Himani Agrawal

Where: The Pit, Cullen College of Engineering Building 1

When: November 7, 2014

Girl in Engineering Day is one of the major outreach events organized by SWE Chapter at University of Houston. The middle school girls were  given hands on training conducting some very interesting science experiments that lay the foundation of very impactful engineering technologies. We had several workshops in Mechanical, Chemical and Electrical Engineering working with circuits, chromatography and buoyancy.

I conducted one of the Mechanical Engineering workshops : Technology of the Deep, Experimenting with buoyant forces. The force of buoyancy gives rise to the working of submarines that are used for underwater operations and for transporting petroleum. The hot air balloons, which is the oldest human carrying flight technology is also based on the based on buoyancy; it rises because it is filled with lighter air. Experiments were conducted using soft drink cans, normal and salty water and balloons to explain the concept of buoyant forces and densities and how do they work to make such wonderful technologies possible. The girls were really excited and appreciated the hand on experiments. I am looking forward to our second outreach event: “Launch into Engineering” in January, 2015.

Details of the activity

The day in the celebration of women in computing started with a  wonderful news: Malala Yousafzai getting the Nobel Peace Price, the youngest to receive one. She is strong advocator of women empowerment through education and so is the Grace Hopper Conference, which actively supports and encourage aspirations of women yearning to impact the world through technology. For the first time at GHC, there was a Film Festival which showcased the struggle of girls in developing countries, the importance of dreaming big and a documentary on Anita Borg.

Girl Rising is story of several girls from developing countries who are struggling against cultural and social barriers to get education. The stories are truly inspirational and one of the message in the movie really invigorated me because I have always followed it throughout my life : “If you try to stop me, I will even try harder”. Girl Rising has now become a global campaign to educate girls and alleviate poverty. You can support this nobel cause by donating here: http://girlrising.com/donate

The documentary on Anita Borg gave an eye opening account of her life as a computer scientist and her never ending enthusiasm to bring women together and celebrate their success. She would always dream big and visualize her dreams being a reality (and also relish); and work very hard  to accomplish them. The video features some people who worked with Anita Borg closely like Telle Whitney (present CEO of Anita Borg Institute), Maria Klawe (President, Harvey Mudd College) and some others who give account of Anita Borg and her vision to create an environment where women can share the issues they face in the male dominated tech industry and support each other in the process. She gave shape to the present concept of Grace Hopper Celebration. One particularly interesting thing about Anita Borg was that she really like dressing up for dance parties and this is why I think GHC has a great dance party at the end of the conference where 8000 women dance together in a technical conference!!! I feel extremely fortunate to be a Grace Hopper Scholar to have this life changing experience and aspiring to be an agent for change through technology.

SWE (Society of Women Engineers) aims to attract more women towards engineering and science. It develops leadership skills and helps them in their professional development. One of their biggest conference that attracts women engineers all over the world is WE 14 (October 23-25, 2014). To be held in the beautiful city of Los Angeles, the conference will have an attendance of more than 7000 this year and will bring the latest in technology to the forefront. And most importantly, this time WE14 will be held in conjunction with INWES 16  (International Conference of Women Engineers and Scientists) and will be a truly international experience.

Various regions within SWE

The Society of Women Engineers has divided US into 10 different regions. I belong to Region C (also known as the Gulf Coast Region) which encompasses Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Each year 1 female undergraduate and graduate student are selected from each region to represent and compete at Poster Competition at the national convention. I feel glad that I got selected to represent my region at the conference. It is a wonderful opportunity to be speaking in front of a large audience and striving to make my region win and make my school proud.

I am extremely thankful to WE 14 sponsors who are funding me for the conference. I am overwhelmed by dedication and motivation of SWEGrad leadership at University of Houston who are starting a new program called SWEGrad this year. This program is to involve more graduate students in SWE and help them succeed professionally. I thank them for their amazing support and also for sponsoring me for the conference.

I just can’t wait for October to come!  

I have been awarded a GHC Scholarship Grant to attend the 2014 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. My poster entitled “Mechanics and Physics of HIV Virus interaction With Cell-Membranes” is also selected for presentation at the conference. The aim of this conference is to celebrate the success of women in computing and inspire more women to build a career in technology.

This year’s conference feature prominent women in technology: Shafi Goldwasser, Arati Prabhakar, Maria Klawe, to name a few. The Grace Hopper Celebration consists of a combination of technical sessions and career sessions and includes a poster session, career fair, awards ceremony, and more. I am extremely enthusiastic attend the following events: Scholarship Recipients Meet and Greet, Scholarship Recipients Lunch, Leadership workshops and CRA-W career mentoring workshops. In addition, I am looking forward to the keynote sessions.

I thank Anita Borg Institute and other sponsors for this amazing opportunity!