Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship: Australia and New Zealand
Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship: Australia and New Zealand
Anita Borg believed that technology affects all aspects of our economic, political, social and personal lives. A technology rebel with a cause, in her life she fought tirelessly to ensure that technology’s impact would be a positive one. It was this vision that inspired Anita in 1997 to found the Institute for Women and Technology. Today this organization continues on her legacy and bears her name, The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (www.anitaborg.org).
Her capacity to mix technical expertise and a relentless vision inspired, motivated and moved women to embrace technology instead of avoiding or ignoring it. She has touched and changed the lives of countless women in the computing fields and beyond. She is responsible for including women in the technological revolution – not as bystanders, but as active participants and leaders. In 1987, prior to founding the Institute, Anita began an email online community called Systers which today has 3,000 members from all over the world. In 1994, Anita co-founded the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference. The Grace Hopper Celebration has grown to become the largest gathering of women in computing in the world. The Anita Borg Institute is the umbrella organization for both of these ongoing programs as well as the Virtual Development Center, TechLeaders and a host of other dynamic partnerships and collaborations that embrace Anita’s ongoing vision.
During her life, Anita’s commitment to her vision and expertise in the field gained her significant recognition. In 1999 President Clinton appointed her to the Commission on the Advancement of Women and Minorities in Science, Engineering, and Technology. In 2002, she received the Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy, and Employment.
Born Anita Borg Naffz on January 17th, 1949 in Chicago, Illinois, She grew up in Palatine, Illinois, Kaneohe, Hawaii, and Mukilteo, Washington. Anita found her way to a computer keyboard in her mid-20s. She received a Ph.D. in computer science from the Courant Institute at New York University in 1981. She then embarked on a brilliant research career for some of industry’s commercial giants including, Nixdorf, Digital/Compaq’s Western Research Lab and Xerox PARC.
Dr. Anita Borg (1949-2003) devoted her adult life to revolutionising the way we think about technology and dismantling barriers that keep women and minorities from entering computing and technology fields. Her combination of technical expertise and fearless vision continues to inspire and motivate countless women to become active participants and leaders in creating technology.
As part of Google’s ongoing commitment to furthering Anita’s vision, we are pleased to announce the 2012 Google Australia and New Zealand Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship. Through the scholarship, we aim to encourage women to excel in computing and technology, and become active role models and leaders.
Scholarships will be awarded based on the strength of candidates’ academic background and demonstrated leadership. A group of female undergraduate and graduate student finalists will be chosen from the applicant pool. Each scholar recipient will receive a $5,000 scholarship towards the following academic year. In addition all finalists and scholarship recipients will be invited to an expenses-paid networking retreat to be held at Google’s Sydney Engineering centre.
Applicants must satisfy all of the following criteria to be eligible:
Citizens, permanent residents, and international students are eligible to apply. Past applicants and finalists are also encouraged to re-apply. If you have any questions, please email anitaborgscholarsanz@google.com.
Applications for the 2012 Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship will be open 30 April 2012 and the deadline for submitting an application will be 1 July 2012.
You will be asked to submit:
Scholarship finalists and recipients will be notified in September 2012.
Questions? Visit the Frequently Asked Questions page (FAQ) or email us at anitaborgscholarsanz@google.com.
Every year scholarship finalists and scholars are invited to an all-expenses paid retreat held in Sydney in late November or early December. You can find out more about previous retreats through the video and from the official Google Australia blog.
In addition to free time for sightseeing and socializing, the formal part of the retreat typically spans a Thursday and Friday and includes:
“Sasha is a student at the University of Sydney studying a Bachelor of IT. She loves programming in Python and C, and also loves building websites. She built her first website when she was 11, and continues to build websites as a hobby for her family, school and classmates. She also loves learning about IT in all kinds of different areas, including teaching and embedded programming, and hopes to complete a Diploma of Education after graduating and become an IT teacher. Sasha also tutors high school students part-time in all sorts of subjects, including economics, physics and english.” – Sasha, University of Sydney,
“Xi is a PhD student undertaking research in Image Processing at the University of Melbourne with a passion in breast cancer detection. She is originally from China and transferred to the University of Melbourne to continue her undergraduate study of Computer Science in 2006. She loves planting vegetables in her lovely garden. –Xi, University of Melbourne
“Rachael is a PhD student researching Continuous Optimization and Metaheuristic Algorithms at the University of Queensland in Brisbane. She grew up in tropical Cairns before moving to Brisbane for university, so she loves spending time at the beach with friends. ” – Rachael, University of Queensland