Mentors help women identify with the computing field and persue careers in technology.

Conference Details

April 14, 2013

The conference will feature a series of panel discussions and hands-on workshops for women seeking to develop their skills in computing. We are launching our mentorship program to connect female computing students and women entering industry with faculty and industry professionals in Southern California. Our Career Expo will feature a variety of companies and programs in Southern California - bringing industry directly to attendees.

Goals

  1. Provide mentorship and guidance for women who are preparing to enter industry and academia in computing fields.
  2. Encourage young women in tech to start their own projects, collaborate and to become involved in independent and open source projects with their peers and mentors.
  3. Facilitate the growth of a vibrant female tech community in Southern California
  4. To show women the broad variety of careers and opportunities they have with a background in computing.

Women seeking to begin their careers will be given numerous opportunities to network and interact directly with companies and organizations. Young women in high school or beginning college will be immersed tech culture with their peers to inspire them to pursue computing. All attendees will be given the tools to collaborate with their peers and to independently start their own technical endeavors.

Location

Speakers

Tara Tiger Brown

Tara Tiger Brown is an accomplished tech entrepreneur, educator and opinion writer with over 15 years experience as Technical Director and Product Manager working at UC Irvine, Born This Way Foundation, USC, Shazam, Topspin and Microsoft.

Brown's latest projects include Los Angeles Makerspace, a non-profit community space for makers and tinkerers of all ages to create and collaborate and Represent.LA, an open-source map to put Los Angeles tech startups on the map

Tara co-founded DIY Girls for women in Los Angeles who want to hack on software and hardware projects while maintaining a sense of humor. She is passionate about getting more women into the technology field and supporting tech startups in Los Angeles which she blogs about for Forbes.

Janet Hansen

Janet Hansen is the founder and Chief Fashion Engineer of Enlighted Designs, a California-based company that has been creating custom illuminated clothing and costumes for nearly 15 years. Her clothes are worn by rock stars, acrobats, dancers, theater performers, team mascots, and a variety of other international clients, including Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Pink, Daft Punk and numerous others. Janet's work combines her interests in art, fashion, design, and entrepreneurship, as well as her formal training in engineering. She holds a B.S. in General Engineering from Harvey Mudd College, and a Ph.D. in Applied Mechanics and Engineering Science/ Bioengineering from UC San Diego.

Sophia Viklund

Sophia Viklund is a professional developer, speaker and educator. She is one of the founders of PyLadies, dedicated to educating women using the Python programming language and a co-organizer of the LA Unity3D User Group and Girl Geek Dinners LA. She founded BackCode, which specializes in game & web application development.

Gillian Hayes

Gillian Hayes is an Assistant Professor in Informatics in the School of Information and Computer Sciences and in the School of Education at UC Irvine. Her research interests are in human-computer interaction, ubiquitous computing, assistive and educational technologies, and health informatics. She designs, develops, and deploys unobtrusive data collection and management technologies that empower people to use collected data to address real human needs in sensitive and ethically responsible ways.

Her research in autism and technology has enabled her to serve as Director of Technology Research at the Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders of Southern California and Chief Technology Officer for Tiwahe Technology.

Debra Richardson

Debra J. Richardson is Professor of Informatics and founding dean of the University of California–Irvine's Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS).

A leader in software engineering research, Richardson pioneered research in specification-based testing, whereby formal specifications are employed to guide software testing, and has focused on enabling specification-based testing technology throughout the software lifecycle, from requirements and architecture analysis through operation and evolution. She has recently expanded her research to adapting software engineering methods to socially relevant domains – in particular, the domain of ICTD (Information and Communication Technologies for Development), with a specific interest in developing new requirements engineering approaches for work with computationally-marginalized peoples, such as those in developing countries, and the domain of environmental sustainability, with a focus on treating sustainability as a first class quality attribute in requirements engineering.