Fact Sheet and Media Advisory
Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference 2008
A Program of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
***General Media Advisory***
PDF version of this information
What: 2008 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference - www.gracehopper.org
Theme: We Build a Better World
Overview: Women in computing are building a better world; from bringing computers to children in the third world to mentoring their peers in large corporations. The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference brings together women in all aspects of computer science and engineering. The event offers women the opportunity to learn about new technologies, to build networks and advance their careers in both industry and academia.
Where: Keystone Resort, Keystone Colorado
Website: www.gracehopper.org
Media Contact: jerrib@anitaborg.org or 650-857-6095
When: October 1-4, 2008
Why: The leading conference for women in the field of computer science, the Grace Hopper Celebration provides a forum to inspire, educate, encourage and create awareness of opportunities for women in the field of computing and to celebrate the considerable achievement of women in the field. This year’s theme, We Build a Better World, emphasizes the positive impact women in the computing and technology fields are having on the world and will also provide inspiration to the attendees to continue to make change happen within their organizations.
Who: The largest gathering of Women in Computing in the World includes leading women from industry and government, professors and researchers, graduate and undergraduate students. Plenary sessions, technical papers, panels, poster sessions, ACM Student Research Competition (SRC), PhD Forum and workshops will be delivered by successful researchers and professionals in the area of computer science.
Anticipated attendance: 1600+ (2007 attendance — 1436)
2007 Keynotes
- Mary Lou Jepson, Chief Technology Officer, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Project
- Fran Allen, IBM Fellow Emerita
Invited Technical Speakers:
- To Be Announced
Conference Leadership:
- General Chair — Anne Condon, University of British Columbia
- Program Chair — Heidi Kvinge, Intel
History: Co-founded in 1994 by Dr. Anita Borg (1949-2003) and Dr. Telle Whitney and named to honor the legacy of US Navy Admiral, Grace Murray Hopper. Admiral Hopper’s work on compilers and on making machines understand ordinary language instructions led ultimately to the development of the business language COBOL.
There have been seven Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conferences:
- 1994 in Washington D.C.
- 1997 in San Jose, California
- 2000 in Cape Cod, Massachusetts
- 2002 in Vancouver, British Columbia
- 2004 in Chicago, Illinois
- 2006 in San Diego, California
- 2007 in Orlando, Florida
Each year the Conference has grown and 2007 was a complete sell out with a record setting 1436 attendees from 68 different companies, 206 academic institutions and 12 government labs and agencies. The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computer Conference is global in scope with representatives from 23 countries attending in 2007. These countries represented were Albania, Australia, Bahrain, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, Georgia, Germany, India, Israel, Mexico, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sudan, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States.
Green
The 2008 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference is committed to being a Green Conference.
The Conference Design: Plenary sessions, technical papers, panels, poster sessions and workshops by successful researchers and professionals in the area of computer science.
Grace Hopper Conference 2007 Sponsors
Corporate and Government Sponsors
Platinum Corporate Sponsors: Cisco, Google, HP, IBM, Intel, Sun Microsystems, and Microsoft. Platinum Government Underwriter: National Science Foundation (NSF). Gold Corporate Sponsors: Amazon, CA, and Yahoo. Silver Corporate Sponsors: Argonne National laboratory, eBay, Goldman Sachs, Intuit, Juniper Networks, SAIC, Salesforce.com, Symantec, and Thoughtworks. Bronze Corporate Sponsors: Adobe, NetApp, Oracle, and AT&T Research Labs. Supporter Corporate Sponsors: Akamai Technologies, Chubb, Harris Corporation, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and State Farm Insurance. Start-Up/Non-Profit Sponsors: National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), Invent Your Future Enterprises. Founding Sponsors: Computer Research Association (CRA) and CRA-W.
Academic Underwriters
Gold Academic Underwriters: Georgia Tech College of Computing, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Science, Princeton School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and University of Southampton. Silver Academic Underwriters: Carnegie Mellon The Information Networking Institute, New York University, Northwestern University, California Institute of Technology, and UC Berkeley. Bronze Academic Underwriters: Calit2 and Jacobs School of Engineering, Penn Engineering, Indiana University, Tufts, University of Iowa, University of Texas at Austin, UCSC Baskin Engineering, UCSD, and University of Waterloo. Affiliate Academic Underwriters: Arizona State University, Cornell University, Pace University, Purdue University, Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Arizona, University of Delaware, www.STARSAlliance.org, and The College of Computing and Informatics at UNC Charlotte.
Awards Banquet and Celebration: Announces the award recipients of the prestigious
- Anita Borg Award for Technical Leadership
- Anita Borg Social Impact Award sponsored by Microsoft
- Anita Borg Change Agent Awards
- Denice Denton Memorial Award
About the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI): In an increasingly competitive global marketplace the Anita Borg Institute provides resources and programs for industry, academia and government to help them recruit, retain and develop women leaders in high tech fields resulting in higher levels of technology innovation. ABI programs serve high-tech women creating a community and providing tools to develop their careers. The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology is a not-for-profit 501 (c) (3) charitable organization. ABI Partners: Hewlett- Packard, Microsoft Corporation, Sun Microsystems, Google, IBM, Intel, Cisco and Juniper Networks www.gracehopper.org
About ACM:
ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery http://www.acm.org, is an educational and scientific society uniting the world’s computing educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field’s challenges. ACM strengthens the profession’s collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.
The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing is a program of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI) and is co-presented by the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology and the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM). www.gracehopper.org
Media Contact: Contact jerrib@anitaborg.org or phone 650-857-6095.