Female IT students: A different type of Google Scholar

Posted by Will Blott, University Programs Manager

Google Sydney was recently taken over by emerging female leaders in computer science and related fields as the second annual Google Australia Anita Borg Scholarship retreat was held. 17 female students attended this year – as well as several female Googlers from both Australia and overseas - for two days of networking, discussions, learning and of course socialising.

Topics covered many areas from the technical – including user experience, software engineering and product engineering – to more broader discussions on the choices and challenges facing women in computer science. This year’s retreat was capped off by a celebratory private dinner cruise around Sydney Harbour.



The Google Anita Borg Scholarship started in the United States in 2004 in association with the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology to honor the legacy of Anita Borg and her efforts to encourage women to pursue careers in computer science and technology. Australia became the first country outside of the US to launch the scholarship in 2006 and this year was extended to students studying in New Zealand also.

Each scholarship recipient is awarded a $5,000 scholarship plus an expenses paid trip to the Grace Hopper conference in the US and the retreat in Sydney. Every finalist is awarded $1000 plus an expenses paid trip to the retreat also. To be eligible, students had to have had at least one year of undergraduate study remaining and be enrolled in study for the 2007 - 2008 academic year at an university in Australia or New Zealand. The scholarship this year received applications from students at 18 different universities across Australia and New Zealand.

Most finalists arrived at Google for the retreat as strangers. All left as friends.

We are pleased to announce this year’s scholarship recipients as Eva Cheng, University of Wollongong and Tracy Footitt, University of Western Australia .

We are pleased to announce this year’s finalists as:

• Anita Rahman, Monash University
• Barsha Karki, University of Technology, Sydney
• Flora Salim, Monash University
• Gauri Pradhan, University of Technology, Sydney
• Janet Saw, Monash University
• Jessica Manea, University of Western Australia
• Jette Viethen, Macquarie University
• Li Sun, RMIT University
• Nandika Thapar, University of Wollongong
• Nandita Sharma, Australian National University
• Valentina Haziri, Monash University
• Valerie de Silva, RMIT University
• Vineetha Menon, University of Technology, Sydney
• Wai Yau, RMIT University

Congratulations to all!