Registration Opens

Posters and Reception

Opening Remarks

Dinner

Introduction - Tracy Camp/Liz Jessup

Industry Keynote - Pam Drew, CU Boulder Alumna and Corporate Officer at TASC

Colorado has a unique heritage in the development of computing systems, and in particular the Internet. I had the privilege of witnessing the early days first hand, and benefited from a graduate education at University of Colorado, Boulder against an incredible backdrop of commercial and technological advances as the Internet commercialized. In this talk, I will share my story of how I used my education in a time of such rapid development to pursue wide-ranging opportunities in academia, venture capital start ups, and the advanced uses of information technology in major aerospace systems. Ironically, the same Internet that has transformed social interaction and economic and national security positively has also become the target and an enabler for some of our greatest adversaries. I will summarize with the thought that those of us who have helped to develop and deploy this technology also have the imperative to help protect it and all that use it.

Birds of a Feather (BoFs)

• How to be a Technical Humanitarian
  Revi Sterling (ATLAS Institute at the University of Colorado at Boulder)
  Many technologists want to engage in impactful work, but don't know where to start. International and community development are complex social concerns with long and complicated histories. Find out in this BoF how to get involved and explore the professional and research opportunities in Humanitarian Technology.
• Participating in Interdisciplinary Research as a Computer Scientist
  Kerri Stone, Doug Hakkarinen, and Brian Hoenes (SmartGeo at the Colorado School of Mines)
  Successfully addressing and solving today's complex scientific research questions and problems often requires participation and input from several disciplines. In response, universities and industry have developed interdisciplinary research programs. This birds of a feather (BoF) session will discuss some of the challenges computer scientists face when working on an interdisciplinary team and discuss methods to address the challenges.
• Speak Up - The Key to Success
  Neeti Wagle and Dola Saha (University of Colorado at Boulder)
  People may get intimidated either by the intellectual stature of the other person in communication or from the feeling of minority. This phenomenon often poses a hindrance to progress in career. This session will encourage the attendees to become vocal through a discussion of personal experiences and their consequent impact.
• Inspiring Ambition in K-12 Girls
  Sarah Hug and Deborah Keyek-Franssen (Colorado Coalition for Gender & IT)
  CCGIT offers a regional approach to outreach programs for K-12 audiences. This BoF presentation will allow participants to experience an outreach road show and learn about great activities that encourage girls and underrepresented minorities to consider CS education and careers. We will encourage audience role-playing, demonstrate top-rated road show activities for K-12 classrooms, discuss how to prepare for road shows, and provide helpful hints for presenting a successful road show.
• The Power of Negotiation
  Cyndi Rader (Colorado School of Mines)
  We've all heard that women earn on average only 77% of what men earn. Studies have shown that women are less comfortable negotiating than men. But women can improve their bargaining skills. This BoF will explore a number of issues and strategies such as the likeability factor, preparation techniques, and the need to aim high.
• Success in an educational journey to a PhD
  Elizabeth Peralez and Carol Keene (Colorado Technical University)
  What are three main pitfalls to avoid while earning a PhD? What are three tips for successfully earning a PhD? Topics of this BoF include: a) maintaining a positive attitude and not becoming discouraged; b) what to look for in selecting your committee; and c) selecting a topic for your dissertation that you are passionate about. We encourage advanced graduate students to attend and advise more junior students.
• Crushing Gender Stereotypes
  Kim McLeod (Anita Borg Institute)
  Stereotypes can hold people back from personal and professional evolution. This BoF will help participants learn how to:
  1. work around the impact of stereotypes and reduce the impact they have on your everyday evolution,
  2. reduce the impact personal stereotypes have on your own productivity, and
  3. reduce the frequency with which we ourselves think of stereotypes.

Dancing!

Breakfast

Junior Faculty Showcase

Continuing advances in the computational power, radio components, and memory elements have led to the proliferation of portable devices (e.g., intelligent sensors, actuators, RFID readers, PDAs, cell phones). Wireless sensor systems consisting of such devices are now rapidly permeating a variety of applications domains such as monitoring and remediation of the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, mine safety, and climate forecasting. My current primary research in wireless sensor systems can be categorized into two areas: i) new applications; and ii) systems including distributed data management algorithms and network protocols. In this talk, I will briefly discuss several highlights of our research, including our award-winning research in building energy management, our first-of-a-kind work in environmental monitoring using wireless sensor systems, and our systems research on developing algorithms and network protocols to support different sensor applications. I will conclude with a sketch of our ongoing endeavors.

In this short talk, I will provide a brief overview of how an event in my life inspired me to change research areas and, in turn, help others. Specifically, I will talk about two projects – one that that aided nurses in placing feeding tubes in preterm infants and another that assisted low literacy, chronically ill patients in monitoring their diets. I will conclude with a vision where we use technology for preventative care measures by helping people understand how health is part of their everyday lives.

The High Performance Computing research area provides computational scientists with high-level abstractions and corresponding implementations that run blazingly fast on existing hardware. Such work is crucial to supporting scientific progress in a multitude of domains that leverage computer simulations to guide experiments and to evaluate and develop theoretical models of physical phenomena. In this talk, I briefly present some high-level abstractions we are developing to support the sparse computations that occur in applications such as molecular dynamics simulations and partial differential equation solvers. I also overview how we are automating the application of performance-improving transformations on such computations.

Panel 1: The Integration Act – Blending your career, family, and personal life

This panel will provide a forum to discuss ways to integrate your career, family, hobbies and other interests. Panelists will offer suggestions on topics such as finding a balance, making tough choices, managing your time, and avoiding burnout.

• Sherri K. Harms, Ph.D.
  University of Nebraska at Kearney
  Associate Professor and Department Chair


• Sherri Fike
  Vice President
  Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation


• Martha Palmer, Ph.D.
  Professor and Faculty Fellow
  University of Colorado at Boulder


• Alice Pang
  Developer Evangelist
  Microsoft Corporation

Break

Track I: Papers & Lightning Talks

Track II: Papers & Lightning Talks

Lunch & Career Fair OR Workshop

Even as we witness tremendous growth in computing occupations' size and influence over our lives, women continue to be underrepresented in these fields. Faculty have the opportunity to reverse this trend through both active recruitment and courses that engage and prepare women as well as men for computing careers. This session will present research-based methods for successfully attracting women into your computing major. Materials created by NCWIT (National Center for Women & IT) social scientists and designers will be provided and discussed to clarify methods that have been shown effective.

Panel 2: Finding your Research Direction

Are you struggling with finding a meaningful research topic? Do you wonder how you can find the right advisor or mentor? Do you wonder if your research will interest potential employers in the future? Panelists will discuss the possibilities and provide suggestions.

• Debra Richardson, Ph.D.
  Professor
  University of California, Irvine


• Anneliese Andrews, Ph.D.
  Professor and Associate Dean
  University of Denver


• Nicole Nemer, Ph.D.
  Software Engineer
  LGS Innovations


• Kerri Stone
  Ph.D. student
  Colorado School of Mines

Wrap Up