| Association for Computing Machinery - Council on Women in Computing (ACM-W) | |
| Area Served: | International |
| Focus: | Women in Computing |
The Association for Computing Machinery's Council on Women in Computing (ACM-W) supports, celebrates, and advocates internationally for the full engagement of women in all aspects of the computing field, providing a wide range of programs and services to ACM members and working in the larger community to advance the contributions of technical women. ACM-W is an active organization with over 36,000 members.[1]
ACM-W sponsors annual celebrations focused on women in computing. ACM-W provides up to $3,000 seed funding for each celebration, and also raises and disburses corporate sponsorship. Each celebration organizing committee is responsible for additional fundraising within their conference area.[2] ACM-W supports, celebrates, and advocates internationally for the full engagement of women in all aspects of the computing field, providing a wide range of programs and services to Association for Computing Machinery members and working in the larger community to advance the contributions of technical women.
ACM-W Celebrations are regional conferences with global participants from industry, academia, and government.[3] Celebration participation is growing [4] and these events represent some of the largest gatherings of women in technology.[5]
The original Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing was recognized by the US White House on their page "The Untold History of Women in Science and Technology" in the entry for United States Navy Rear Admiral Grace Hopper.[6] In addition to this noteworthy beginning, the conferences have attracted the participation of technology notables including Anita Hill, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative co-founder Priscilla Chan, and Justine Cassell of Carnegie Mellon University, one of the top universities in Computer Science. The list describes the expansion of celebrations globally to include the largest gathering of women in computing in India.[7]
| Conference | Location | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| womENcourage | 2023[9] | ||
| womENcourage | Larnaka, Cyprus | 2022[10] | |
| womENcourage | 2021[11] | ||
| womENcourage | Baku, Azerbaijan | 2020[12] | |
| womENcourage | 2019[13] | ||
| womENcourage | 2018[14] | ||
| womENcourage | 2017[15] | ||
| womENcourage | 2016[16] | ||
| womENcourage | Uppsala University, Sweden | 2015[17] | |
| womENcourage | Manchester, United Kingdom | 2014 |
| Conference | Location | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inspire 2020 | University of York, United Kingdom | 2020 | |
| Inspire 2019 | University of Kent, United Kingdom | 2019 | |
| Inspire 2018 | De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom | 2018 | |
| Inspire 2017 | University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom | 2017 | |
| Inspire 2015 | 2015 |
| Conference | Location | Typically held | Year Established | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas Women in Computing Celebration (MINK WiC) | biennial in November | 2011[18] [19] | ||
| Rocky Mountain Celebration of Women in Computing (RMCWiC) | biennial in Oct or Nov | 2008[20] [21] | ||
| Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing[22] | annual in October | 2000[23] [24] |
ACM-W has nearly 200 active professional, virtual and student chapters globally. The professional chapters serve to enhance communications networks thereby providing resources and support for women in the workforce. The student chapters serve to increase recruitment and retention of women in computing fields at the university level and offer student activities and projects that aim to improve the working and learning environments for women in computing.[25]
Starting in 2006, ACM-W has offered an annual Athena Lecturer Award to honor outstanding women researchers who have made fundamental contributions to computer science:[26]
ACM-W also offers an ACM-W Networking Award for active student chapters.[28]
ACM-W provides support for women undergraduate and graduate students in Computer Science and related programs to attend research conferences. The ACM-W scholarships are offered for both intra-continental conference travel, and intercontinental conference travel. Scholarship applications are evaluated in six groups each year, to distribute awards across a range of conferences, including many annual ACM special interest group conferences such as SIGACCESS, SIGACT, SIGAI, SIGARCH, SIGCOMM, SIGCHI, SIGCSE, SIGDA, SIGECOM, SIGEVO, SIGGRAPH, SIGHPC, SIGIR, SIGITE, SIGMM, SIGMOBILE, SIGOPS, SIGPLAN, and SIGSOFT.
Past sponsors of ACM-W services such as scholarships and regional celebrations include:
ACM-W publishes a monthly newsletter that highlights people, opportunities, accomplishments, and current issues associated with women in computing. The network wide newsletter was started in 2008 with regional newsletters also provided.
ACM-W officers include:
ACM-W regions and chairs are:
ACM-W Standing Committees and Special Projects include:
ACM-W Communications Committee members: