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Wendy Neuberger (left) and Gloria Musau at the Grace Hopper Conference in Tucson, Arizona.
They met face to face for the first time after a long relationship across continents through MentorNet.
By Wendy Neuberger
I have been an active mentor for years. I started mentoring years ago at a local elementary school, in a program sponsored by IBM. For several years, I coordinated a local IBM Women in Technology group, organizing and leading technology workshops in area middle schools. I am currently the Corporate Counselor for the Binghamton University section of Society of Women Engineers. I have done a variety of on-line mentoring programs, as well. That is why I was pretty excited when I heard about a new program that IBM was sponsoring, in partnership with MentorNet, called Makocha Minds.
Makocha Minds (“makocha” means “coach” in Swahili) was launched in 2007 to provide mentors to African university technology students. I was already a member of MentorNet, so all I had to do was update my profile to indicate that I wanted a Makocha Minds protégé. In the fall of 2008, I was matched with Gloria, a young woman from Kenya. Gloria is studying for her Masters degree in Information Technology. Read more
Finding Nemo: Science, Simulation, Splash!
Earlier this year MentorNet expanded to support Computer Animation, Game Technology and other "Entertainment Technology" disciplines. This image from The New Scientist -- shown at a recent Siggraph meeting of the ACM -- illustrates why we are excited to have expanded in this direction. It is the product of some very heavy computation of sophisticated algorithms for fluid dynamics. Similar computational feats underlie the breathtaking simulation of water in animated films by The Walt Disney Studios and the kinds of video games produced by the International Game Developers Association and Women in Games International. I'll never forget the exhilarating sense of immersion I got from underwater scenes in Finding Nemo. As an occasional scuba diver, I remember feeling this was a pretty good substitute for the real thing, and without all that gear.
Entertainment, science, and technology create a dynamic triple feedback loop. Think of the reliance of virtually all of your disciplines on imaging, modeling, simulation, and the extent to which the computer has enabled us to delve realms and phenomena that were inaccessible just a decade or so ago. This feedback loop has always existed ( see this article from The Technology Review about the invention of Technicolor by physicists at MIT in 1908, for instance). But the speed and intensity of the loop are increasing. Next stop: 3D TV. It's gratifying to know that so many of our partners -- MIT, ACM, The Walt Disney Studios, IGDA/WIGI -- meet at the MentorNet crossroads.
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Diversity in Science Grinnell College fosters welcoming environment for women and minorities in the sciences
Katie Lee, 22, loves surgery -- performing it, that is. Studying biology at Grinnell College, she discovered that the procedure gives her "intrinsic joy."
Yet she views the logical next step, a career as a surgeon, with uncertainty. As a woman, she's been told she lacks the "don't feel, just do" personality that seemingly characterizes the male-dominated field. Read more
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MIT economists find a new reason to think that environment, not innate ability, determines how well girls do in math class
When Glenn Ellison’s daughters started middle school in a Boston suburb in 2007, Ellison decided to become a volunteer coach of the school’s math team. While his squad was earning a place in the state finals, Ellison noticed something distinctive about his students.
“We would go to math contests, and my team didn’t look like other teams,” says Ellison, who is MIT’s Gregory K. Palm (1970) Professor of Economics. Read more
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Retaining Women Researchers urge colleges and federal agencies to coordinate efforts for women in science
Women with PhDs in the sciences will keep "leaking out" of the tenure pipeline if colleges and the federal agencies that award grant money to researchers don't work together to stop the flow, says a new report from three researchers at the University of California at Berkeley.
The report, "Staying Competitive: Patching America's Leaky Pipeline in the Sciences," was prepared with the help of the Center for American Progress. Read more
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