2005 Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship Winners Announced

PALO ALTO, Calif. and MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – April 8, 2005 – The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology and Google Inc. today announced the winners of the 2005 Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship. The Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship was established to honor the legacy of Anita Borg and her efforts to encourage women to pursue careers in computer science and technology. The award is a $10,000 scholarship for outstanding female undergraduate and graduate students completing their degrees in computer science and related fields.

"Anita would be proud to see these young, talented women rewarded for their dedication and achievement," said Dr. Telle Whitney, President and CEO of the Anita Borg Institute. "Together with Google's support, we will continue to honor Anita's vision of finding exceptional women in computer science and technology."

"It is an honor to team up with the institute and continue Anita's efforts to support and encourage women in computer science and technology," said Alan Eustace, Vice President of Engineering & Research, Google. "Google was itself born of college research and we look forward to the achievements of these outstanding young women."

For the 2005-2006 academic year, the institute received 115 applications from students at 80 different universities across the country. Eligible students must be going into their final year of study at a US university or college. Selection criteria includes academic performance, letters of recommendation, answers to short essay questions and interviews with members of the review committee. After three rounds of review, the committee selected 23 finalists, who were then interviewed by phone.

We are pleased to award ten $10,000 scholarships to the following students:

• Shiri Azenkot, Pomona College
• Lucia Ballard, Brown University
• Preethi Bhat, Carnegie Mellon University
• Barbara Engelhardt, University of California at Berkeley
• Susan Hohenberger, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Ariadna Font Llitjós, Carnegie Mellon University
• Moriah McClanahan, Brigham Young University
• Kristine Nagel, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Nithya Ramanathan, University of California at Los Angeles
• Jenny Yuen, University of Washington

$1,000 awards will go to the 13 other finalists:

• F. Zeynep Altinbas, State University of New York at Stony Brook
• Himani Apte, University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Caitlin Holman, University of California at Santa Barbara
• Esther Iserovich, New York University
• Agnes Lo, Stanford University
• Emily Navarro, University of California at Irvine
• Irene Ong, University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Bo Pang, Cornell University
• Karolina Sarnowska, Mississippi State University
• Gwendolyn Stockman, Carnegie Mellon University
• Stefanie Tomko, Carnegie Mellon University
• Julie Tung, Stanford University
• Julie Zhuo, Stanford University

All 23 scholars were invited to Mountain View to meet each other, tour Google and participate in a workshop on educational and career issues of women in computer science. The day will also include discussions with Google engineers and executives, representatives from the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology and former scholarship winners.

About Anita Borg:

Though Dr. Borg lost her battle with cancer in April 2003, the technology industry continues to support her vision for a future where women's voices, ideas and spirits influence how and why technology is developed. Anita sought to revolutionize the way we think about technology and devoted much of her adult life to dismantling barriers that keep women and minorities from entering computing and technology fields.

In 1987, seeing only a handful of women at a systems conference, she started a modest email list-an "online community" before the term even existed-and called it Systers. Today Systers has 3,000 members from all over the world. In 1994, Anita co-founded the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference to bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront. And In 1997, Anita founded the Institute for Women and Technology to further increase women's impact on technology and the positive impact of technology on women. Today her legacy lives on through the lives she touched and the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. For more information see: www.anitaborg.org.