by, for, and about women in science, technology, engineering, & math

• In the New York Times, four top women scientists — a physicist, a neuroscientist, a geneticist, and a cryptographer — are interviewed about the challenges they face (both the general challenges of advanced research and the specific challenges they face as women and mothers) and the strategies they’ve used in rising to the top of their respective fields.
• The DevChix blog has started a series of Q&As on its members, beginning with programmers Nola Stowe and aimee daniels.
• BetaBeat profiles 25 women with prominent roles in the New York City tech scene — and it doesn’t just include “women near tech”, as in so many similar sets of profiles, but features several coders and engineers along with businesswomen and entrepreneurs.
• A neat article at the Atlantic about Project Euler’s approach to teaching programming
• Women in business blog The Glass Hammer posts about stereotype threat; a consensus is fast emerging that this phenomenon — as the article says, “the fear of proving a negative stereotype true actually causes someone to underperform” — is one of the biggest factors keeping women underrepresented in STEM (along with the vicious cycle it forms with the shortage of role models in these fields)
• Under the Microscope has a piece about “STEMebrities” — female scientists, teachers, or fictional characters who provide geeky inspiration and serve as role models for young women and girls
• Two awards from the Anita Borg Institute accepting applications:
  • Applications for the Anita Borg Pass-it-On Awards — small grants for individual technical women to pursue projects or studies — are open until July
  • The Anita Borg Top Company for Technical Women Award is accepting applications through October for a U.S. company
• Location-specific events in Los Angeles and Columbus:
  • In Los Angeles, there are several upcoming Python Ladies events
  • GirlDevelopIt in Columbus is looking for mentors in programming and web development

This weekend I’m going to some of the LibrePlanet events — I met some great ladies at the women in free software dinner last night, and tomorrow we’ll talk more about ways to increase women’s participation in the free software community.

I also gave my first technical presentation yesterday! I gave an introduction to WordPress talk. I was definitely pretty nervous and didn’t know what to expect with this presentation — I can tell that I still have a lot to learn about giving effective presentations, but overall it went pretty well and I am definitely glad I took advantage of this opportunity!

Some links of interest this week:

• Under the Microscope’s “Message 2 a Younger Me” series has collected a bunch of interesting stories
• They also collected information on Women’s History Month events that are science-related
• Lisa Barone at Outspoken Media speaks out against women in tech cutting each other down
• Ada Lovelace Day t-shirts!
• Nola at DevChix blogs about her experiments with remote pair programming