Snippets from GHC2010 - Part 2: Five reasons to participate in the PhD Forum

One of the many ways you can participate in the Grace Hopper Conference is through the PhD Forum. The PhD Forum is intended for PhD students in their last year of the program to share their thesis research.

Why should you participate in this forum when you already have other technical conferences? I participated this year and found it more beneficial than I imagined. I didn't know what to expect because this was my very first GHC. In five bullet points, this is why you should participate in the PhD Forum

• The forum is split in several sessions. This year each session had 3 presentations. Each session has a mentor assigned that helps you through the presentation and before and after the event. My mentor was the amazing Patty Lopez from Intel. Patty was extremely useful before, during, and after the presentation, and after the conference was over. I am happy to have found such a mentor!
• The audience is from a wide range of technical backgrounds. Unlike most presentations we give during grad school, this time around I was presenting to students from outside my area of expertise, people from industry and even undergrads. I found it challenging and fun to present to such a diverse audience, but, beyond all, it made me think about how to distill my research to its fundamental concepts that can be explained to anyone with some technical computing background.
• GHC in general is a very friendly community and place for mentoring and networking. I was very impressed with the questions from the audience, both in technical content and interest in the work. I also presented my research during a poster session, which allowed people that were interested in more details to drop by and chat some more on the subject.
• This was the very first time when I received written anonymous feedback on a research presentation. I was overwhelmed with the response: people took the time to write thoughtful comments and provide written feedback on the technical content, the presentation delivery and the appealing factor of my research. I remember one of the comments that made laugh: "cool idea, I can't wait to see it in my next processor!" :)
• Several people from industry got interested in my research and asked me whether I am interested in internships. Unfortunately, I'm planning to graduate soon and I couldn't take advantage of such opportunities, but it's important to know that such opportunities exist and GHC is the place to "grab" them. One person in particular made my day when she came after lunch that day to let me know that her academic department is hiring and they could use more computer architects! 

If you participated in a PhD Forum at GHC what are your five reasons to encourage others to take advantage of this special opportunity?

Update: Somehow, I forgot one of the most useful aspects of submitting your work to the PhD Forum: when you submit your work, you are required to provide the name of several reviewers that get to read your proposal and give you feedback. When I received my reviews for my PhD Forum proposal, it was such a boost of confidence to see what others thought about my research. Who doesn't need a boost of confidence?! You may think that it requires time to apply for the PhD Forum, but it is time very well invested! 

Snippets from GHC2010 - Part 1: Anita Borg

One early morning (7:30 am to be more precise :D) at GHC2010, I had a special breakfast with Google scholars from all over the world.  I felt very fortunate to be part of this crowd. But even more fortunate to listen to Alan Eustace (Google Senior Vice President, Engineering & Research - at the time of this writing) talking about Anita Borg. It turns out Alan and Anita joined DEC's Western Research Laboratory the same day and they were friends for 15 years. 

Listening to Alan's memories of Anita Borg confirmed my impression of her. She was a fearless technical woman! I wish I remember all that was said... I'll try to document what I do remember. 

Anita Bord did research in systems with publications in the top conferences of the field (ASPLOS, ISCA, SOSP - check out her DBLP entry). It was during one of the SOSP conferences that she managed to get together all women in the conference (a handful), start the Systers mailing list and initiate what years later became Anita Borg Institute. It turns out that the first discussion happened in the ladies room. All women in the conference fit into one. I really think Anita would be really happy and proud to learn that at GHC this year, there were so many women that all men restrooms on several floors of the hotel were thoughtfully transformed in ladies rooms. Hard to believe? See it for yourself! 

Anita was a fearless spirit, she loved to dance, she loved to dress up, she didn't only talk about Woodstock, she actually went to Woodstock, and when she had an idea, it took only weeks to start making it happen. Apparently Alan and Anita used to walk to a coffee shop in Palo Alto and during these walks, she used to talk about her ideas on various topics. It took only a few trips to cristalize her idea of a conference for technical women, what is known today as Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. She was a leader in her field, not because she called herself one, but because everybody that truly knew her wanted to contribute and help make her ideas happen. Alan mentioned that although she's no longer among us, he can still "hear" her persuasive voice and vision. 

Anita had an amazing talent for public speaking. Her illness affected her ability to speak, but she did not give up on talking about women and technology even when it was hard to stay coherent. She truly dedicated her life to encourage women to be fearless and involve themselves in technology.  

I believe GHC is full of events that would make Anita proud: technical presentations, mentoring workshops, brainstorming on how we can encourage more women to participate in computing, and... dance. Oh, yeah, we danced! Someone saw me dancing and said something along these lines: "When I saw you talk in your session, I thought you were sooo serious. You're not that serious..." I added: "I'm very serious! I'm serious at work, serious at play too." :)

It took me three years of thinking about GHC before I actually participated in one. If you haven't started thinking about it, please do! Don't miss on the opportunity of meeting and be inspired by 2K+ women in computing. Next year, GHC is in Portland (Oregon), Nov 8-12. Save the date! (and the money to participate...) Or if you can, even better, participate in this year's GHC India. 

Snippets from Grace Hopper Celebration 2010

I just came back from my first Grace Hopper in Atlanta. I've had a blast! There are so many things that I would like to mention about this conference that I don't know where to start... This year's conference had 2100 participants. Yep, there is no misspelling there, you got it: 2100. I counted them myself :P

I remember the first day surrounded by so many people - (almost) all women for a BIG change -  made me think of the Microsoft TechEd conferences that I attended during my undergrad. That is the last time I saw so many technical people in the same place. I couldn't stop to think about what it takes to organize such an event. My respect and admiration for the organizers has no limit!

I left the conference energized, inspired, humbled and empowered. Everybody that I talked to says the same thing about the event. I want to make it last! I decided to write - for weeks to come - about my experiences that made this GHC so special to me. My goal is to recreate some of the atmosphere there for me to remember, and for the ones that didn't attend to make them think about attending. I've been thinking about attending for 3 years now and I'm really happy that I finally made it! I would like to thank Google that sponsored my trip this year,  ACM for supporting my poster presentation and to all that donated money for the GHC scholarships.

For tons of pictures from the event, check out this amazing collection.

And now... let's get started: Snippets from GHC2010 - Part 1: Anita Borg.