GHC’20: 10 reasons to apply as a Scholar
Grace hopper celebrations — GHC is the world’s largest gathering of women technologists. GHC’20 will be Sep. 29 — Oct. 2 in Orlando, Florida, USA. In 2018, It was attended by 20,000+ attendees from 78 countries including 4767 students from 392 institutes worldwide. While in 2019,number of attendees were around 25,000 from 94 countries including 950 scholars from 893 universities.
It offers hands-on workshops and seminars on technical tracks including; Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Emerging Technologies, Human Computer Interaction, Interactive Media, AR/VR and mixed Reality, IOT, Software Engineering, Product management, Startups, Security and Privacy. It also includes a day long hack-a-thon based on coding challenges, open-source day. A speed mentoring session and mentoring circles is also available for participants to share a table with industry experts for their suggestions about career, personal struggles, future opportunities, research or any particular technical track as well. Tech meet ups, Community celebrations and recreational parties by tech companies are also part of GHC. Opening and closing keynote sessions are available for all participants including stellar portfolios on the stage with their inspirational stories. Poster session and pitching events are also part of conference. Career fair expo is the key highlight of GHC where you get a huge opportunity to meet people from big five to all mainstream tech companies with their stalls to showcase their products, helping in recruitment and also share swags with the participants.
1- Full Scholarship
GHC offers full scholarships to be part of life time experience. It covers individual registration, accommodation in hotel, roundtrip air fare and a stipend card with visa appointment amount being covered.
Being a student scholar, you just need to apply by writing 02 essays of 200 words each along a one-page resume and a recommendation letter from your University professor. All undergrad, Masters and PhD students are eligible to apply. As an applicant of faculty scholar, you only need to fill in application including your resume.
Sheher Bano (sophomore from FAST-NU Islamabad-Pakistan, GHC’19 Student Scholar) share about application writeup that, “Be who you are and stay natural. Use simple vocabulary and be precise”. While Atifa Sarwar (PhD fellow from WPI, Worcester-US, GHC’19 University Scholar) says that, “write as precise as you can and support your statements with facts. Be genuine and be honest”.
There are few more scholarships available by different sponsors to attend GHC.
2- Knowing and recognising your tribe
You get to meet people of your country from different walks of life. Every community organise their meet ups, gala and dinners. In 2019, Pakistani women in Computing — PWiC organised a sponsored dinner which gathered around 30–35 Pakistanis females including; masters and PhD fellows in US, Industry experts from US fraternity, faculty and scholars visiting from Pakistan, Canada and Germany.
We all were different and yet similar to the core. Everyone was motivated to contribute for effective global reachability of Pakistanis. Everyone was pleasantly surprise to know each other’s profiles and personal strengths. Most of the attendees were meeting each other for the first time and were amused by inspirational stories from each other. Every story was a testimony of strong conviction and tireless efforts. Seeing Pakistani women being intellectually privileged and focused for their greater goal was a treat to witness. We connected on all days further while we were running, during the conference. Most of us are still connected through different mediums for various on-going opportunities.
PWiC also facilitated to arrange a shared accommodation for GHC attendees in an air bnb during all days of conference. It was a home cum party house to Pakistanis. We used to spend an enriched day in conference while in the night, we all were involved for extensive league of team building and unfolded heart-to-heart conversations. Dumb-charades were also part of farewell night which we all spent together. It was a home away from home especially if you have travelled 12,590 KM so this all is not anyway less than a blessing.
3- Networking and Community engagement
GHC gives you a great deal to make new connections and also to re-establish the older one. While at GHC, every time, I got to meet people from my mentors, colleagues or University fellows. During GHC’19, I met techwomen mentors; Khushboo, Eileen and few others while running for different sessions. During GHC’18, i met my student Misha Malik after 05 years.
GHC empowers you to make new and authentic connection as well. I remeber reaching Houston all alone in 2018 when i was completely clueless about getting a ride to the hotel. I collected my luggage and started marching towards exit door. While getting closer, i started seeing bags with GHC stickers and women greeting each other by recognising as fellows. This encouraged me to meet a group consists of Asma from Iraq and Alaa from New zeland, who were looking for another member for ride share. I joined them and till now, we are still connected. It was a nice discussion during the journey to explore, how we all are amazing differently while sharing stories about families, cultural values, food and traditions. I met another women Fatima from Egypt who recognised me as Malala at the beginning (which I’m not :D)and a lot more from India, Bangladesh, Jordan, US and Canada. While talking to different people from across the world, you understand the struggles and the decisions, they took to achieve their dream.
