On February 27th – February 28th, 2020 the second Jean Bartik Computing Symposium (JBCS) was held at the U.S. Naval Academy. The event was co-chaired by myself, Dr. Adina Crainiceanu (U.S. Naval Academy) and Lt. Col. Traci Sarmiento (U.S. Air Force Academy). In addition to co-chairing JBCS, we are also the founding chairs of the conference.
The goal of the Jean Bartik Computing Symposium is to bring women and underrepresented minorities studying computing at the service academies with their counterparts in government and military. The event is named after Jean Jennings Bartik, one of the early pioneers of computing. Due to her status as a woman, Jean Bartik did not receive recognition for her accomplishments until near the end of her life. This conference, named in her honor, is one way to pay her homage and amplify the contributions of women and minorities working in government roles to the field of computing.
The second annual event had 90 attendees from the three service academies, including 37 students from the U.S. Naval Academy, 17 students from West Point and 10 students from the U.S. Air Force Academy. Faculty from the three academies were also in attendance, along with distinguished speakers from several DOD labs, agencies, and industrial partners.
The opening keynote was given by Jeanné Woodfin, a U.S. Navy graduate who majored in computer science and has the joint distinctions of being the first Marine female flight officer and the first female Marine who flew in combat. She is the founder and CEO of XenaTech Software Integration Services and spoke at length of her leadership experiences in both the military and Industry. In addition, Colonel Ahmed T. Williamson, who currently serves as Military Assistant to the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps Officer Candidates School and is a U.S. Navy computer science graduate, gave a fireside chat over lunch on Friday.
These conferences, while very rewarding for our students, take a lot of work to plan, and the local planning committee always necessarily bears the brunt of the planning. A very special thank you to Dr. Crainiceanu and Capt. Jaspreet Blevins for putting togethr such a superb local planning committee, and especially to Adina for being the Navy chair and our host! At the end of the conference, Adina’s department head also made the surprise announcement that Adina has been promoted to full professor! Go Adina!!
Here is a link to the 2020 program.