Smiti Kaul, an undergraduate CS major, received the Anita Borg Scholarship to attend the Grace Hopper Celebration, the world’s largest technical conference for women in computing, in October at Orlando, FL. The scholarship covers travel, meals, hotel, and registration. She is the second Wake Forest CS student to receive this prestigious and internationally selective scholarship (first was Melisa Carranza, MS’17) and the first undergraduate to receive the honor.
The Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC) is a wonderful opportunity for women in computing to network, celebrate their achievements, and gain the tools and resources they need to thrive in their fields. To help as many people as possible attend GHC, the Anita Borg Institute and our sponsoring organizations provide hundreds of scholarships to students and faculty in computing and tech. These scholarships cover travel, meals, hotel, and registration to ensure these exceptional scholars don’t miss out on this life-changing experience.
This year, we are sending a total of 657 student scholars to GHC 17, 61 of who are international students. These students range from undergraduate students in their first year of college to graduate students earning their doctorate degrees. We offer plenty of sessions to meet the varying needs of these students, from our CRA-W sessions on thriving in graduate school to our Student Opportunity Lab where students can get quality career advice specific to their needs.
Our student scholars also come from diverse backgrounds. This year, we have scholars representing 58 different countries and 45 U.S. states. You can also see a breakdown of the race and ethnicity of our accepted students scholars in the chart below. We will be hosting numerous networking socials to celebrate our diverse groups of women technologists, including our Social Celebrating Women of Color in Technical Roles.
