ACM-W Europe Newsletter

March 2015

Happy Women's Day!

womENcourage 2015 Poster Submissions Deadline: March 25, 2015

It is not too late if you did not submit a paper, panel or workshop for womENcourage 2015. Poster submissions are due on March 25th, so there is still time to submit your work for womENcourage 2015.

Posters will be on display the entire 2.5 days of womENcourage celebration of women in computing.

Check out the website and social media pages to stay up-to-date on all the details of womENcourage celebrations.

WWW: http://womencourage.acm.org/

womENcourage 2015 is supported by INRIA and Google (Diamond), Bloomberg and Cisco (Platinum) and Informatics Europe and Microsoft Research (Silver.) Support is used to help students studying in Europe to attend the celebration.

Help us distribute womENcourage 2015 Poster!

Let's get the word out. Please print womEncourage poster and post in your work area!

Meet the Keynote Speakers at womENcourage 2015

Virginia and Andreína, conference chairs of womENcourage 2015, are pleased to announce that the ACM-W Europe womENcourage 2015 Celebration of Women in Computing on September 24-26 will have three keynote addresses. In the next few months, the newsletter will give us a brief introduction to each of the three keynote speakers. We are excited to have the chance to meet with and listen to women in academia and industry on both technical and career related topics.

In this March newsletter we go to Uppsala University to meet Åsa Cajander. Åsa is Associate Professor of Human-Computer Interaction at Uppsala University. In addition to her work as an associate professor, Åsa is an active advocate for women in computing and supports initiatives like womENcourage as part of her role as Gender Equity Officer at her department. Additionally, she is faculty sponsor of the local ACM-W Student Chapter. As the chair of the Outreach Committee of ACM-WE, Bev Bachmayer, had the opportunity to catch up with Åsa for a short discussion last month.

1. Why is the conference important to you?

I think that it is really important to attract more women to the field of computing. The gendered stereotyping of the field as being a male subject has many disadvantages, and the womENcourage conference plays an important part in breaking this stereotype. Through the conference women may see the full breadth of the areas of study and have the opportunity to network with other women. There are many extremely interesting areas in computer science and information technology, and I hope that the participants feel encouraged to stay in the field after having been to the conference. I think that computer science is indeed much more fun than most people believe.

2. What do you enjoy most about your work?

I work as a teacher, supervisor and researcher in several different projects. I also work as the gender equity officer at the department. The most enjoyable part of my work is meeting people and to discuss and understand their perspective of the world. I love to talk to people and to learn from them, and sometimes also try to find solutions together with them as a coach. I have the opportunity to do this in many areas of my work, and this is what motivates me the most. I also really love those moments of "flow" in my work. Where the world disappears, and I have suddenly seen something new and interesting or perhaps a new perspective of a well-known problem. Often these moments come in discussions with others, or when reading and writing a paper.

3. What would you want the participants to learn from your keynote speech or the conference in general?

I will touch upon different things in my keynote. First of all I will talk some about my research on success in computer science education, and the strong importance of grit and perseverance. Research has shown that having grit is more important than IQ or any other personality trait, and that grit together with the student's overall view of success matters the most. If you work hard, and don't give up when it is getting really complicated, then you are likely to have a good career in any subject, including computer science.

I will also tell some stories about how it is to be a woman in a male dominated field. Being the token figure is not that easy. I would like the participants to understand how important it is that we all work on changing the stereotypes. I will try to make my keynote both funny and personal, and be generous in sharing my catastrophic moments as well as some bright ones.

I would like the participants to be inspired and motivated by the conference as such. Perhaps get new understandings of a specific technology, and also meet new friends and network. Most of all I want the participants to have fun and enjoy the conference!

Join ACM-WE Ambassador Program in Europe

Are you looking for an organization that helps push personal and societal limits forward? Do you want to be part of a revolutionizing crew and take on responsibilities that would shape your child's future?

ACM-WE Ambassador program was developed from the desire to build a better future for women in technical fields. We aim at increasing female participation in all levels of technological life -from school girls building robots to fostering leadership and opportunities for more female professionals to enter the C-Suite. As an ACM-WE Ambassador you will be a role model for generations to come.

You will be part of a large driving force towards a better future for any future female scientist or professional. Girls today give up career paths because they do not see the examples of success in these fields. Together we can change that! Your responsibilities include popularizing the ACM-WE program in your country at all educational levels - from school to university graduates; industry and academic professionals.

You would be requested to spread the word about the various initiatives of ACM-WE, e.g. available scholarships, conferences and opportunities for personal development. You would be requested to give an annual talk about the ACM-WE goals and achievements at a large event in your country. In return, the ACM-WE will offer you a life-long network of like-minded people. As an ACM-WE Ambassador you would be able to collaborate on an international level with a vast network of ACM WE Ambassadors and their personal contacts. We will publish the names of all countries annual representatives on the ACM-WE website and invite you to take part in the womENcourage celebration. We invite you step up and apply for an ACM-WE ambassador of your country! Fill in your application today here.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world."

News around the world

IEEE Women in Engineering international leadership conference 23-25 April 2015 in San Jose, California

IEEE Women in Engineering for the international leadership conference (http://ieee-wie-ilc.org) will be held 23-25 April 2015 in San Jose, CA. With a theme of "Lead Beyond. Accelerating Innovative Women Who Change the World", the conference will focus on leadership, innovation and entrepreneurship educational tracks.

Some of our keynotes include: Brian Kraznich, CEO, Intel; Lisa Su, CEO, AMD; Rebecca Jacoby, CIO, Cisco; Pankaj Patel, EVP, Cisco; Yanbing Li, VP, VMware

18th Summer University for Women in Informatics,University of Bremen

From August 17 to 28, 2015 the Department of Mathematics and Informatics at the University of Bremen, Germany will host the 18th International Summer University for Women in Informatics.
You will experience two weeks of professional studies and establish a network with women having manifold backgrounds in a friendly and stimulating environment at the University of Bremen.

For more information:

http://www.informatica-feminale.de/en/summer2015/index.html

Job Announcement

BREMEN TRAC 2-year postdoctoral CO-FUND grants available at the University of Bremen, Sustainable Communication Networks Group

The group for Sustainable Communication Networks at the University of Bremen, Germany, is supporting the CO-FUND TRAC postdoctoral program. This is a two-year program, which offers full postdoctoral payment and an individual research budget for the fellow. The fellow is expected to propose an individual research project and will be supported by the group of Prof. Forster during the stay.
*** Female researchers are especially encouraged to apply***
More information here.