SWIEIT Speakers visit - Davidson High School

  Today, the Sydney Women in Engineering and IT Speakers Program at UTS sent representatives to Davidson High School to talk to a group of 80 girls about studying engineering and IT. Davidson High School is situated in Northern Sydney and female students from years 9 to 12 sat in on the presentations by our speakers Allissa, Julia, Harshaa and myself!

  First off, Allissa, a second year civil engineering student, spoke about her experience applying for scholarships. She spent only three hours applying for as many scholarships as possible and was offered two, which shows just how easy applying for scholarships can be. Allissa was one of the two recipients of the 2012 WJ and LM Sinclair Scholarship, worth $50,000 each.

  I spoke about some of the innovative engineering designs of the 20th century, such as the Stratosphere Tower roller coaster in LA and the Magdeburg Water Bridge in Germany, to show the girls how interesting engineering can be. We showed a video featuring Bill Gates, Mark Zuckeberg and Will I Am, explaining what coding is and how amazing jobs in IT are. Then Julia gave an inspiring speech about why she chose to study IT at UTS, the opportunities it's opened up for her and the advantages of being your own person. Julia was the only girl in her IT class the year before and implored the listening students to consider IST as a subject for years 11 and 12. She was also one of the recipients of the BIT co-op scholarships for 2013. Second round applications for these scholarships are opening on the 1st August and there are still plenty of places left. 

  Thanks go to Davidson High School for hosting us, we look forward to visiting again soon and hope to see some of your graduates joining the Faculty of Engineering and IT at UTS in 2014.

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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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7 Myths about Women & Work

This is a great presentation by longtime Australian Financial Review columnist and author Catherine Fox about what she has identified in her recent book as 'seven myths about women and work'.  She is motivated to gather evidence relating to women's participation and experience in the workforce to better inform public debate and policy, and her discussion is informative - and entertaining!

It was first presented at a Women in Leadership breakfast at Macquarie Uni, and was broadcast on Life Matters on Radio National on April 1, 2013.  It's introduced by show host Natasha Mitchell - who was a former staff member at the Women in Engineering & IT Program at UTS.

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UTS Women in Engineering Alumni Event

It’s a rainy afternoon in Sydney, but the inside of the Powerhouse Museum is warm and alive with music and the smell of good food. Guests were welcomed in front of a giant 1920’s steam train and invited to take a look at the museum's Engineering Excellence Awards technology exhibition. Engineers from around Sydney, UTS alumni and staff were treated to canapés and drinks before presentations began.  
Themed, "Where have the flowers gone?",

the meeting is an invitation to UTS  engineering graduates to reflect on where they are now and share perspectives on the
experience for women in the profession today. 
The rate of growth of women in the engineering profession in Australia does not reflect even the small increases in university enrolments since the 1990’s. Reasons for leaving engineering uncovered by successive industry surveys include lack of flexible working conditions, workplace culture, lack of career development and pay inequity. At the same time, women are succeeding in engineering by adapting and by innovating and by finding progressive employers. What prospects are there for change that will better sustain and help retain women to succeed and flourish in their chosen fields and how can we collaborate to see it happen?
This topic was discussed by three panelists: Professor Marian Baird, Drenka Andjelic and Fiona Coe.
Professor Marian Baird has been a key policy advisor to government in the development of new legislation – Paid Parental Leave, Fair Work and the proposed Workplace Gender Equality Act.

Drenka Andjelic (Alumni) has put her values about work life balance into practice in the establishment of her project management company in the construction industry, and has won recognition for her innovation.

Fiona Coe (Alumni) has been a strong advocate for women in engineering as a student, and she has worked hard to make her professional workplace a more sympathetic environment. Now she is on a quest to find a way to resolve her passions with engineering practice.
After the speakers, there was a lively discussion  with many questions from the audience. Some interesting points of contention were raised and different view points discussed. You can view the entire presentation section of the evening by clicking here.

From left to right: Bronwyn Holland, Drenka Andjelic,
Fiona Coe and Prof. Marian Baird

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WiE&IT Semester Spring Lunch

Each semester, WiE&IT hold a special luncheon to celebrate yet another round of exams, internships and hard work. In 2012 our Spring Semester Luncheon on 12 September saw almost 60 students and Faculty of Engineering and IT staff members in attendance. 

