DESRIST 2007: Workshop for Women in IT - Emerging Leaders

Today, fewer women choose a career in information and computer science although the field offers excellent career opportunities. This under representation of women has an adverse effect on creativity, maturity, and quality in the discipline. In response to this problem, we are organizing the workshop "Women in IT - Emerging Leaders". We will introduce young, aspiring women who have the potential to become high achievers to our field. Female high school and undergraduate students will spend the day with female professionals and students who have a passion for information and computer science and are superb role models.

The workshop will be held on May 14th 2006 during DESRIST 2007. Participation will be limited to 50 participants and all will receive a certificate of attendance. We will have exciting speakers and activities to demonstrate the impact that creative IT can make on our world!

Mark your calendar!

Who should attend?

The program is geared toward women high school juniors and seniors and college undergraduate freshmen and sophomores. If you want to prepare for a creative, exciting career, you should attend. No computer knowledge is necessary! Technology Fears welcomed!

The Program (Women in IT Program schedule^New!)

• Learn from, talk to, and have fun with IT women who are changing the world.


• Discuss with other young women, like you, how technology can solve illiteracy, prevent crime,
  battle depression and eating disorders, help the elderly or increase interest the arts.


• Find out how IT may fit into your future.


• Connect with other young women exploring possibilities.


• Talk to students and check out their projects, ranging from anonymous crime reporting web sites to software for autistic children.

Invited speakers

• "Can we make learning fun? See how online video games are being used to create virtual worlds for serious medical learning." Parvati Dev, PhD, Research Director at Stanford University


• "Writing programs is a powerful and creative experience. It is poetry in motion. But this poetry is more than thoughts written down. It carries out your wishes too." Kristin Tolle, PhD, Program Manager at Microsoft Research.


• "It's amazing to see how IT is transforming so many different parts of society, from helping the severely disabled to enabling new forms of creativity." Maria Klawe, PhD, President of Harvey Mudd College.

Registration, Scholarships and Student Travel Awards

^*Workshop attendees who received a scholarship to attend the Women in IT workshop should not register using this site. They will be registered by Gondy Leroy (gondy.leroy@cgu.edu). If you do not receive a scholarship, you can register online through either a PayPal account or by Credit Card. For online registration please click on the register button.

Scholarships & Grants

Good news! We now have multiple scholarships and travel grants available. Scholarships cover the registration costs. Travel grants ($500) help pay for hotel and airfare. Awards will be based upon a short essay of 250 - 1,000 words.

In your essay, describe your dreams and ideas in response to ONE of the following problems:

• Illiteracy continues to be an issue in the US. How can new technologies help?
• Many TV programs show how technology can solve crimes. But how could technology be used to prevent crimes?
• Many young women battle with depression or eating disorders. How can technology help prevent or manage these problems?
• Our population is aging! How can technology help the elderly continue to lead a high quality life?
• Many artists (painters, musicians, …) struggle to survive. How could new technology help them?

We will follow-up on these ideas at the workshop.

Scholarship Application

To apply, send an e-mail with an attached Word or pdf (Adobe Acrobat) document to Gondy Leroy at (gondy.leroy@cgu.edu), or mail/fax your essay to Gondy Leroy, School of Information Systems and Technology, Claremont Graduate University, 130 E. Ninth Street, Claremont, CA 91711 (Fax number: 909-621-8564).

The document should include your

1. essay, along with
2. a cover letter (does not count towards word count) stating your name, school, contact information and if you would like to attend only the workshop (1 day) or also the DESRIST (Design Science Research In Information Systems and Technology) conference (3 days, only for college students), see http://ncl.cgu.edu/desrist2007/ for more information.

Scholarship recipients will be notified by shortly after the applications have been received. If you do not receive a scholarship, you can still register for the workshop until May 13, 2007.

Need more information? Contact:

• Gondy Leroy, School of Information Systems and Technology, Claremont Graduate University, gondy.leroy@cgu.edu
• Art Lee, Department of Mathematics (Computer Science), Claremont McKenna College, alee@cmc.edu
• Cynthia LeRouge, John Cook School of Business, St. Louis University, LeRougeC@SLU.edu

Sponsorship

1. BLAIS Foundation Challenge Fund
2. CGU - School of Information Systems and Technology

Location and Other Information

The workshop will be held at The Westin Pasadena, 191 N. Los Robles Ave, Pasadena, California, 91101, USA.

The room rate is $ 169 plus tax (these rooms usually go for $299 a night). This is a special discount for DESRIST attendees; please make sure to book your rooms under the Special Rate code 'DESRIST'. In case of changes to your reservations and itinerary, kindly inform the reservations office about the changes. They can be reached at: (626) 792-2727, (626) 792-3755 (fax), and reservations at 1-800-937-8461 (US & Canada only).

If you would like to speak at the workshop or be otherwise involved, please contact us. We are still looking for additional sponsorship from individuals and companies so that we can reach out to more women. Contact Gondy Leroy at gondy.leroy@cgu.edu.

Organization

1. Gondy Leroy, Claremont Graduate University
2. Art Lee, Claremont McKenna College
3. Cynthia LeRouge, St. Louis University