Seeking Nominations for the 2013 Women of Vision Awards

I serve on the Advisory Board of the Anita Borg Institute, an organization focused on increasing women's participation in the technology workforce --- as technologists, and as technical leaders. One important aspect of our work is recognizing the contributions of amazing women technical leaders all over the world. We do this through the Women of Vision program.

We are now accepting nominations for the 2013 Women of Vision awards.

We could greatly use your help identifying women who deserve recognition, and facilitating their nomination. These women are incredible achievers whose stories inspire us, and whose example can be held up as a role model for thousands of other technical women. A bit of background:

These awards recognize outstanding women for Leadership, Social Impact, and Innovation. See the full descriptions of these award categories online.

Last year we honoured these amazing women:

• Sarita Adve, Professor of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, for Innovation.
• Sarah Revi Sterling, Faculty Director, ATLAS Institute at the University of Colorado at Boulder, for Social Impact.
• Jennifer Chayes, Distinguished Scientist and Managing Director, Microsoft Research New England, for Leadership.

You can also see the complete list of past winners online.

Please think about a woman at your organization or school (or anywhere, really) who deserves to be honoured for her career achievements, and nominate her! Please contact me if there is any way I can help you with this action.

The deadline to submit a nomination is December 14, 2012.

Also be sure to save the date for the 8th annual Women of Vision Awards Banquet on May 9, 2013 in Santa Clara, California. Registration passes and table sponsorships will be available for purchase soon.

I'm Going To Be a TEDx Speaker

I'm happy that I'm starting to get noticed when it comes to my public speaking abilities. My latest speaking request was for a local edition of TED on December 2: TEDxSandyHillWomen.  A fellow speaker had been at my Processing workshop and thought I'd enjoy talking about women in tech.   

I am going to be a TEDx speaker in Ottawa! I'm going to talk about women in tech in some form or another. Excited! ted.com/tedx/events/66…
— Gail Carmichael (@gailcarmichael) November 4, 2012

I haven't decided exactly what I'll talk about yet, but you can be sure I'll be following my own strict presentation policies (including having little or no text on my slides).  I might go with the "It's Not About the Numbers" theme I sometimes talk about.  More to come!

Passing the CU-WISE Torch

I'm one of the original founders of our Carleton University Women in Science and Engineering group.  I stayed on the exec for a few years, stepping down only when I was pregnant, since I knew I wasn't going to be there the whole year.  I was the last remaining original exec.  The transition into new leadership was tricky at first, but I couldn't be more proud of what the new generation of CU-WISE is doing!

I put a lot of effort into making CU-WISE successful and, more importantly, sustainable.  From ensuring we had an up-to-date web presence, to creating a consistent brand, to planning outreach events and events for current students, to getting our mentoring program off the ground... I did a lot.  When I left, they needed more than one person to replace me! Despite my efforts in documenting everything, it was difficult at first for those who remained to get off the ground.

After a bit of struggle last year, CU-WISE is totally rocking it this year.  We finally scored some coveted office space, which the new co-chairs have set up very nicely.  They use it to meet in person weekly, something we never did before (but should have).  One of our past execs has offered to get the mentoring program going again remotely, despite being a post-doc at another institution now.  There are several really interesting new events planned, including outreach events that build off of what I had created in the past.  Things are looking amazing.  The only thing that's needed is a few more executive members to help the current team out!

So why do I tell you all this? Yes, I did want to share my pride, but I also wanted to encourage anyone else who wonders whether all the effort is worth it.  It is! If you're trying to get a women in science and/or engineering program off the ground at your school or workplace, give it all you can reasonably give.  Document everything so others can take over later.  And if you're finding nobody is able to carry the torch at first, don't fret - persevere, and you'll see the fruits of your effort in no time.  You'll be amazed at what comes next.