Last month, ASBSU and the Department of Computer Science funded students from the Boise State ACM-W club to attend a conference in Phoenix Arizona – The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. This conference is the world’s largest gathering of women in technology, designed to highlight the careers and research of women in computing.
At the conference, the students met inspiring women, had career advancement opportunities, and learned about research and technology in their field. A few of the attendees shared their favorite experiences from the conference:
“Meeting lots of women from computing from different parts of the world is inspiring and exciting. Talks about how we can make use of data science/information retrieval in various fields like health care and biomedical gave me a chance to realize that computer science makes a direct impact in all fields.”
-Deepa Mallela, Boise State M.S. Computer Science student
“8,000 women, all in computer science, is a truly inspirational sight! It made me realize that I am not alone in this field, and that there are lots of others who have a common goal of excelling in this male-dominated field. This has been a truly inspirational experience”
-Marianna Budnikova, Boise State M.S. Computer Science student
“We went to a variety of talks where we got to see the breadth of computer science research. It was wonderful to learn about and celebrate the contributions that women are making to computer science!”
-Sarah Bradburn, Boise State B.S. Computer Science junior
“My favorite part of the conference was seeing and being surrounded by so many amazing women in tech. I also loved learning a little bit about topics in different tech fields including data science, gaming and computational biology. There is a lot of interesting technology and work that women are doing in these fields that we may not have been exposed to, otherwise. There was a lot of amazing energy at GHC. This inspired me to keep working hard in the major as well as working with and promoting the ACM-W because I know that I am not only one of a few. ”
-Kelsey Suyehira, Boise State B.S. Computer Science senior
The Grace Hopper Celebration was an opportunity for the students from ACM-W to meet women in computing from around the world and represent the Boise State University Computer Science department. They are excited to bring the energy from the conference back to Boise State and continue to recruit more women and girls to the exciting field of computer science. Learn more about their efforts on the ACM-W webpage, ACM-W Facebook group, or the Orgsync webpage and watch the Grace Hopper Celebration webpage for opportunities to attend this great conference next year.
