WiCS@CU at GHC 2015 WiCS members at the Women Techmakers Afterhours party.

This year WiCS sponsored 12 girls to fly out to Houston, Texas for the annual Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing! Many other WiCS members were also able to attend via other scholarships. In total, Columbia and Barnard were well represented with over 30 students attending!

It was a fantastic experience full of amazing panels, inspiring women, and the nerdiest and most progressive small talk you can imagine.

Here’s some comments from the girls who went:

The best parts of GHC were just the unorganized opportunities to meet other women in computer science - while waiting in line for a talk or coffee or eating lunch. I also enjoyed the career fair and some of the technical as well as career advice talks. Sheryl Sandberg is a great speaker!

  • Diana Liskovich, Columbia College

I really enjoyed the Career panels. There’s rarely an opportunity to talk to so many new grads and get their insights about transitioning to industry. GHC provided a safe space to talk about anything without the fear of being judged.

  • Katie Lin, SEAS

GHC exposed me to a lot of incredible women. It changes what you think is possible…Some of the female engineers at the career fair were so open and encouraging. It was motivating because it made me think, “School’s tough but these engineers are really smart and cool, and I have a chance to build things with them when I graduate.”…At GHC, there was always a way to find a safe space.

  • Emily Chen, SEAS

I really enjoyed the approachability of the speakers. Generally, they were eager to answer additional questions after their formal session had ended. It was also amazing meeting women behind the latest technology (oculus VR, accessible design, etc.)

  • Monica Powell, Barnard College

Thank you Anita Borg Institute for organizing such an amazing event to encourage and inspire women in tech! See you next year!


GHC Event There were amazing keynotes with thousands of attendees every morning of the conference.

GHC Event The career fair at GHC featured hundreds of top tech companies with women engineers present to answer any question!

GHC Event There were hundreds of informative and inspiring panels, tech talks, and workshops during the conference. It was impossible to see them all!

GHC Event Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, had a great fireside chat and Q&A with Ericsson board member Nora Denzel. Other notable speakers at GHC included Telle Whitney, CEO and President of the Anita Borg Institute and cofounder of GHC, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, and Isis Anchalee of #iLookLikeAnEngineer.

GHC Event WiCS members at the Women Techmakers Afterhours party. We had so much fun!

GHC Event We were always well fed: WiCS members at the Systers Luncheon, sponsored by Prudential.

GHC Event At GHC’s Friday Night Celebration. Glowsticks, desserts, and dancing!

For more of our photos of GHC 2015, please visit our facebook album here.

The WiCS Scholarship for GHC is proudly sponsored by Columbia University’s own Computer Science Department and with funding from Yahoo.

Be sure to sign up for our mailing list to find out about other cool events like this. Information about future scholarship opportunities will also be posted on the site!