PALO ALTO, CA — (Marketwired) — 09/10/13 — (ABI), a non-profit organization focused on the advancement of women in computing, today announced 350 scholarship awards for female students of computer science and engineering from around the world to attend the 2013 (GHC), October 2-5, 2013 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Since 1994, both women with technical careers and men concerned with the role of women in the tech industry have come together at The Grace Hopper Celebration to share advice, ideas, and research on topics ranging from cutting-edge developments in technology to how to develop leadership skills. This year-s scholarship recipients have diverse backgrounds and interests including software engineering, human-computer interaction, algorithms and data structure, and mobile technologies. ABI prides itself on the strong international presence GHC draws each year from its over 4,000 attendees. For 2013, the majority of scholarship recipients come from the United States, with Canada, Chile, and India being the next most represented countries.
“Living in a third-world country such opportunities for girls are highly unlikely which limits and discourages them from pursuing careers in computing,” said GHC Scholarship recipient Viola Bazanye of Makerere University in Uganda.
“We are extremely proud to offer these bright young Computing technologists the opportunity to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration, participate in our programs, meet and network with women and men engaged in innovation, and simply celebrate the achievements of women in technology,” said Telle Whitney, president and CEO of the Anita Borg Institute. “These opportunities are extremely important to educating and motivating young women to excel.”
This year, ABI was able to award 10% more scholarships than in 2012. Scholarships were awarded to promising undergraduate and graduate students, as well as post-doctoral fellows who might otherwise not have been able to attend the event. The scholarship program was designed to encourage participation in GHC from women and other underrepresented minorities in computing. Recipients were chosen by a committee comprised of women and men from industry and academia who review and score each application on academic achievement, potential in the field, thoughtfulness and quality of essay, and financial need.
The 2013 GHC theme, “Think Big. Drive Forward.” is designed to encourage women technologists to dream ambitiously and to teach them skills necessary to pursuing their vision. GHC Scholarship recipient Kelsey Pritsker from California State University, Chanel Islands echoes this theme, “I hope to combine my skills in computing with my love of aerospace, and work as a software engineer on exciting and futuristic projects that involve my childhood dreams of space.”
Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze conference sponsors supported over 150 student scholarships. Additional scholarships have been provided by the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM-W), Bloomberg, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, the National Science Foundation, SAP and State Farm. Information on scholarship support is available at .
Keynote speakers in technology Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer of Facebook and Founder of LeanIn.org; Maria Klawe, President of Harvey Mudd College; Ana Pinczuk, Senior Vice President of Services Transformation at Cisco; and Dr. Arati Prabhakar, Director of DARPA contribute their time to GHC in order to help women technologists like Kelsey to realize their dreams.
GHC is the largest gathering of women technologists in the world, and is expected to attract over 4,000 participants from over 40 countries in industry, academia, and government. Scholarship recipients will benefit from four days of inspiring programs featuring over 200 speakers bringing together women technologists at various phases of education and career, including students, women just starting their professional careers, mid-career technologists, women entrepreneurs, and those in the highest leadership positions at multinational technology corporations.
Platinum Corporate Sponsors of the 2013 Grace Hopper Celebration include Amazon, CA Technologies, Cisco, Dell, eBay, Facebook, Google, HP, IBM, Intel, Intuit, Juniper Networks, Lockheed Martin Corporation, Microsoft, NetApp, Neustar, SAP, and Thomson Reuters. Gold Corporate Sponsors include Allstate, American Express, Dropbox, LinkedIn, ThoughtWorks and @WalmartLabs. Silver Corporate Sponsors include Airbnb, AmazonLab 126, AMD, Andreessen Horowitz, Aruba Networks, Bank of America, Barclays, Bloomberg, Box, Broadcom, Comcast NBC Universal, Credit Suisse, EMC2, FactSet Research Systems, Freddie Mac, GE, GitHub, Goldman Sachs, Groupon, Internet Society (ISOC), J.P. Morgan, Mastercard, Morgan Stanley, Nationwide, New York Life Insurance Company, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Palantir, Quora, Rackspace, Raytheon, RMS, Salesforce, Square, State Farm, Symantec, Teradata, Twitter, USAA, Verizon, VMware, White Pages, Xerox, Yahoo! and Zendesk. Silver government patrons include NSA.
Gold Academic Sponsors include Carnegie Mellon University, Computer Science Stanford University, CS Dept. USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Georgia Tech College of Computing, Harvey Mudd College, Hasso Plattner Institute, Michigan Techological University, New York University, Purdue University, Texas A&M Computer Science and Engineering, UMN College of Science and Engineering, University of California Berkeley, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Virginia Tech.
To register for GHC 2013, visit .
The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI) connects, inspires, and guides women in computing and organizations that view technology innovation as a strategic imperative. Founded in 1997 by computer scientist Anita Borg, our reach extends to more than 42 countries. We believe technology innovation powers the global economy, and that women are crucial to building technology the world needs. As a social enterprise, we recognize women making positive contributions, and advise organizations on how to improve performance by building more inclusive teams. ABI partners include: Cisco, Google, HP, Microsoft, Thomson Reuters, Amazon, CA Technologies, Dell, eBay, Facebook, First Republic Bank, IBM, Intel, Intuit, Juniper Networks, Lockheed Martin, Marvell, National Science Foundation, National Security Agency, NetApp, SAP, Symantec, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Broadcom, EMC, Neustar, Raytheon, Salesforce.com, VentureLoop, Xerox and Yahoo! The Anita Borg Institute is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. For more information, visit
Follow the Anita Borg Institute on Twitter at @anitaborg_org and become a fan at .
Kate Carey
New Venture Communications
650-814-3088
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