High on Tech

This year, the Grace Hopper Conference was held in Tucson, AZ, from September 30 to October 3, beginning on a record-breaking 101°F day. Since its inception in 1994, the Anita Borg Institute and other academic, corporate, and government sponsors have funded this conference to "bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront" [1]. As the "world's largest gathering of technical women" [2], it has positively affected the careers of thousands of technical women like me.

Although I thoroughly expected sponsorship and enrollment to be down in these hard economic times, the commitment to recruiting and retaining women hasn't waned. Registration had to be cut off at 1,608 participants (up 11 percent over last year) [3], and the positive energy was palpable. Big-name technology sponsors from colleges, labs, and industry were out in full force – despite budget cuts and layoffs – and dominated the exhibition space, actively recruiting and conducting on-site interviews.

Despite the increased number of participants, the conference was expertly organized and flowed smoothly. Very rarely did I wait in a line for anything, including food or bathrooms (partly because of the temporary conversion of men's bathrooms). The course content was carefully selected, and the speakers were engaging, which was clearly evident by several standing-room-only sessions.

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