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

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.