Google announces 2006 Australian scholarship women

Stan Beer
Monday, 30 October 2006 15:02

IT Industry - Strategy

Google has announced the winners of the Google 2006 Australia Anita Borg Scholarship. The Google 2006 Australia Anita Borg Scholarship, offered in Australia for the first time, was established to honour the legacy of Anita Borg and her efforts to encourage women to pursue careers in computer science and technology.

The award is a A$5,000 scholarship for outstanding female undergraduate and postgraduate students completing their degrees in computer science or related fields.

The program has run in the US for three years.

"We are thrilled to award these scholarships to some of the brightest young women studying in technical fields today," said Lars Rasmussen, Head of Engineering, Google Australia. "By supporting the next generation of great technical minds, we pay tribute to Anita and her vision of women in the computer sciences."

For the 2006 academic year, Google received 60 applications from students at 21 different universities across the country. Eligible students must be enrolled in an undergraduate or postgraduate program in 2007 at a university in Australia. Selection criteria includes academic performance, letters of recommendation, answers to short essay questions and interviews with members of the review committee. More information about the Google 2006 Australia Anita Borg Scholarship can be found at http://www.google.com.au/anitaborg/.

Scholarships of A$5,000 were awarded to:

·         Dana Zhang, University of Melbourne

·         Elizabeth Shenton, Charles Darwin University

A$1,000 awards will go to the 14 other finalists:

·         Elena Akhmatova, Macquarie University

·         Eva Cheng, University of Wollongong

·         Joanne Jakovich, University of Sydney

·         Layla Soroush, Griffith University

·         Mary Gardiner, Macquarie University

·         Wanita Sherchan, Monash University

·         Xiaomeng Li, University of Sydney

·         Andrea Lau, University of Sydney

·         Elizabeth Jane Fookes, La Trobe University Bendigo

·         Jessica Manea, University of Western Australia

·         Olga Ohrimenko, University of Melbourne

·         Rebecca Ucich, Curtin University

·         Taryn Andersen, University of Technology Sydney

·         Michelle Blom, University of Melbourne

All 16 finalists were invited to Google Sydney for a networking retreat on Friday 27 October. It included workshops with a series of speakers, breakout sessions and social activities.