5 inspiring snapshots from Grace Hopper 2015

The largest gathering of women technologists was even larger this year, as approximately 12,000 women descended on Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center for the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, held October 14 to 16. CIO.com was there and here and share the most talked-about events from GHC 2015.

Each morning, an inspiring woman took the stage to talk about her journey to the top. Wednesday’s keynote was presented by Hilary Mason, founder of Fast Forward Labs. Thursday saw Clara Shih, a former GHC scholar, return to the conference as CEO and founder of Hearsay Social and discuss how her experiences with ABI and GHC informed her success. Friday, Manuela Veloso, Herbert A. Simon professor, Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University, delivered a keynote on robotics in modern society.

Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, talked about her bestselling book Lean In, the growing influence of Lean in Circles springing up around the world, and how community, mentorship and female support are integral to women’s success in IT. Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey joined Maxine Williams, Chief Diversity Officer of Facebook and Chelsea Clinton, vice chairwoman of the Clinton Foundation to discuss women’s progress toward full participation in the economy and IT industry. Friday afternoon, Miral Kotb, founder of iLuminate, the world’s first wearable, wireless lighting system, talked about her journey to founding the company and the challenges and joys of being a female engineer.

More than 500 students attended GHC this year, attending technical tracks and career-focused sessions, while sharing stories with their fellow female STEM and computer science students. They came from schools like Stanford, University of Washington-Tacoma, MIT, Harvey Mudd College and Southern New Hampshire University, which also sent students who matriculated via online classes.

Tech companies like HackerRank, Cisco, Google and Facebook joined PricewaterhouseCoopers, Time, Inc. and others looking to attract and hire the best and the brightest IT minds. From soliciting attendees’ impressive resumes to doing on-site interviews and even a few on-the-spot hires, business was booming.

Each GHC ends with another celebration — a dance party to honor the memory of Anita Borg, founder of the Anita Borg Institute, which co-sponsors the Grace Hopper Celebration. This year, iLuminate, a company founded by Miral Kotb, provided additional entertainment and a demonstration of the company’s wearable, wireless lighting technology for attendees.