May 19, 2014 · 9:11 am

“Notable Women in Computing” Poster Accepted!

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I am glad to report that the “Notable Women in Computing” poster submission made by Dr. Susan Rodger (Professor of the Practice in the Computer Science Department, Duke University) and me for the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing has been accepted for presentation.  GHC14 will be 8-10 October 2014 in Phoenix, Arizona. Our poster is based on the CRA-W and Anita Borg Institute Wikipedia Project – Writing Wikipedia Pages for Notable Women in Computing I have been working on since 2009.

I am also delighted that my daughter Jessica Dickinson Goodman also had her poster “The Source App: Connecting Consumers to the People Who Make Things” accepted for GHC14. Jessica and I have been GHC roommates every year since 2007.

Image Copyright 2010 by Katy Dickinson

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May 19, 2014 · 7:12 am

Blue Nile Gorge Road Trip (Addis Ababa – Debre Marcos)

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Here are detailed photos of our drive from Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, past the Debre Libanos monastery, through the dramatic 1 Km. (.62 miles) deep Blue Nile Gorge, to the city of Debre Marcos. I had never heard of this remarkable area, other than as one of the sources of the Nile, but I highly recommend a visit, so long as you have a sturdy truck for the rough road.

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Images Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson

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May 19, 2014 · 12:57 am

Blue Nile Gorge, Debre Markos, Bahir Dar Ethiopia

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The People to People team (US and Ethiopia-based doctors, plus me) have been visiting partners and supporters, friends and family this weekend before the start of the Pan-African Medical Doctors & Healthcare Conference this week in Addis. We drove from the capital Addis Ababa through the dramatic Blue Nile Gorge to Debre Marcos (staying at the Gozamen Hotel in Abiyot Square), then to Bahir Dar on Lake Tana (staying at the Summerland Hotel). In addition to seeing the lovely and fertile countryside, institutions we have visited include:

Dr. Enawgaw Mehari (President and Founder, People to People) presented six boxes of chemistry, math, biology and other college texts to Debre Marcos University. During the Debre Marcos University tour, we visited some cows (part of the farm school), and their computer lab.  Dr. Enawgaw also presented a donation check of $1833 raised by 8-year-old Emma Jewel Lewis and her family in West Virginia to the girls of the Amanuel Care Center, where we visited some beehives and talked with 14 of the 56 girls. With their education and P2P support, the girls ambitions are to be a:

  • pilot
  • medical doctor (5 girls)
  • economist (2 girls)
  • journalist
  • law
  • business administration
  • engineer

We also visited six of the Amanuel Care Center girls who have already started their university studies on our way out of Addis. We were impressed by our tour of the clinic and diagnostic lab of the Addis Vision Higher Clinic. I am still uploading photos.

We have enjoyed eating many meals on injera flatbread and have been honored to join traditional dancing.  I particularly like the delicious results of the coffee ceremony. All along the way, our car has been regularly stopped by donkeys, cows, dogs, goats, and people dashing across the road, very exciting at night. I suggested adding reflectors to the animals’ tails…

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Images Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson

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May 16, 2014 · 6:01 pm

Getting to Ethiopia

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I finally arrived in Ethiopia a few hours ago, after traveling from Wednesday through Friday nights. A trip planned for 24 hours took double that due to a bad connection – and included an overnight stay in Frankfurt, Germany. I haven’t seen much except airports, airplanes, clouds, and movies since I left San Francisco. I was glad that the Goethe statue still graces the Frankfurt airport, and I learned that pretzel dough makes an interesting breakfast croissant.

I am in Addis Ababa to participate in the first-ever Pan-African Medical Doctors Healthcare Conference next week.  This is my third trip to Africa since January, although my first to Ethiopia. I am working with People to People, one of the conference sponsors. One of my interesting assignments is to interview key leaders and dignitaries of the conference. I plan to visit the ancient monolithic rock-cut churches at Lalibela after the conference. Of course, I will post details here as they develop!

