News From ACM-W India
Report of All India celebration of Women in Computing
All India celebration of women in computing was organized by AESICS, ACM-Women Chapter of Ahmedabad University in association with ACM Ahmedabad during 1st and 3rd October, 2015 under the theme “Entrepreneurship and Career Development in Computer Science and Information Technology”.
The inaugural ceremony started with prayer and e-lighting a lamp. Ms. Heena Timani, Vice Chairman, ACM Ahmedabad welcome and introduced all guests to the audience.
During ceremonial address, Dr. Arati Dixit, Member, ACM-W India Executive Council, briefed about Association of Computing Machinery as largest computing education society worldwide that strives unconditionally to raise the bar of students by helping them in terms of career resources, mentoring, workshops, conferences and publications She elucidated the objective of AICWIC’15 to support, motivate and inspire women researchers in India by providing them a platform where they can candidly interact with others and hence explained the importance of ACM-W Chapter. She talked about the facilities given by ACM and also discussed about the awards given by ACM.
The chief guest for the inaugural function Ms. Bhagyesh Soneji, Chairperson –Western Region ASSOCHAM (Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industries), threw a light on e-commerce business. She emphasized creativity and higher success ratio at younger age.
The Keynote addresses were conversed by Ms. Shweta Chawla and Mrs. Smriti Dagur. Ms. Shweta Chawla, an entrepreneur, Head and Chief Investigator at SC Cyber Solutions, Forensic Investigations Pune, shared her experiences at the SC Cyber Solutions. She encouraged students, especially girls to join the field of Forensic Investigations as an interesting field with ample of opportunities. She demonstrated cloning of data using a tool that attracted the audience. The other keynote speaker Mrs. Smriti Dagur, President, Institution of Electronics & Telecommunications Engineers (IETE) delivered a talk which motivated students to pursue higher studies. She highlighted on smart cities and village with powering inspiration.
The session continued with Panel Discussion on theme “On choosing Career Path: Academics, IT, Research and Entrepreneurship”. The Expert Panelists were Mrs. Vandana Raj, Director, Vama Communications, Mrs. Maria Choudhary, Chief Engineer, Oracle Systems, Pune and Ms. Sweta Chawla. The Panel Discussion was moderated by Dr. Arati M. Dixit on their career, goal and challenges in respective industry, career opportunities for IT student freshers in respective field of panelist.
As a part of Celebration on 3rd October the participant presented Work-in-progress research poster followed by Q & A by expert. The Valedictory session started with an address on Women in Computing by Dr. Bhusan Trivedi, Sr. Member, ACM Ahmedabad. It was followed with Award ceremony and Certificate distribution. The trophies and winning certificates were awarded to students for holding first and second rank in Programming Contest and IT Quiz respectively organized on 1st October as a part of AICWIC’15. It was also awarded to participants of IT Quiz, Programming Contest and participants of Work-in-progress research poster. More than 300 students and professionals. Concluding Remark was given by Dr Nilesh Modi, Chairman, ACM Ahmedabad. Dr Kuntal Patel, Membership Chair, proposed vote of thanks. Celebration was successfully completed under the encouraging support and guidance of Prof. Bipin Mehta, Director, School of Computer Studies, Ahmedabad University and Mr. Chandrashekhar Sahasrabudhe, Persistent System Ltd and Dr. Sheila Anand, ACM-W Chair India.