Featured Speakers

Jennifer Marsman

Developer Evangelist, Microsoft

Talk Title: Technology Rocks

Jennifer Marsman is a Developer Evangelist in Microsoft’s Developer and Platform Evangelism group, where she educates developers on Microsoft’s new technologies. In this role, Jennifer displays her contagious enthusiasm for technology by speaking on a variety of Microsoft technologies. She is a frequent speaker at software development conferences across the United States. In 2009, Jennifer was chosen as "Techie whose innovation will have the biggest impact" by X-OLOGY for her work with GiveCamps, a weekend-long event where developers code for charity.

Prior to becoming a Developer Evangelist, Jennifer was a software developer in Microsoft’s Natural Interactive Services division. In this role, she earned two patents for her work in search and data mining algorithms. Jennifer has also held positions with Ford Motor Company, National Instruments, and Soar Technology. Jennifer holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering and Master’s Degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Her graduate work specialized in artificial intelligence and computational theory. Jennifer blogs at http://blogs.msdn.com/jennifer and tweets at http://twitter.com/jennifermarsman.

Betty H.C. Cheng

Professor, Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering, Michigan State University

Talk Title:
Computer Science + Other Discipline = Endless Possibilities

Betty H.C. Cheng is a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Michigan State University. Her research and teaching interests include automated software engineering, requirements engineering, embedded systems development, assurance patterns, adaptive systems, model-driven engineering, systems biology, and applications of evolutionary computing. She collaborates with industrial partners for both her class projects and research in order to facilitate technology exchange between academia and industry.

She has previously been awarded a NASA/JPL Faculty Fellowship to investigate the use of new software engineering techniques for a portion of the shuttle software. She has also been a visiting scholar with the Motorola Software Labs investigating automated analysis techniques of specifications of telecommunication systems. For significant research and educational contributions, she has received Distinguished Faculty Awards from Michigan State University and the College of Engineering.

Her research has been funded by NSF, ONR, DARPA, NASA, AFRL, Army, and numerousindustrial organizations. She serves on the editorial boards for Requirements Engineering Journal, and Software and Systems Modeling Journal, and IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. Each year, she serves on numerous program and organizational committees for international conferences and workshops, including IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), IEEE Requirements Engineering Conference(RE), and IEEE MODELS.

She received her BS from Northwestern University in 1985 and her MS and PhD from the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign in 1987 and 1990, respectively, all in computer science. She may be reached at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Michigan State Univ., 3115 Engineering Building, East Lansing, MI 48824; chengb@cse.msu.edu; www.cse.msu.edu/~chengb.

Leisa D. Thompson

NCWIT Director of Research and Consulting

Talk Title: Recruiting Women into Your Computing Major

Leisa D. Thompson is an educational researcher who serves as the Director of Research and Consulting for NCWIT-Extension Services (ES) for Undergraduate Programs. Dr. Thompson conducts research on systemic reform for gender balance in computing and analysis on enrollment data provided by the 36 ES computing clients, each of whom is committed to diversifying their undergraduate major. In addition, she works directly with Extension Services Consultants and helps advise and coordinate their work and data collection efforts with ES client departments. Dr. Thompson has an undergraduate degree in Computer Science and over 15 years of corporate experience in Information Technology as an applications engineer, systems administrator, and senior consultant for companies such as Xerox, Hughes Electronics, and IBM Corporation. Her research interests include online education and student outcomes such as employment, technology and higher education issues, as well as college success and underrepresented students. She received her B.S in Computer Science from California State University, Northridge, a M.Ed. in Workforce Education and Ph.D. in Higher Education Leadership from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Abstract

Even as we witness tremendous growth in computing occupations' size and influence over our lives, women continue to be underrepresented in these fields. Faculty has the opportunity to reverse this trend through both active recruitment and courses that engage and prepare women as well as men for computing careers. This session will present research-based methods for successfully attracting women into your computing major. Materials created by NCWIT (National Center for Women & IT) social scientists and designers will be provided and discussed to clarify methods that have been shown effective.

Jerri Barrett

Vice President of Marketing, Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology

Talk Title: Overcoming the Imposter Syndrome for Technical Women

As the Vice President of Marketing for the Anita Borg Institute, Jerri is responsible for ABI's overall branding, public relations, collateral and communications. Jerri is a 20 year veteran of the telecommunications industry with experience in both large corporations and startups. Prior to coming to ABI, Jerri was Director of Marketing for IP Unity, a Silicon Valley startup and managed the communications for their merger with Glenayre in 2007. Before that Jerri worked with a variety of companies in marketing positions including Nortel, Frontier, CNET, Inc., LinkAir and HighWired. Jerri holds a BA from Mount Holyoke College and an MBA from the William E. Simon School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester.

Abstract

Do you discount your success, or doubt that it will continue? Do you feel like a fake? Do you think that your success is due to luck and not your own internal abilities? If your answer to any of these questions is yes then you may be experiencing the Imposter Syndrome and you are not alone. This talk will identify some of the symptoms of the imposter syndrome and discuss simple strategies you can use to overcome these feelings.