Fran Allen to receive Turing Award

Posted February 21, 2007 at 12:10 PM | Tagged as: Computing, Geekout, People I Admire, Technology, Women! | Comments Off

Woo hoo! From the latest ACM Press Release (emphasis mine):

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, has named Frances E. Allen the recipient of the 2006 A.M. Turing Award for contributions that fundamentally improved the performance of computer programs in solving problems, and accelerated the use of high performance computing. This award marks the first time that a woman has received this honor. The Turing Award, first presented in 1966, and named for British mathematician Alan M. Turing, is widely considered the “Nobel Prize in Computing.” It carries a $100,000 prize, with financial support provided by Intel Corporation.

Congratulations, Fran! (See my pictures of Fran at GHC 2004.)

Over at USA Today, Kevin Maney has a great article on Fran. He tells her story and comments on the lack of women in technology fields at the same time.

Maney writes, “Allen, now retired from IBM Research, started in computing in 1957 — a time when tech companies, believe it or not, seemed like wide-open and exciting places for women to build careers.” This echoes the sentiments expressed to me by Milly Koss last year, when she told me the story of how she was hired by Eckert-Mauchley just after getting engaged (typically a death knoll for a woman trying to start a career in the 50’s).

I love how Maney confronts the hype around girls and women not being suited for math and science — head on. “First of all, it’s ridiculous to suggest that girls are less predisposed to math and science. Allen is not a freak of nature. Instead, something happened to the technology profession — and to public attitudes about it — to scare off girls.” I couldn’t agree more.

I remember first learning about Fran Allen, back when I was an undergrad. (Deepak encouraged us to learn about the history of computer science and, in particular, about the role of women in its history.) Ever since, she’s been a role model to me, and I know she’s been a role model and mentor to many other women as well. I’m so excited for her to receive this award, not only because it acknowledges her valuable contributions and dedication to the field, but also because it will make her story better known to scores of people (especially young women) considering a career in computing.

Anassa Kata, Drew!

Posted February 11, 2007 at 5:09 PM | Tagged as: Bryn Mawr, Current Events, People I Admire, Women! | Comments Off

It’s official! Earlier today, Drew Gilpin Faust (Bryn Mawr ‘68) was unanimously confirmed as President of Harvard!

You probably need no reminder, if you’ve heard the news, but she is the first woman to hold this office (as well as “the best candidate”, according to the senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation). As Drew herself said, “I’m not the woman president of Harvard. I’m the president of Harvard.”

CNN has the AP story, and the Harvard newspaper, The Crimson, live-blogged the announcement.

Also, don’t miss Bryn Mawr’s write-up and Drew’s 2001 Commencement speech.

Reading She’s Such a Geek

Posted December 29, 2006 at 1:48 AM | Tagged as: Books, GHC, People I Admire, Technology, Women! | Just 1 Comment

I’m only a third of the way through She’s Such a Geek but I’m loving and finding something to appreciate in every story. This book is a required read for any woman in (or interested in) science and technology… as well as for any educator or mentor that works with women. Hell, it should just be required for everyone, period.

One thing that has me almost giddy as I’m reading are the stories of how these women got interested in math, science, and technology. So far only one has mentioned a man as their primary mentor; the rest have cited mostly women (sometimes specifically their mothers) as theirs. Woo hoo!

I’m thrilled because this is in stark contrast to what I heard at GHC back in October. There, women repeatedly cited their fathers as their key mentors. Granted, most of the women saying this were of a slightly older generation than those writing in this book… so perhaps this means that the feminist movement did succeed in creating a generation of women that was able to empower their daughters and other women! Still, at GHC, I felt that the speakers should have taken greater care in who they cited as key in their development and achievement; they were addressing a younger audience and the impression I got from some of their statements was that a man is necessary in guiding a woman to success in math, science, and engineering.

I’m sure this is not what these women intended to communicate, but it’s how the message was received on this end. I may be beyond the point where I’m looking for advice on finding mentors and inspiration, but I’m not beyond caring about the messages being sent to young women today! So again I say to all, go read She’s Such a Geek (the book and the blog) and give a copy of the book to young woman or mother of a girl!

Uma tells it like it is

Posted July 13, 2006 at 4:16 PM | Tagged as: People I Admire, Women! | Comments Off

Leave it to Uma Thurman to tell it like it is:

The stay-at-home mom is over not just because of women’s liberation but because of men’s liberation from wanting to be the breadwinners.

Not only does she essentially call the stay-at-home mom a relic, but she also calls out the men on their often unspoken desire to be free of traditional roles (which I completely support, BTW). Now if only the men could embrace the potential for change, and share more responsibility and equal pay with women!

In Memoriam: Kathleen Mauchly Antonelli

Posted April 24, 2006 at 2:29 PM | Tagged as: Computing, People I Admire, Women! | Comments Off

Kathleen Mauchly Antonelli (nee McNulty), one of the 6 female programmers of the ENIAC, passed away Thursday, April 20, 2006.

Kathleen McNulty Mauchly Antonelli was one of the six original programmers of the ENIAC machine (the world’s first all-electronic computer), thus making her one of the world’s first programmers. Initially, she was hired by Aberdeen Proving Grounds to be a “Computer” where ballistics trajectory equations were calculated by hand to make firing tables for guns and cannons during World War II. Ms. Antonelli was quickly promoted to working on, and then supervising, these calculations on the Differential Analyzer, an electro-mechanical analog calculating device. With the invention of ENIAC, these computations went from taking 40 hours (by hand), to an hour (by Analyzer), to just mere seconds (by ENIAC) and Ms. Antonelli was recruited into the initial programming team. Without prior training and only schematics to work with, the all-woman team programmed ENIAC. After WWII, she helped some of the world’s leading mathematicians use ENIAC, and helped teach the next generation of computer programmers. In 1997 Antonelli was inducted into the Women In Technology International (WITI) Hall of Fame. Ms. Antonelli received her Bachelors Degree in Mathematics from Chestnut Hill College in 1942.

I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Antonelli at the 2004 Grace Hopper Celebration. My thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends.