News from ACM-W Europe

womENcourage 2019 – ACM Celebration of Women in Computing

The Sixth ACM Celebration of Women in Computing will be held in the beautiful city of Rome, Italy on September 16-18, 2019. The three-day event includes a Hackathon, Workshops, Posters, Technical Talks, Career Fair, Panel Discussions, and Interdisciplinary Research Tracks. Join us to socialize, share knowledge and experiences, learn about exciting opportunities in research and professional careers, and celebrate the achievements in the Women in Computing.

Find out more on the Call for Participation page.

Interdisciplinary Research Tracks and One-day Passes

This year, womENcourage 2019 is featuring two interdisciplinary research tracks in which prominent scientists will inspire the audience by illustrating new and innovative research areas that intersect information technology with other disciplines.

Participants who prefer attending only a specific track may register using the “one-day pass”. More information here.

Track 1 – Coding Conscious Cities on September 17th

The world around us is increasingly controlled by algorithms that predict and react to our needs. As we blur the boundaries between the physical and digital realm, who will be responsible for defining our relationship with the homes, offices, and streets we inhabit?

Track 2 – Artificial Intelligence and Health on September 18th

AI applied to human health presents a range of professional challenges and raises critical ethical questions: can the integration of human and computing technologies be achieved in a principled and ethical manner.

Meet the Amazing Local organizers: Tiziana Catarci and Paola Velardi

This month we interviewed the local organizers of the womENcourage 2019, Prof Tiziana Catarci and Prof Paola Velardi from La Sapienza University. Their radiating energy and creativity are captured in these fascinating portraits by Gérald Bruneaux courtesy of Fondazione Bracco.

Tiziana Catarci graduated from Electronic Engineering in February 1987 at the University of Rome La Sapienza, where she received her Ph.D. in Computer Science in October 1992. Since November 2000 she is a Full Professor of Information Processing Systems. For many years Prof Catarci has been actively involved in gender issues in the STEM subjects and the spreading the STEM culture among girls. For these activities, she won an award from Levi Montalcini Association in 2017.

Paola Velardi is a Full Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Roma “La Sapienza”. She received her “Laurea” Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Roma “La Sapienza” in 1978. Her research interests include Natural Language Processing, Machine Learning, and the Semantic Web. With her inspirational work, Prof Velardi aims to debunk the myth that computer science is a man-oriented and “inflexible” discipline.

Why is the conference important to you?

“Despite the various initiatives undertaken in recent years, the results in terms of attractiveness of IT for girls are still disappointing. It is necessary to do more, change the mentality, make people feel that IT is cool and it is not for the geeky few but it is the future. ACM womENcourage is in this direction and will be a terrific event.”