GHC 2007 - Orlando, Florida

"I Invent the Future"

We'll be there and co-locating with the Richard Tapia Diversity in Computing conference.

History will be made.

Shout - Outs and Mad Props ....

to the Town and Country staff that helped me get my job done when I needed it most. Thanks to Chad, Jordan and Johnny. You all rock!

Dr. Sally Ride

The youngest GHC conference participant (my daughter) asked, "How do you start the shuttle?" (To the best of my memory) she answered that several days before launch a series of checks of the shuttle systems, the tanks attached to the shuttle are filled with liquid nitrogen and oxygen, and then the day of the launch there is a countdown when at t -7 seconds sparkers ignite the liquid fuel and at 0 the final rockets ignite and the shuttle is blasted into space at 5 miles/second.



















Dr. Ride was also gracious enough to give autographs and pose for photos. Below, Anita Borg Change Agents Suriya Thevar and Terese Ihenachor along with ABI staff (Deanna and me) and our groupies (my sister and daughter) feel privileged to have had the opportunity to meet Dr. Ride.

Technical Poster Session

Over 70 technical posters were presented during the conference's opening reception. The only thing that over-shadowed the chocolate fondue desert was the fantastic posters.














The ACM Student Research Competition had great entries and the winners of the awards were announced during the banquet. I find ACM SRC's undergraduate winner Erica Yuan's work very interesting.



It was also nice to run into old friends. The women of Techbridge shared what they know about getting/keeping middle-school and high-school girls on track in the sciences and technology.

The New [beautiful and intelligent] Face of Computer Science

The Women
of Georgia Tech

I had a great conversation with Nova. She's from Georgia Tech. Her college brought over 30 women to the conference. She thinks her school represented more than any other. She may be right. Did anyone else bring more?

We were a little thirsty...

Last night me, my sister and daughter decide to take a little drink from the Lion Fountain just outside the conference center.

Meet Rachelle and Eric

Rachelle is the hub of our office. Eric keeps everyone in the loop.
Rachelle is *NOT* a morning person. Eric is a morning person.
Both happily took their posts behind the info booth yesterday morning.

The Awards Banquet

I've had the pleasure of staffing the Anita Borg Awards and Change Agent Scholarships over this past year. Its been an even greater pleasure to finally meet the winners and spend some time with them. What (happily) surprises me about each of them is how 'ordinary' they are. Some people might describe them as 'approachable' but I think it is much more than that. Their respective accomplishments are amazing, but the fact that they are truly just 'regular' people with extraordinary committments to excellence and advancing women in technology is what truly inspires me. It gives me greater confidence in my personal ability to make a positive difference in this world.

I'm nearly speechless...

Speechless would normally be a bad thing for blogging, but I think this may be an exception.

I started my day at 6:00am. It was a running start and hasn't stopped yet. And just to be clear, this is not a complaint *at all*!!! I met our volunteer bloggers, talked to a million and one scholarship recipients (reimbursements tomorrow start at noon!), and many long-time Institute friends.

Some personal highlights:

*I had a great lunch with some first-time GHC-ers. We shared perspectives on imposters-syndrome and how we've dealt with it.

* Amanda became the answer-queen behind the ABI Info Booth. From tech-charter school to ivy league. I can tell she is gonna go far.

* I met up my old Techbridge buddies. Linda, Jeri and Jen - holding it down and giving girls in the (San Francisco) East Bay the space, freedom to explore and reach their potential.