Hareem e Sahar (PhD fellow from University of Alberta, Canada, GHC’19 University Scholar) narrates that, you get the chance to know about a few people closely, which means you will recognise their efforts and how they overcame the obstacles in their life to create their own unique path. In a nut shell, being a part of GHC, you will get more passionate about pursuing your dreams and will learn of small ways of gradually building up a better future.
4- Mentoring Circles
Mentoring circles is another great value of GHC, where you get expert advice about your career choices or technicalities of your field knowledge. It takes place in a large room with about 50 round tables. Each table is hosted by a mentor focusing on a particular topic including career advice and job search strategies, graduate studies and research discussions and sharing of skills for success at work etc. Attendees choose a topic, sit at the corresponding table, and chat with a mentor and learn the views of other mentees for 20 minutes. So in an amount of just 1 hour you get to hear and learn from a lot of people on a variety of topics that are close to your heart. You can exchange business cards and also get to meet a focused group who are also passionate for the similar track or may be stuck in similar challenges.
Atifa Sarwar (PhD fellow from WPI, Worcester-US, GHC’19 University Scholar) says, I still remember, how a lady in such a session, told us that you have to study something new 5 hours a week and this is how you will never get old in your field. I never got these kind of advices, before.
5- Open-Source Day
Open Source Day (OSD) provides women of all skill levels and backgrounds with the opportunity to collaborate and make a change. College students, professionals, experienced coders, and beginners join this day-long hackathon to develop projects for improving the world we live in.
Participants will develop these humanitarian projects using open source software (OSS). OSS is an increasingly important skill to have as companies often require an understanding of and ability to contribute to it. You will work in groups, gaining the opportunity to learn from each other as well as the experienced mentors there to guide you.
OSD will provide a hands-on with developer tools and platforms and methods involving automation, IDEs, Git and GitHub. You will experience agile methodology, will be using security tools, and will be auditing your code along Bug-Tracking and documentation. After the hackathon is over, OSD will be opened up to all GHC attendees allowing your group to present your project to them, other participants, and sponsoring organisations. At the end of the day, you will leave OSD not only with a working prototype but also with new skills, a stronger network, and the confidence to begin your own open source projects.
Open source day is the best opportunity to learn from the industry professionals. This will give an overview that, how they approach things and how it is different from the ways, you perceive. This entire experience broaden your exposure, tackle your fears and makes you confident by extending your vision.
6- Workshops/Seminars: Technical tracks
GHC offers a wide-range of fields for every technical woman. Sessions will be conducted as presentations, panels, or workshops with intermediate and advanced level content.
i)- The AI track includes latest trends and research results, novel tools, practical experiences, and technical challenges. It will mainly include; Machine Learning (Deep Learning, Reinforcement Learning, Active Learning, Model Interpretability, Transfer and Multitask Learning, etc.), Computer vision, Natural Language Processing (machine translation, generation, dialogue systems, speech recognition, and synthesis), Robotics and Autonomous systems, Constraint Satisfaction and Optimization, Heuristic Search, Information Retrieval, Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (Logic, Reasoning with Beliefs, Reasoning Under Uncertainty, Geometri,c and Spatial Reasoning), Game Theory and AI, AI and Privacy, Ethical AI (e.g. fairness, impact of AI on society), AI for social good, Augmented intelligence and Human-centric AI (helper robots, sensing systems). Applications of AI includes; Medicine and Healthcare, Finance and Commerce, Education and Social Sciences, Security and Privacy, Energy and Environment (e.g. smart cities), Customer interaction (e.g. chatbots) and Gamification.
ii)- In recent years, data has exploded, and the need to make sense of it and harness it towards practical applications is stronger than ever. Data science track has emerged as the discipline to tackle this vast data, develop insights, and deliver intelligent solutions to optimize business performance as well as improve customer experiences. It will mainly include; Data pipelines (e.g. from acquisition to prediction, Heterogeneous data integration, Data management, including quality, and lineage, Infrastructure, cloud, and distributed applications, Model productionalization, Data scaling, Data analysis (e.g. statistical, in situ, real-time), Streaming and other novel algorithms in support of data science, Cloud and distributed data analysis, Applied machine learning, Knowledge discovery and data mining, Search and recommendation. Applications of Data Science mainly includes; Social sciences and social media, Physical sciences, Life sciences, Medicine and health informatics, E-commerce, advertising and Technology (networks, privacy and security, IoT).
