NCWIT Awards celebrate outstanding contributions, challenge stereotypes about women in tech, and encourage persistence.
NCWIT Summit award celebrations are available to watch on the livestream: ncwit.org/livestream.
The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) is holding its annual “NCWIT Summit on Women and IT: Where Conversations Lead to Change” May 15-17, 2018, in Grapevine, Texas. At this three-day event (ncwit.org/summit), more than 725 change leaders from the NCWIT community of educators, entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and social scientists convene to focus on improving inclusion and diversity in computing.
“NCWIT Awards are designed to encourage excellence in change leadership,” said NCWIT CEO and Co-founder Lucy Sanders. “The NCWIT Summit is a fitting stage to amplify the outstanding work of cross-generational technologists, along with champions who make their valuable contributions possible.”
A summary of honorees is as follows, and full commendations are available in the printed program (PDF):
The 2018 NCWIT Collegiate Award winners are Salam Daher, Alankrita Dayal, Kanchana Raja, and Joanna Rosa Rivero; honorable mentions are Katherine Avery, Tegan Brennan, Samsara Counts, Bethany Davis, Catherine Elisa Diaz, Demi Guo, Elizabeth Koning, Madolyn MacDonald, Laurel Orr, Samantha Runke, Aarti Sathyanarayana, Prachi Shah, Katherine Tang, Courtney Thurston, and Shelby Ziccardi. The Collegiate Award, sponsored by Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Qualcomm, honors the outstanding computing accomplishments of undergraduate and graduate women. Conferred annually, the award recognizes technical contributions to projects that demonstrate a high level of innovation and potential impact. (aspirations.org/18CollegiateAward)
The 2018 NCWIT Harrold and Notkin Research and Graduate Mentoring Award recipient is University of Minnesota Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Dr. Maria Gini. The Harrold and Notkin Award, sponsored by the NCWIT Board of Directors, is given in memory of Mary Jean Harrold and David Notkin, in honor of their outstanding research, graduate mentoring, and diversity contributions. (ncwit.org/18HarroldNotkin)
The 2018 NCWIT Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award recipients are Dr. J. Jenny Li, Dr. Gabriela Marcu, Dr. Zoë Wood, and Dr. Lori Pollock. This award recognizes faculty for their outstanding mentorship, high-quality research opportunities, recruitment of women and minority students, and efforts to encourage and advance undergraduates in computing-related fields. (ncwit.org/urmaward)
The 2018 NCWIT Aspirations in Computing (AiC) National Educator Award winner is High School Computing Instructor Jeff Solin. The National Educator Award honors educators who have demonstrated an exceptionally strong, consistent, and positive involvement in supporting female students in computer science. (aspirations.org/18NationalEdAward)
The 2018 NCWIT Academic Alliance (AA) Seed Fund recipients are Johnson County Community College, the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, Oklahoma State University, and the University of New Hampshire. The AA Seed Fund, sponsored by Microsoft Research, awards AA members with startup funds to develop and implement initiatives for recruiting or retaining women in computing. (ncwit.org/seedfund)
The 2018 NCWIT Surging Enrollment Seed Fund recipients are the Colorado School of Mines, Michigan Technological University, the University of Central Florida, and the University of Minnesota. This special call of the NCWIT AA Seed Fund supports proposals that develop and test approaches to increasing diversity of incoming computing students during an enrollment surge. (ncwit.org/SurgingSF)
The 2018 NCWIT Pioneer in Tech Award recipients are Lorinda Cherry and Evi Nemeth. This award recognizes technical women whose lifetime contributions have significantly impacted the landscape of technological innovation. Pioneer in Tech Award recipients are role models whose legacies continue to inspire generations of young women to pursue computing and make history in their own right. (ncwit.org/pioneeraward)
The 2018 Reel Women in Technology (WiT) Award honoree is Ariana Richards. The Reel WiT Award, co-presented by Google and NCWIT, recognizes the best media portrayals of leading women in technology who can serve as role models for girls and women with computing aspirations while disrupting the stereotypes of women in technology. (ncwit.org/reelwit)
View the full 2018 Summit agenda (ncwit.org/summit/agenda) for more event highlights.
Awards ceremonies and plenaries will stream live via the NCWIT website (ncwit.org/livestream) and the NCWIT Facebook page, giving change leaders for women in tech in remote locations access to these inspirational acknowledgements in real time. Videos and presentations will be available following the conclusion of the Summit (ncwit.org/summit/archives).
We’d like to give a huge thanks to our Media Partner Facebook for production and for making the livestream possible. We are also grateful to 2018 NCWIT Summit Sponsors Anchor Point, Autodesk, Johnson & Johnson, Palo Alto Networks, and PNC.
About NCWIT
The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) is a non-profit community of more than 1,100 universities, companies, non-profits, and government organizations nationwide working to increase girls’ and women’s meaningful participation in computing. NCWIT equips change leaders with resources for taking action in recruiting, retaining, and advancing women from K–12 and higher education through industry and entrepreneurial careers. Find out more at www.ncwit.org/summit.
NCWIT receives significant financial support from Lifetime Partner Apple; Strategic Partners NSF, Microsoft, Bank of America, Google, Intel, Merck, and AT&T; as well as from Investment Partners Avaya, Pfizer, Bloomberg, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Qualcomm, and Facebook. View all of NCWIT’s supporters at http://www.ncwit.org/about/supporters.