Prominent Women in Technology to Be Honored at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing
PALO ALTO, Calif. — August 9, 2010 —The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI) announced today the winners of this year’s Anita Borg Social Impact and Technical Leadership Awards and the Denice Denton Emerging Leader Award. The winners will be honored for their accomplishments and contributions to women in technology at an awards ceremony on September 30, 2010, during the10th Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC) in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Anita Borg Social Impact Award honors an individual or team that has caused technology to have a positive impact on the lives of women and society or has caused women to have a significant impact on the design and use of technology. The 2010 award winner is Ann Quiroz Gates. Ann Quiroz Gates is the Associate Vice-President of Research and Sponsored Projects at the University of Texas at El Paso. As the founder of the Computing Alliance for Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Ann Gates’ leadership is making a significant social impact by increasing the number of Latinos and Latinas graduating from college and seeking graduate studies in STEM fields. The Anita Borg Social Impact Award is underwritten by Microsoft.
The Anita Borg Technical Leadership Award is given to a woman who has inspired the women’s technology community through outstanding technological and social contributions. This year’s winner, Laura Haas, is an IBM Fellow and Director of Computer Science based at IBM Research – Almaden . She directs research in information management, human computer interaction, theoretical foundations of computing, and healthcare informatics. Laura Haas is also one of the founders of IBM’s information integration solutions, which today include products that can integrate both structured and unstructured data via federation, consolidation and search. She was named an IBM Fellow, IBM’s highest technical honor in 2009, and she was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2010. The Anita Borg Technical Leadership Award is underwritten by Cisco.
The Denice Denton Emerging Leader Award is given each year to a junior non-tenured faculty member under the age of 40 at an academic or research institution pursuing high-quality research in any field of engineering or physical sciences while contributing significantly to promoting diversity in his/her environment. The 2010 Denice Denton Award winner is Beth Pruitt, an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. Beth Pruitt’s research is in the field of microsystems and their application to biomechanics and microscale mechanobiology. In addition, Beth Pruitt has identified social and professional connections, spanning the spectrum of ages and expertise, as central to fostering a strong, agile engineering community. As such, she has worked tirelessly to invite a full spectrum of participants to join in engineering endeavors. The Denice Denton Award is underwritten by Microsoft.
The world’s largest gathering of women in computing in industry, academia, and government, GHC is a five-day technical conference designed to bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront. Conference registration is now open. For more information, go to www.gracehopper.org.
About the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI)
The Anita Borg Institute provides resources and programs to help industry, academia, and government recruit, retain, and develop women leaders in high-tech fields, resulting in higher levels of technological innovation. ABI programs serve high-tech women by creating a community and providing tools to help them develop their careers. ABI is a not-for-profit 501(c) 3 charitable organization. ABI Partners include: Google, Microsoft, HP, CA, Cisco, First Republic Bank, IBM, Intel, Intuit, Lockheed Martin, National Science Foundation, NSA, NetApp, SAP, Oracle/Sun, Symantec, Thomson Reuters, Wilson Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, Motorola Foundation, Yahoo!, Amazon, Facebook, and Raytheon. For more information, visit www.anitaborg.org.
Media Contact:
Jerri Barrett
Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
650-857-6095 office
408-204-7229 mobile
jerrib@anitaborg.org