Five women have shown their worth by making the final for Young IT Professional of the Year at this year's UK IT Industry Awards. They will go up against nine nominees for the award and will have an interview and presentation session with a panel of judges in order to win. Finalists include Nicola Cooper at IBM, Vidhyalakshmi Karthikeyan at BT and Joy Whyman, who works at National Grid.

U.S. Army competition promotes students to excel in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics This year, eCYBERMISSION celebrates its 10th anniversary of promoting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education among our nation's future leaders. eCYBERMISSION is a free, web-based, STEM competition that allows students to work together to solve a problem in their community while using the scientific method, scientific inquiry or engineering design process.

Sex hormones strongly influence people's interests, which affect the kinds of occupations they choose. Psychologists Sheri A. Berenbaum and her team looked at people's interest in occupations that exhibit sex differences in the general population and are relevant to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers. The results of the study provide strong support for hormonal influences on interest in occupations characterized by working with things versus people.

Henrike Paetz, Communication Director SAP research has in June 2011 defended her Master's Thesis about the "Female Factor in Software Design" at Vienna University of Technology. Her study focuses on a key issue in Gender and Technology of the 21st century: how to increase the female factor in technology design. Henrike's conclusion is that "establishment of a gender aware organizational mindset and a respective design framework using gender as a "lens" is key to success." Henrike's Master Thesis has an impressive list of reference literature, a witty style and is an enjoyable reading for all girls interested in working in the area of software design.

Five women working in the engineering and technology industry have been nominated for a prestigious Network of Aspiring Women Award. Sponsored by Women in Technology, the award category recognises the efforts and achievements made by women in the typically male-dominated sector.

In the fast-paced world of Silicon Valley, the number of women at the top has been slow to change. This year’s FORBES list of the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women highlights five women who dare take on the status quo.

Since the launch of Google Plus almost two months ago, Google’s social media network has grown faster than any other network, reaching over 20 million users in just a month. Google’s invite-only launch positioned Google Plus as a male-centric network, and early Google Plus adopters were quick to criticize the initial gender ratios. Groups formed to urge women to join the social network, adding significance to the female early adopter voice and rapidly spreading the word (and invitations).

There needs to be an even greater push to encourage young people to study science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects at A-level if the UK is to bridge the skills gap in these industries. This is the warning from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which claimed that despite seeing an increase in the number of pupils studying the subjects to A-level, the overall numbers are "still far too low and must increase further to meet employer demand".

Each month Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology asks Senior Technical Women to share their stories and what they have learned. This issue’s Senior Technical Woman Profile features Fatma Mili, Professor and Chair of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Oakland University Michigan.

The low numbers of women working in IT jobs could stem from early childhood perceptions. This observation, suggests that the IT industry must tackle gender stereotypes to encourage young women to pursue careers in these sectors. Technology recruiter FDM Group is one of the organisations working to break the perceived stereotype that IT staff are geeky men. FDM Group is combating this by celebrating its own female role models and showing young women the possibilities of the careers they could have in the industry.