Hello world!

Welcome to the UQ ACM-W Student Chapter – the Association for Computing Machinery’s Women in Computing student chapter, held by the University of Queensland. This is our first post directly from our launch event, on the International Women’s Day in 2024, and we are proud to share our first milestone with the computing community!

Our event was kicked off by Professor Shazia Sadiq, who spoke about her own experience with ACM: “I found ACM resources as a student from a third world country absolutely game changing. I took inspirations for how I viewed my career pathways working in the industry and finally doing a PhD and later joining the international research community.”

Shazia also presented a bit of the history of computing, which is impossible without mentioning Ada Lovelace, who wrote the first computer program for the Analytical Engine invented by Charles Babbage in the 1840s. One of Ada’s most famous quotes still resonates with Shazia, who reflects on the notion of “garbage in, garbage out”, still in use after 2 centuries: “The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform. It can follow analysis; but it has no power of anticipating any analytical relations or truths.”

Professor Michael Brünig (Head of School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the UQ) also joined the stage to celebrate the launch of our chapter as a proactive response to gender imbalance within the technology sector: “The UQ ACM-W student chapter is not merely an effort to rectify this disparity – it is a commitment to creating an inclusive environment that leverages the full potential of all our students.”

In her address, Professor Sue Harrison, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology, underscored the immense potential that lies within diversity and inclusion:

Diversity is not just a mere checkbox – it is the wellspring of innovation and progress. However, diversity alone is not enough. Inclusion is the glue that binds us together, and it is our collective responsibility to foster an environment where every individual, irrespective of their background, feels not only welcome but an integral part of our community.

Finally, we held a Q&A session led by Kellie King, from the UQ Women in Computing program. Each one of us spoke about what led us to join ACM-W, our expectations, and plans for 2024. After the panel, we welcomed our guests with a great lunch and lots of networking, and you can see the photos below: