WACM is the University of Wisconsin-Madison's student chapter of ACM-W, ACM's Committee on Women in Computing. We provide social, educational and outreach activities for women in the Computer Sciences department, in the university, and in the surrounding community.
You can join our mailing list here. You can also follow us on Facebook.
Check back soon for new events!
WACM Explains...Entrepreneurship 2013-04-10
Come hear local entrepreneurs talk about their experiences going off the traditional paths and blazing through new territory to make their dreams come true. They'll discuss the challenges and rewards of starting a business.
Moderator: Heather Wentler (Fractal / The Doyenne Group)
Panelists:
Forrest Woolworth (Capital Entrepreneurs / PerBlue)
Jami Morton (SnowShoe)
Betsy Rowbottom (The Good Jobs)
Tim Kessler (Badger Innovations / Collegiate Entrepreneurs Org.)
We will also include time for networking with the panelists after the talk.
Full bios of the presenters are available on the WACM Explains page.
When: Wednesday, April 10 @ 6:00 pm
Where: CS 1221
WACM Speaker Series: Leng Leng Tan, Oracle Senior Vice President 2013-04-04
The WACM Mentoring Program Speaker Series will be hosting Leng Leng Tan, Senior Vice President at Oracle. Leng's talk is titled "Venusians In Mars? Thriving Tips for Women in Computing." This event is open to everyone.
When: Thursday, April 4 @ 4:00pm
Where: CS 2310
WACM will also be hosting a dinner with Leng following her talk. More details about dinner will be available on the mailing list.
Leng's talk slides are available here.
WACM Explains...Undergrad Course Offerings for Fall 2013-04-02
It can be challenging to pick the most interesting courses from the official listings.
We collected answers to "What is the coolest thing students will learn in your class?" from the professors, and we'll present the results at this session. We'll also cover major requirements, and let students ask questions and share information!
We've compiled these answers here: WACM's Fall 2013 Undergrad Course Info (and our slides).
This event is open to all students regardless of WACM membership; we are focusing on undergrad courses so grad students may not find it particularly useful. This event is intended for students only so that they will feel comfortable discussing course offerings.
When: Tuesday, April 2 @ 5:30pm
Where: CS 1221
Here's the flier.
Welcome Weekend Breakfast at Bluephies 2013-03-16
As part of Welcome Weekend, WACM will be hosting breakfast at Bluephies with the prospective women on Saturday, March 16, at 9am. More information is available on the mailing list.
WACM Speaker Series: Kathryn McKinley 2013-03-12
Kathryn McKinley will be visiting the UW-Madison Architecture group, and WACM will be having lunch with her on Tuesday, March 12, from 12:00pm-1:30pm in 2310 CS. More information about lunch will be available on the mailing list. Kathryn will also be giving a talk at 4:00pm in 1240 CS.
WACM Explains...Life in the Commercial Video Game Industry 2013-03-06
Are you considering a career in the video game industry? Come meet Allison Salmon, a senior software engineer and veteran of the commercial game industry. During her years with Raven Software and Activision she shipped seven triple-A titles, including Quake 4, Marvel Ultimate Alliance, and Call of Duty: Black Ops. Allison is now applying her skills to help redefine how video games are used in research and education with her work at the Games, Learning and Society group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Here's the flier and a list of resources compiled by Allison, as well as her slides.
When: Wednesday, March 6 at 5:30pm
Where: CS 1221
WACM Explains...Linux 2013-01-29 (repeated 2013-02-04)
Is this your first time taking a class using Linux? Need a quick refresher? We'll go over some of the basics to get you up to speed!
Some of the things we'll cover:
- Command line basics: ls, cd, mv, cp, rm, tab completion, etc...
- Man pages
- CSL-specific features
- Backups (and recovering lost files)
- Printing
- Directory structure and quotas
- Your personal web page
- Profile (setting environmental variables)
- Text editors: vi and emacs
- Compilation: javac, gcc, g++
- ssh (or: how to work from home)
Here's the flier and the handout for this event.
