Tech Talk

24 Apr

Posted at 09:00h in News 2, Tech Talk by
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Ask a kid to draw a picture of a scientist and you may get an older man with disheveled hair as white as his lab coat. Even though this is the archetypal image of a scientist, it only applies to a tiny portion of researchers. “Scientists look like you or me,” said Nina Lauharatanahirun, a Virginia Tech graduate student in psychology who works in the laboratory of Brooks King-Casas, an assistant professor at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute. “Kids should learn about the diversity of science directly from scientists within their own community.” With that in mind, Lauharatanahirun developed a new outreach initiative aimed at connecting elementary, middle, and high school students with scientists in the Roanoke and New River valleys of Southwest Virginia. “Science exists in an abstract bubble for a lot of kids,” said Lauharatanahirun. “Few people, especially children, have any idea what a biologist or a physicist does on a day-to-day basis.”

23 Apr

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Many companies are struggling to make their IT teams more inclusive. Is it time for data analytics to take over the job? From controversies like Gamergate, which sparked death threats against female game developers, to headlines like Newsweek magazine's recent "What Silicon Valley Thinks of Women," it's questionable whether things are better for female techies today than they were 20 years ago. While women make up 57% of the overall workforce, they account for less than a quarter of all technology professionals. And among higher-ranking positions, women represent only 20% of CIOs at Fortune 250 companies.

22 Apr

Posted at 09:15h in News 2, Tech Talk by
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To encourage greater diversity amongst its developer community, Apple announced it’s increasing the number of WWDC scholarships this year which provide students and developers the opportunity to attend Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference taking place this June in San Francisco. Last year, Apple offered 200 scholarships by working with the National Center for Women & IT (NCWIT). But this year, the company says it has expanded its list of partner STEM organizations to more than 20 and will also increase the number of scholarships offers to 350.

21 Apr

Posted at 09:09h in News 2, Tech Talk by
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The Philadelphia region is the leader for gender diversity in the technology industry, according to a new CBRE Group research report. The report, called “Scoring Tech Talent,” ranks 50 U.S. markets according to their ability to attract and grow tech talent. Philadelphia was first with 31 percent of the tech occupations in the market being held by women. The report from the Los Angeles-based commercial real estate company also ranks Philadelphia as a top five market for millennial population growth, a characteristic shared by strong tech talent markets nationwide.

21 Apr

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theCO, a West Tennessee based community of entrepreneurs, creatives and developers, is pleased to announce that twelve area high school students have won a trip to San Francisco for earning the highest honors in the second annual "CO:de Catalyst" coding course and competition. The seven girls and five boys in the winning group provide a welcome contrast to the much-discussed nationwide lack of diversity in STEM fields. "Our winners truly represent West Tennessee and its bright future," said theCO CEO Ben Ferguson.

20 Apr

Posted at 09:00h in News 2, Tech Talk by
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Like any decent researcher, I started prepping for this article by gathering data to show the problem: that a lack of diversity plagues technology companies and startups in the Triangle and across the country. But the truth is, you’ve seen that data. You don’t need to see another infographic to know that there are far too few women and people of color working in startups, founding companies, and sitting in their executive suites or boardrooms—you’ve already seen what that looks like in person. Nor do you need proof of the abysmal number of female and minority venture capitalists and angel investors in the field because you’ve noticed the lack of diversity when you’ve interacted with them.