Getting More Women into Technology Careers and Why It Matters

Presented on February 24, 2015 at 4:00 p.m. in the Clary Theater, Bill Moore Student Success Center on the Georgia Tech campus.Dr. Maria Klawe began her tenure as Harvey Mudd College's (HMC) fifth President in 2006. A renowned computer scientist and scholar, President Klawe is the first woman to lead the College since its founding in 1955. Prior to joining HMC, she served as Dean of Engineering and Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University. She received her Ph.D. (1977) and B.Sc. (1973) in mathematics from the University of Alberta. Klawe has made significant research contributions in numerous areas of mathematics and computer science. Dr. Klawe is one of the ten members of the board of Microsoft Corporation, a board member of Broadcom Corporation, and of the nonprofit Math for America. She is also a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and a trustee for the Mathematical Sceinces Research Institute in Berkeley. In addition she is a member of the Stanford Engineering Advisory Council, the Advisory Council for the Computer Science Teachers Association, and the Canada Excellence Research Chairs Selection Board. She is the recipient of the 2014 Women of Vision, Anita Borg Institute of Excellence Award for Leadership, and appears on Fortune's 2014 list of the World's 50 Greatest Leaders.Runtime: 81:36 minutesOver the past decade the participation of females in the tech industry has declined rather than advanced. This is unfortunate for young women because of the incredible career opportunities, for the tech industry because of the loss of incoming talent, and for society because of the loss of diversity of perspective among tech teams. I will talk about the reasons why women tend not to major in computer technology fields and how Harvey Mudd College dramatically increased the number of females majoring in computer science, from 10% of the majors to 40% over a three year period.Georgia Institute of Technology. College of Computin