Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Upcoming Conference in New Zealand (Ambassador: Annika Hinze)



Third Computing Women Congress (11-13 February 2008)
University of Waikato, Hamilton
New Zealand
Organized/Hosted by ACM-W's New Zealand Ambassador

The Computing Women Congress (CWC) is a conference that aims to increase the skills, self-image, participation, and representation of women in computer science and information technology. It provides a meeting-place for both female students and academic/professional staff who study or work in IT. The conference offers up-to-date technical presentations and the opportunity for professional networking. CWC also gives the opportunity for female presenters to explore and experiment with new forms of learning. Finally, by providing an arena in which women can share ideas and build supportive networks, CWC helps build up the confidence and recognition of women in the whole arena of computer science and IT. Our student paper session recognizes excellent work being conducted by CS/IS/IT students, and offers a friendly forum for students to showcase their work and receive constructive feedback.

The Computing Women Congress 2008 is being held at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, in New Zealand, February 11th-13th, 2008. Participants will have the opportunity to meet, discuss, and debate with other women in their field while attending some of the 15 excellent courses that will be offered during the three days. Interesting keynotes by IT professionals from industry and accademia are open to all women. Presenters at CWC 2008 will be from New Zealand, Australia, USA, UK, and Germany.

CWC provides an opportunity for women to improve their self-image and build their own networks. In addition, we aim to build a long-term community of women in IT for New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific region. The presentations at CWC will be given by women in commercial and academic areas of computing. The presenters represent a wide range of backgrounds and experience, providing many role models for the younger participants.

CWC runs as a biennial series of conferences that combine an informal environment with technical excellence. It is inspired by conferences such as the Informatica Feminale and the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing that share CWC’s goals and culture.

More information about the CWC 2008 is available online at www.cwc.org.nz. We are still accepting student papers (see www.cwc.org.nz/participate/call-student-papers.html). The early bird registration deadline is January 4th, 2008. For further questions about the CWC, please contact Annika Hinze (the ACM-W New Zealand Ambassador) at organizers@cwc.org.nz.

Monday, June 4, 2007

Congratulations Elaine Weyuker!


Congratulations to our Chair, Elaine Weyuker of AT&T Research Labs, who received the 2007 ACM SIGSOFT Outstanding Research Award. This award is presented to an individual who has made significant and lasting research contributions to the theory or practice of software engineering. She presented the keynote address at FSE/ESEC Conference in September.

Friday, April 6, 2007

2007-2008 Athena Lecturer

The 2007-8 Athena Lecturer was Professor Karen Spärck Jones of Cambridge University<, who passed away on April 4, 2007. She taped her lecture, which will be given at the 30th Annual International ACM SIGIR Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval in Amsterdam.