Loyola University Maryland Department of Computer Science, in conjunction with University of Maryland College Park Department of Computer Science and University of Maryland Baltimore County Center for Women and Information Technology, is pleased to announce the winners of the third annual Maryland/Delaware Aspirations in Computing Award. The award, sponsored by the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), the above three universities, and Northrop Grumman, recognizes high school women for their computing-related achievements and interests as part of an effort to encourage more young women to choose careers in technology.
A total of 24 award-winners were selected from high schools across Maryland and Delaware for their outstanding aptitude and interest in information technology and computing, solid leadership ability, good academic history, and plans for post-secondary education. Each winner received an NCWIT bag, t-shirt, and two engraved awards, one for the student and one for her school’s trophy case. Thirty additional high school women were honored as runners-up for the award, and will receive a certificate and NCWIT bag. The names and bios of the winners can be found on the Maryland/Delaware Aspirations website.
Additionally, we awarded Michael Price (pictured, left) of Springbrook High School this year’s Educator Award, for his strong role in supporting these young women in their computer science pursuits. He joins our prior two educator award winners: Bethany Petr of Thomas S. Wootton High School (2013), and Daniel Fowler of Montgomery Blair High School (2014).
Award winners were honored at a ceremony on Saturday April 18th on UMD’s campus. The ceremony included a wonderful keynote presentation by Susan Wilson, Director of Business Development in the Cyber Division at Northrop Grumman, and two panels: one for the winners of current college students and recent college graduates; and one for the family members of the winners, of faculty and current Northrop Grumman employees.
“The awardees’ accomplishments are incredibly impressive, despite only being in high school. We are so excited to see what they accomplish throughout their education and careers in the computing field in the years to come,“ said Megan Olsen, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Loyola University Maryland. The committee members for the 2015 award are Megan Olsen of Loyola University Maryland, Jandelyn Plane of University of Maryland College Park, and Cindy Greenwood of University of Maryland Baltimore County.
“Encouraging young women’s interest in technology careers is critical: our workforce needs their creativity and their innovation,” said Lucy Sanders, CEO and Co-founder of NCWIT.
The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) works to correct the imbalance of gender diversity in technology and computing because gender diversity positively correlates with a larger workforce, better innovation, and increased business performance. Increasing the number of women in technology and computing also has the potential to improve the design of products and services to better serve a more diverse population, and increase economic and social well-being by providing more women with stable and lucrative careers. Find out more at www.ncwit.org.
(contributed by Megan Olsen, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Loyola University Maryland)
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