NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing El Paso – Las Cruces Affiliate

On February 10, 2012, the NCWIT El Paso/Las Cruces Affiliate Award Event was held at the University of Texas at El Paso’s Chemistry and Computer Science Building. During this ceremony, the winners and runners-up of the award were recognized for their achievements and provided with their respective rewards. The winner of the educator award, Mr. Ismail Turel, was also revered in this event. Amongst the winners were Andrea Rivera, who was also a was a national winner, and Noor Muhyi, who not only was a national winner, but was also selected to participate at the White House Science Fair.
Attendance at the event consisted, among others, of the award winners, their families, educators, and faculty and students of the Computer Science Department at UTEP and the Computational Sciences Program. The event started by greeting the girls at a reception where they had the opportunity to speak with various research students at UTEP and share their ideas. In addition, they were able to talk about their aspirations with various educators, and gain advice on how to carry on with their ambitions. The girls also had the opportunity to meet each other, and share their interests.
Finally, the Awards Ceremony was initiated by Dr. Elsa Villa’s keynote speech in which she briefly spoke about the impact of women throughout history, the advancements in technology, and the opportunity to expand in this field. She applauded the participants for their achievements and contributions to society, and encouraged them to continue their advancements in engineering. 
Let’s welcome these fantastic young women into the NCWIT family.