The NCWIT Academic Alliance Seed Fund, sponsored by Microsoft Research, provides startup funds to academic programs focused on recruiting and retaining women in computing. The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) today awarded $40,000 to the eleventh-round recipients of the NCWIT Academic Alliance Seed Fund. Sponsored by Microsoft Research, the Seed Fund provides non-profit, U.S. academic institutions with startup funds to develop and implement initiatives for recruiting and retaining women in computing fields. With Microsoft Research's support, the NCWIT Academic Alliance Seed Fund has awarded 43 institutions with $505,450 to grow their technology-related outreach programs. Initiatives include professional development, mentoring and networking opportunities, hands-on training, workshops, and more.

The European Commission is organising a workshop during the European Robotics Forum 2015 (#ERF) on 12 March 2015 in Vienna. Some of the successful projects supported under the FP7 work programme will present their achievements and will explain how the results can be re-used. The sessions will be followed by a panel with potential technology users who will present their perspectives on the impact of the projects in their application domains.

The ICT 2015 Exhibition will be an integral part of the three-day event alongside a policy conference and networking sessions. We invite interested parties to submit a proposal for an exhibition showcases by 31 March 2015 18h00 CET. If you have A high-tech prototype to show, Results from an advanced research project ready to display, Innovative products less than 2 years on the market, then you can come and join.

In order to remain competitive in today's global markets, workplace diversity and inclusion is increasingly becoming a business necessity in addition to a social responsibility - according to a new study by a University of Illinois Chicago professor, employers with the most diverse workforces also report higher performance in year-end reports. Business performance factors were measured based on average annual sales revenue, number of customers, perceived market share, and relative profitability. In all four categories, the most diverse firms showed numbers at least one and a half times greater than the least diverse. Most strikingly, the mean revenue for organizations with low levels of racial diversity approximated $51.9 million, while the most diverse organizations topped off around $761.3 million. For gender diversity, companies with the highest levels of inclusiveness reported an average of 15,000 more customers than those with the lowest levels.

Developing a diverse workforce must be treated like any other critical business issue. NCWIT released a guide that can help you collect important data and develop a strategic plan for increasing the meaningful participation of diverse groups in your organization.

The SWE Scholarship Program provides financial assistance to women admitted to accredited baccalaureate or graduate programs, in preparation for careers in engineering, engineering technology and computer science. In 2014, SWE awarded over 230 new and renewed scholarships valued at over $700,000. The application is now open for students who will be sophomores through PhD candidates in the fall of 2015.

Once students have their first experience with computer science (CS), how do we keep them engaged so that they will continue to pursue CS, particularly at the undergraduate level? This year, 53 CS faculty and instructors from colleges and universities in 24 U.S. states will implement classroom-based programs and solutions to help them answer that question as part of the Google CS Engagement Small Awards program. Each award - an unrestricted gift of $5,000 to the award recipients' institution - will be used by the faculty members and instructors teaching introductory (CS1 and CS2) courses to identify and implement solutions for increasing student engagement and reaching retention goals within their own classrooms.

The Women in Engineering Committee (WIEC) is now requesting nominations for the WIE Affinity Group of the Year Awards that was established by the WIEC to recognize affinity groups based on quality programs, outreach to young women, communication to affinity group members, membership growth and website presence. The awards are given annually to one WIE Affinity Group and one WIE Student Branch Affinity Group that has shown outstanding leadership and initiative in organizing activities.

GHC[1] is a one-day, locally organized conference modeled after ABI's international Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC). This immersive event brings women technologists at all levels together, along with industry leading companies, to build relationships, learn and advance their careers.

As a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, Hopper worked on the first computer, the Harvard Mark 1. And she headed the team that created the first compiler, which led to the creation of COBOL, a programming language that by the year 2000 accounted for 70 percent of all actively used code. Passing away in 1992, she left behind an inimitable legacy as a brilliant programmer and pioneering woman in male-dominated fields. Hopper's story is told in 'The Queen of Code', directed by Gillian Jacobs. It's the latest film in FiveThirtyEight's Signals series.