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Images Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson

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May 14, 2014 · 4:13 pm

Women of Vision, King Abdullah of Jordan, TechWomen

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Last week, I sat with the Anita Borg Institute Advisory Board at a gala celebrating Women of Vision, and in particular, the well-deserved award for Leadership honoring Dr. Maria Klawe, President of Harvey Mudd College here in California. I am dating myself to write that I remember when Mudd was an all-male institution. Maria and her team have grown Mudd from 10% women in Computer Science to 40% – and have kept that 40% stable for years. This unique accomplishment deserves some celebration! Maria is amazing – she is also #17 on Fortune’s list of the world’s 50 greatest leaders.

The other inspiring winners were Tal Rabin (Research Staff Member and Manager cryptographic research, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center) for Innovation; and Kathrin Winkler (Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer, EMC Corporation) for Social Impact. Bank of America won as the 2014 Top Company for Women in Computing.  Also attending the event were many of my sister mentors who have served in the U.S. State Department’s TechWomen program for scientific and technical women in the Middle East and Africa, including: Jameeka Aaron (of Lockheed Martin), Larissa Shapiro (of Mozilla), Andrea Leszek (of Salesforce), and Rahima Mohammed (of Intel).

Yesterday, my husband John and I drove to Berkeley to see His Majesty, King Abdullah II ibn al-Hussein of Jordan speak at International House on the University of California campus. I was pleased to see the slide saying that 30% of Jordan’s tech industry workers are women – better than the 26% in America as of 2013.

I have never seen the King in person before, although last year I was honored to meet his cousin, Her Royal Highness Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan. Also, when my daughter Jessica and I were on the bus to Petra in Jordan, we watched “The Royal Tour“, a video featuring King Abdullah riding his motorcycle to show off his country. Yesterday’s talk is yet-another event that entered my life because of TechWomen. Mentor Lucie Newcomb (of NewComm Global Group) posted information about the event – including how to get tickets.

TechWomen 2014 mentor sign ups open soon! Please consider expanding your mind, experience, and heart to join us!

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Images Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson

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May 11, 2014 · 3:44 pm

Happy Mother’s Day

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Today is America’s official celebration of motherhood – when flowers, candy, greeting cards, and brunch are practically required. John and Paul and I took my mother with her bouquet of roses to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, followed by Indian buffet at The Mynt Restaurant in Saratoga, CA. We squabbled over who got to eat the caramels out of the box of chocolates she gave me. We missed Jessica and her husband Matthew but hope to talk with them by phone later today.

One of the benefits of my being the keeper of the photo repository is that I have a pictorial record from birth for almost every member of the family, including those below.  This is a beautiful day to celebrate my wonderful family, of whom I am very proud!

Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson, Katy Dickinson 1958
Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson and baby Katy Dickinson, 1958

Katy Dickinson, Jessica Dickinson Goodman by Jeffrey Davila 1988
Katy Dickinson and baby Jessica Dickinson Goodman, by Jeffrey Davila, 1988

Wade Dickinson, Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson, Paul Dickinson Goodman 1992
Grandpa Wade Dickinson, Grandma Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson, and baby Paul Dickinson Goodman, 1992

Katy Dickinson, Jessica Dickinson Goodman, Petra Jordan 2013
Katy Dickinson and Jessica Dickinson Goodman, at Petra Jordan, 2013

Matthew Holmes and Jessica Dickinson Goodman, at the Lair of the Golden Bear, Pinecrest CA, 2013
Matthew Holmes and Jessica Dickinson Goodman, at the Lair of the Golden Bear, Pinecrest CA, 2013

Katy Dickinson and Paul Dickinson Goodman 2014
Katy Dickinson and Paul Dickinson Goodman 2014

Images Copyright 1992-2014 by Katy Dickinson

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May 10, 2014 · 10:05 pm

Happy Lizards

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My recent redesign of my garden’s Willow Glen street planting beds is enthusiastically approved of by the alligator lizard community. I took out some large ratty irises and replaced them with lavender and yarrow. Now, there are lizards happily sunning themselves on all of the rocks.  One bold fellow even decided to sit on my garden spade for a while.

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Images Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson

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