – you are the generation of female talent we are proud to encourage, support and develop.”

There was a line-up of inspiring female speakers from a range of academic and corporate backgrounds. Nur Oyman, General Manager of CBA, spoke about the importance of mentoring in her career. Her golden advice to the mentees was to “be present, and have presence”, drawing on her experience of how confidence is a woman’s secret weapon in the corporate world. PhD Graduate, Minoo Masihpour, echoed the same tune. With a background in research in wireless communication networks, her academic studies gave her the confidence “never to surrender”.

The Lucy Mentoring Program is an innovative leadership program with the aim to inspire, motivate and educate young females about the opportunities available in senior corporate and public sector roles. Both mentors and mentees benefit from the mutually beneficial relationship, with Sabina Bhuiyan, Test Manager at IBM, calling it a “win-win” situation. 

Her mentee, Michelle Whye, a 4^th year Bachelor of Science in IT student, could not agree more. “I feel very privileged to be participating in the Lucy Mentoring Program. It is very encouraging to have contact with women in senior engineering and IT positions because they inspire us students to join these non-traditional female fields with confidence.”

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