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CISE News & Events
CISE Workshop Woos Women
Gainesville, FL-
Computer science is an exciting and seemingly limitless field. But, like many of its members, the industry's inability to attract women is its proverbial Achilles heel.
"There is a real need for the women's perspective in this industry," said Rory De Simone, lecturer and course coordinator for the University of Florida department of Computer Information, Science and Engineering. "Young women are not generally attracted to this field due to misinformation and misconceptions. The days of Dilbert are over and that needs to be advertised. Our summer workshop attempts to do just that by introducing young high school women to the diversity, multiplicity and opportunities available to CISE graduates. We hope to have the girls develop an understanding to the importance of defining our future through technology by encouraging these talented young women to be among the innovators of their generation."
That was precisely the message at the CISE Workshop for Young Women, held July 18- 21 at the UF CSE building.
De Simone organized and conducted the free workshop for female high school students to inform young women about the field's diverse degree programs and career opportunities. The workshop's well-planned activities allowed them to see the many sides of computer science and engineering.
For instance, the workshop featured lectures and panel discussions with successful women in computer science from both industry and academia. Speakers included Dr. Cammy Abernathy, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for the College of Engineering, D'Arcy Truluck from Barr Engineering Co., Julia Schuneman of International Business Machines, Kristy Rivero of Lockheed -Martin and Janice Hill of NASA.
Workshop participants also toured UF's Smart house, an experimental 500-square-foot house that uses the latest computer and sensor technology to provide automatic home assistance for people who are aging or injured.
In addition to the Smart house tour, the girls had a look at UF's Digital Animated Avatar project or DIANA. DIANA is a virtual woman used to train medical students to develop their bed side manner. The student physicians ask DIANA questions about her illness, which she answers with programmed responses. She can also measure the student's eye contact during questioning.
The workshop also included hands-on, skill-building demonstrations to introduce the basics of computer programming. The young women built and programmed robots, learned to use an object oriented programming language called ALICE and created Web pages.
"These young women are amazing and so very bright." De Simone said. "They grasped the lectured material very quickly and exceeded my expectations."
The fourth day of the workshop included a trip to downtown Disney for a customized behind-the-scenes tour of Disney Quest, an interactive indoor theme park with virtual reality and three-dimensional attractions.
The workshop was a huge success. Forty young women attended and we anticipate increasing that number for next year's workshop, De Simone said.
Most of the participants came from East Side, Gainesville and Buchholz high schools. However, three of the young women were from out of town and drove to Gainesville every day to attend the workshop. All but two of the women said they would attend next year's workshop.
"Since the workshop was so very successful, I refer to it as our' blockbuster'," De Simone said. "Next year will be the sequel."
The sequel will include several changes, De Simone said. If the 2005 participants return, the workshop will be split into two sessions: the introductory program and a new advanced curriculum. De Simone anticipates having more money to organize the next year's event. She also hopes the success of this year's workshop will encourage professors to share their research next year with these potential CISE undergraduates.
De Simone offered a special "thank you" to Susan Chong of Lockheed-Martin and Martha Barnwell of Progress Energy who made this event possible through their generous donations and support.
She also thanked Mike Scott of Disney Quest for the free tour, Dr. Jonathan Earle, Associate Dean of Student Affairs and Associate Professor of Agricultural & Biological Engineering, for his kind kindness and Dr. Sartaj Sahni, Chairman of the CISE department for his support.
For more information about the CISE Summer Workshop for Young Women, visit http://www.cise.ufl.edu/~rjd/workshop.html.
Source: Rory DeSimone
Writer: Allie Wilson