Resume Review 2013-01-31
In preparation for another upcoming interview season, Rebecca Roa from Facebook will be hosting a resume review on Thursday, January 31 in Union South (TITU). Bring your resume and get helpful advice and feedback! As with last semester, Rebecca will have one-on-one appointments; this way, you can get individual feedback! More details are available on the mailing list.
Study Decompression 2012-12-18
What is study decompression? It's a time during finals week when get some food and board games together and reserve a room. Everyone is welcome to drop by to share some snacks, chat, or seek help with their studying!
When? Tuesday, December 18 from 5-7pm
Where? CS 4310
Who? You!
So come drop by to de-stress or for help with your studies! Good luck on your finals!
WACM Explains...What comes next? Grad School or Industry?
2012-11-12
WACM is excited to announce the first installment of WACM Explains..., a series of panel discussions on topics of interest to computer science undergraduates and graduate students. Our first topic will be the differences between grad school and industry, and the advantages and disadvantages of each. We will have several panelists who have experience with both grad school and industry, and we will try to provide a balanced look at the choices.
Here's the flier.
What: WACM Explains... What comes next? Grad School or Industry
When: Monday, November 12th at 5:30pm.
Where: CS 1221
Who: Our guest panelists will be Polina Dudnik (now at Google),
Irene Rae (current PhD Student), and Elizabeth Soechting (now at Epic)
Why: Not sure what to do after you finish your undergraduate degree?
Want to hear about some of the differences between academia and the real world? Hungry for free Oreos?
Although this event is hosted by WACM, it is open to everyone and we encourage anyone who is interested to attend.
Mentoring Program Kick-Off Dinner 2012-11-07
Welcome to our new mentors and mentees, and welcome back to our returning members!
The kick-off dinner will be on Wednesday, November 7th at 6pm, right atop of the main doors of the C.S. building (the doors facing Union South). We will have Indian food for the dinner!
Come and get to know other students in the program and see your mentor/mentee! If you have to come late or leave early, that's completely fine -- just come when you can.
Please RSVP (to somayeh@cs) by noon on Tuesday, November 6th if you'll be able to attend the dinner.
Halloween Spooky Afternoon Tea 2012-10-31
What better way to celebrate Halloween than with tea and eating creepy jiggly things? We may not have creepy jiggly things but we will have...things that may or may not be Halloween themed!
Drop by the WACM afternoon tea to pick up a treat, hang out with old friends, meet new ones, and catch up with other women in Computer Science!
When: October 31 any time between 1:30-3:30pm
Where: CS 4310
Costumes welcome, bring your own mug and any Halloween themed food that you'd like to share!
Annual Bluephies Breakfast 2012-09-29
We're excited to be continuing our annual fall breakfast at Bluephies on Saturday, September 29, at 10am. The Microsoft Jim Gray Systems Lab is generously sponsoring breakfast. More details are available on the mailing list!
Resume Review 2012-09-14
In preparation for the upcoming interview season, WACM will be hosting a resume review with Rebecca Roa from Facebook on Friday, September 14 in CS 1304. Bring your resume and get helpful advice and feedback! Based on responses from previous resume workshops, we'll be setting up one-on-one appointments rather than a group session; this way, you can get individual feedback! More details are available on the mailing list (or contact Emily at jacobson@cs).
Welcome Potluck Dinner 2012-09-06
WACM will be having a potluck dinner to welcome our new graduate women on Thursday, September 6, at 6pm. New graduate students aren't required to bring anything to the dinner; just come and meet the other women in the department! Everyone else, please bring a dish to share. More details are available on the mailing list (or contact Emily at jacobson@cs).
We're looking forward to the 2012-2013 year!
We'll be hosting a few activities at the beginning of the academic year, including our annual fall breakfast at Bluephies. Check back soon for more information.
Are you not yet on the WACM mailing list? The mailing list is a generally low volume list used for announcements of upcoming events and so forth. The list is maintained by the CSL using the Mailman program. You can subscribe to the list by going to the subscription page. Please subscribe with your wisc.edu or cs.wisc.edu email address.