After networking over food and refreshments, the Director of the UTS Women in Engineering and IT Program; Bronwyn Holland gave a brief welcome and an overview of the year’s events. Bronwyn also paid her respects to Joan Bielski, who was an influential and passionate advocate for gender equality in Australia and who attended the Spring Semester Lunch in 2011. Sadly, Joan passed away in mid August, but her achievements throughout her career and her support of the WiE&IT Program will not be forgotten.

Bronwyn then introduced the two guest speakers for the day. First was UTS Alumni, Jenny Bhuiyan (BE-software) who now works for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Jenny went through her story of transitioning from studying a double degree of Bachelor of Software Engineering at UTS, to entering the workforce and becoming a valuable member of several teams throughout her career. One piece of advice that resounded throughout Jenny’s speech was to embrace every opportunity you can. This is a motto that Jenny herself has stuck by, and it has helped her identify her strengths and weaknesses, as well as give her valuable experience in areas not generally expanded upon in Business and IT studies, such as customer service.

After Jenny’s inspiring words, we heard from Seline Hardy, a current UTS student studying Bachelor of Business and Bachelor of Science in IT. Seline reflected on her experiences at the Telecom Summer School in Paris in July this year. After making up her mind to go to Paris in 2011 and missing out on the opportunity, Seline made it her mission to attend the Telecom Summer School in 2012. Seline gave us an insight into her rural background from Parkes NSW, highlighting how much of a culture shock it was for her when she finally got to travel to France.

WiE&IT Program Staff would like to thank all students, staff and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia for their support, and we hope to see you all at the next semester lunch in Autumn 2013!

Our two lovely guest speakers: Jenny Bhuiyan, BE-Software Engineering (left)
and Seline Hardy, BBusBScIT (right)

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September Speakers Workshops at UTS

Between February and July this year, the Sydney Women in Engineering & IT (SWIEIT) Speakers Program have engaged with 25 schools and over 1000 school girls from years 8 to 12. This program is jointly sponsored by the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS), NSW and GHD professional services firm. More information can be found on SWIEIT Speakers Program by clicking here.

Being an active outreach initiative that WiE&IT single-handedly coordinate, speakers for our presentations and school visits are always warmly welcomed. That’s why on Wednesday 5 September and Friday 7 September, women studying either Engineering or IT at UTS were invited to come and participate in an intensive 3 hour workshop designed to improve public speaking skills.  These workshops not only gave participants an opportunity to assess and analyse their public speaking style and presence, but it also gave them an opportunity to get to know some of the other women studying in the Faculty of Engineering and IT. Principal Advisor for Workplace Diversity and Equity from RMS, Ann Pitkeathly, also attended the evenings giving some insight into the importance of public speaking skills in the public sector workplace. The workshops were open to both undergraduates and postgraduates, so there were quite a few fresh faces over the two evenings. Ian Colley from UTS Training and Development Services facilitated the workshops, giving helpful acronyms to help us remember some of the more important aspects of public speaking. Some of these tips were:

Visuals: enhance your presentation. Photos are always better than cartoons!

Audio:  Alter your tone of voice to drive home a point.

Kinaesthetic: moving and touching, getting your audience involved by asking them to raise hands. 

Head: knowledge. Knowing what you are going to talk about makes presenting easier.

Heart: emotions, try to establish an emotional connection and pull at peoples heart strings.

Feet: movement and purpose, moving around the stage but also giving your speech a direction.

Afterwards, all SWIEIT Speakers and workshop attendees were invited to the Great Hall balcony for the annual SWIEIT Speakers Party, to celebrate the years Outreach activities and acknowledge the efforts of all those who contributed to the program throughout the past few years.

WiE&IT Program staff would like to say thank you  to all the girls who have participated in the program, particularly those that have travelled long distances to reach schools in rural communities. 
Anyone who is a female studying or working in these fields, is a cadet or a cooperative scholarship recipient, or UTS female Alumni is encouraged to join the program, so they can share their story and inspire female high school students to consider engineering or IT as a career!

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