Program Chair Tracy Camp on the CRA-W Career Mentoring Workshops at GHC09

We asked Tracy Camp, Computer Science Professor at Colorado School of Mines, to share a bit of her perspective as Program Chair for Grace Hopper 2009. Here she highlights a unique addition to this year's program. — bj

As the GHC 2009 Program Chair, I know the GHC 2009 program inside and out. There are several wonderful aspects of this year's program - way too many to list. Putting together such a fabulous program takes a lot of time and energy. I owe so many people a BIG THANKS for their efforts. I look forward to giving thanks (and hugs!) at the conference in a few weeks.

There are many pieces of the program that I find exceptionally exciting. I'd like to tell you about the CRA-W Mentoring Workshops that will occur at GHC this year.

BTW, if you haven't heard of CRA-W and the programs that this organization runs, it's time you do! CRA (Computing Research Association) is an association of more than 200 computing departments in North America. CRA-W is CRA's Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research. You can learn about CRA-W and their programs at http://www.cra-w.org/.

CRA-W is sponsoring three sessions at GHC 2009, and each session has been created for a different population that attends GHC. The Undergraduate Student Session will include content on (1) the exciting opportunities in computing today, (2) advice on traversing the road to graduate school, and (3) the overall graduate school experience. The Graduate Student Session will include content on (1) strategies for thriving in graduate school, (2) tips for networking and professional development, and (3) publishing your research. The Early Career Researcher Session will include content on (1) the different career paths for researchers in computing, (2) balancing your professional career with your life outside of work, and (3) preparing for promotion.

These three CRA-W mentoring sessions for undergraduate students, graduate students, and early career professionals will run in parallel on Wednesday (9/30) afternoon from 1-5pm.

I've included the titles and presenters of the sessions below. I'm sure you can see why I'm very excited about having these CRA-W mentoring sessions at GHC this year!

For Undergraduate Students

CSE is for You: Innovation, Flexibility and Exciting Opportunities
Soha Hassoun (Tufts University) and Tessa Lau (IBM Almaden Research
Center)

The Road to Graduate School
Jodi Tims (Baldwin-Wallace College) and Shannon Steinfadt (Kent State
University)

The Graduate School Experience
Eleni Stroulia (University of Alberta), Andrea Danyluk (Williams
College), Ramya Raghavendra (UC Santa Barbara)

For Graduate Students

Graduate School Survival Skills
Yvonne Coady (University of Victoria)

Networking and Professional Development
Susanne Hambrusch (Purdue University)

Publishing Your Research
Lori Clarke (University of Massachusetts)

For Early Career Researchers

Growing Your Research Program
Cecilia Aragon (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) and Justine
Cassell (Northwestern University)

Work/Life Balance
Carla Ellis (Duke University) and Andrea Danyluk (Williams College)

Preparing for Promotion
Dilma da Silva (IBM T. J. Watson Research Center) and Nancy Amato
(Texas A&M University)

For more information see
CRA-W Career Mentoring Workshops