iii)- Human Computer Interaction track shares the way, how interaction with computers has drastically changed over the last decade. Human-computer interaction (HCI) research is extending beyond its discipline origins of computer science, cognitive science, behavioural science, and design to include new platforms, interfaces, and interaction paradigms. Unique and interesting challenges and opportunities around the interaction between humans and the computing systems that surround them is rapidly emerging. This will mainly include Accessibility and Inclusive Design that reinvents the relationship between technology and humans by adapting the means of information delivery and interaction to enhance the human experience. Topics include but are not limited to: Design approaches, techniques, and tools for inclusive design, Assistive technologies, aging-related research, and technology for kids, Web and internet accessibility for digital inclusion, Accessibility within organizations: good practices and experiences and Technology for neuro-diverse population.
iv)- Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality track bring 3D digital experiences that augment, replace or combine the real world with virtual worlds. An explosion of desktop, mobile, robotic, and body worn platforms for VR/AR/MR that have emerged recently create experiences that enhance and transcend the physical world. The fast-growing field of VR/AR/MR builds upon advances in optics, computer vision, computer graphics, hardware, and artificial intelligence, while leveraging design innovations, user experience research, human-computer interaction, game design, human factors, and ethnography. The multidisciplinary nature of VR/AR/MR allows for researchers and engineers from different backgrounds to work together in creating unique experiences that can benefit humanity. This track will explore application, design and engineering aspects of AR/VR and mixed Reality.
7- Workshops/Seminars: Academic track
It includes discussions; how best to navigate academic life, promote institutional changes, and prepare for the future. It mainly includes; Preparing for an academic career by choosing right department, interviewing and negotiating within academic dettings. Managing academic career which involves navigating various career paths, work-life balance, mentoring students and junior colleagues, networking, getting research funding, publishing research results, finding and maintaining productive collaborations, leadership development, course development, managing large courses, developing a teaching style, finding service opportunities, life after tenure, etc.
8- Workshops/Seminars: Career track and Computing Professions
Women face a unique set of opportunities and challenges- both at a professional and personal level. The career track provides a platform for attendees to learn and discuss a wide variety of topics to help support each other and advance their careers. Topics of interest for the career track include but are not limited to: Professional brand and presence, Practical tips to securing your dream job, Product vs. Developer vs. Design vs. Data Scientist — demystifying the tech roles, Startups vs. mid-size vs. global organisations vs. nonprofits vs. government — finding the right fit, Building your dream network, Crucial and difficult conversations in the workplace, Defining balance and success in career, Imposter syndrome: identifying and overcoming. It also includes; Interviewing for a senior leadership position, Reaching the C-suite and what’s beyond it, Navigating mergers and acquisitions, Traits of a successful leader, Senior career trajectories for different disciplines and Culturally conscious leadership.
9- Sight-seeing, travelling and parties hosted by Companies
Along enriched sessions, GHC also offers recreational and informal ways for participants to meet and greet. Google, facebook, Microsoft, twitter, snapchat and many other companies arrange parties which include unlimited food and music. With this, GHC also provides subsidiary passes to different sights in the city. Last year, we visited Universal Studio and Disney Land using this opportunity after conference.
10- Career fair expo
You name a company and you’ll find it’s booth at the venue. All companies ranging from Big five to mainstream companies offers swags at their stalls to all visitors by showcasing their products as well. Most of the companies arranges walk-in or scheduled interviews on their stalls. They review your CV and share valuable feedback. Incase of no visa restriction, people do get job offers followed by further interviews at their company addresses.
Abeer Zahra (Final Year Undergrad student at FAST-NU, Karachi-Pakistan, GHC’19 student scholar) narrates to the aspiring scholars; don’t miss interviews. Get it scheduled or participate through walk-in lines. Don’t miss it anyway.
I’m sure, you have collected enough reasons to pack your bag for Orlando, already. Looking forward to see more applicants from Pakistan. Wish you best of luck, Save the deadline #04March2020.
