Two Distinguished Technical Women Receive Anita Borg Awards.

Wendy Hall and Carol Muller Honored for Technology Leadership and Social Impact at 2006 Grace Hopper Conference

SAN DIEGO -- The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI) will honor two distinguished leaders in technology as recipients of the 2006 Anita Borg Awards during ceremonies on Thursday, October 5, at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, underway here from October 4-7, 2006. Dr. Wendy Hall, Professor of Computer Science and Head of the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, UK, and Dr. Carol B. Muller, Founder and CEO of MentorNet, will be recognized for significant and sustained contributions in Technical Leadership and Social Impact, respectively. The Anita Borg Awards, established in 2004 in memory of the late Dr. Anita Borg, honor outstanding leaders who embrace Borg's lasting vision to change the world for women and technology.

The Technology Leadership Award recognizes and celebrates an outstanding woman technical leader and is underwritten by Intel Corporation. Microsoft Corporation is sponsoring the Social Impact Award which honors an individual or team who has caused technology to have a positive impact on the lives of women and society or who has caused women to have a significant impact on the design and use of technology. Each is a $10,000 award.

"The accomplishments of these extraordinary leaders demonstrate the powerful and positive influence that women can have on shaping a brighter future for all of us," said Telle Whitney, ABI President and CEO. "They are innovators and trailblazers in technology and exemplify the individual's capacity to excel, following their own vision while empowering others to define and pursue their personal goals and aspirations."

Recipients' Profiles:

Co Wendy Hall, Ph.D., is a professor of Computer Science and Head of the School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) at the University of Southampton in the UK. The founding head of the Intelligence, Agents, Multimedia Research Group at ECS, she is broadly recognized as a leader in intelligent information systems, including hypermedia, multimedia, digital libraries and distributed information system. Her research achievements include the pre-Web Microcosm hypermedia system and the development of Web-based link services. She is currently engaged in research of Semantic Web applications and is developing a new initiative in the field of Web science. A Senior VP of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Dr. Hall serves on a number of British and European science and research councils, was recently elected vice president of the ACM and serves as a director of several companies and charitable trusts. The recipient of numerous awards and honors, in March 2006, she was named one of six world-class Women of Outstanding Achievement by the UK Research Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology.

Co Carol B. Muller, Ph.D., is the Founder and CEO at MentorNet, the E-Mentoring Network for Diversity in Engineering and Science, a nonprofit organization headquartered in San Jose, CA. She is also a consulting Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. MentorNet connects women and others underrepresented in scientific and technical fields through the use or technology-supported mentoring programs, promoting a diversified, expanded and talented global workforce. Prior to founding MentorNet in 1997, Dr. Muller spent 20 years in higher education administration at Dartmouth and Stanford. In 1990, she co-founded Dartmouth's Women in Science Project while also serving as associate dean at the Thayer School of Engineering. Her work on this project and MentorNet has been recognized with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. She earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy and English from Dartmouth, and masters and doctoral degrees in education administration and policy analysis from Stanford.

For further information on these notable Anita Borg Award winners, or for additional information on the 2006 Grace Hopper Celebration please visit Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing.

Grace Hopper Celebration Sponsors:

Gold sponsors: CA, Cisco Systems, Google, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Yahoo! - Silver sponsors: Amazon, Arrow Electronics, Cadence, EMC, Fair Isaac, SAIC, Symantec, Thoughtworks, USENIX - Bronze sponsors: Adobe, Argonne National Laboratory, AT&T Labs, BMC, Goldman Sachs, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Network Appliances, NCWIT, Oracle, Qualcomm, Virsalent, Walmart.com, Wells Fargo.

Gold academic scholarship underwriters: California Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Princeton University, UC Irvine, University of California Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - Silver academic scholarship underwriters: Information Networking Institute at Carnegie Mellon, DePaul University, Georgia Tech, Michigan State University, NCSA, New York University, Purdue University - Bronze academic scholarship underwriters: Indiana University, Tufts University, University of California Berkeley, University of California Santa Cruz, UC Davis, University of Texas at Austin.

Founding Sponsors: CRA & CRA-W

Government Sponsor: The National Science Foundation

About the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing:

The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC) is a program of The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI) and is co-presented by ABI and the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM). Inspired by the legacy of Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, this technical conference is the world's largest gathering of women in computing, and is designed to bring the technology, research and career interests of women in IT-related professions to the forefront. Open to women and men from the undergraduate level to seasoned technical leaders and educators, GHC receives financial support from major corporations and universities and from the government through The National Science Foundation. GHC was founded by the late Dr. Anita Borg and Dr. Telle Whitney in 1994.

About The Anita Borg Institute:

Founded in 1997, the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI) is a nationally recognized organization committed to advancing women into the mainstream of technology innovation and leadership. The Institute accomplishes its goals through collaboration with industry, academic and government organizations. A growing list of leading corporationsCoincluding partners HP, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Google and sponsors, IBM, Cisco, and IntelCorecognize that by investing in ABI's programs to engage and develop technical women, they can achieve a more diverse, globally competitive workforce capable of producing higher levels of technology innovation and better financial performance. With their support, and the partnership of other visionaries and thought leaders, the Institute is delivering programs that are changing the world for women and technology. The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) : www.anitaborg.org.