American computer scientist
Anita Borg
(January 17, 1949 ? April 6, 2003) was an American
computer scientist
celebrated for advocating for women’s representation and professional advancement in technology. She founded the
Institute for Women and Technology
and the
Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing
.
Education and early life
[
edit
]
Borg was born Anita Borg Naffz in
Chicago, Illinois
. She grew up in
Palatine, Illinois
;
Kaneohe, Hawaii
; and
Mukilteo, Washington
.
[3]
Borg got her first programming job in 1969. Although she loved math while growing up, she did not originally intend to go into computer science and taught herself how to program while working at a small insurance company.
[4]
She was awarded a
PhD
in
Computer Science
by
New York University
in 1981 for research investigating the
synchronization efficiency
of
operating systems
supervised by
Robert Dewar
and Gerald Belpaire.
[1]
She died from brain cancer, in
Sonoma, California
on 6 April 2003.
[5]
Career
[
edit
]
After receiving her PhD, Borg spent four years building a
fault tolerant
Unix
-based operating system, first for Auragen Systems Corp. of
New Jersey
and then with
Nixdorf Computer
in Germany.
[6]
In 1986, she began working for
Digital Equipment Corporation
, where she spent 12 years, first at the Western Research Laboratory.
[7]
While at Digital Equipment, she developed and patented a method for generating complete address traces for analyzing and designing high-speed memory systems. Her experience running the ever-expanding Systers
mailing list
, which she founded in 1987, led her to work in
email
communication. As a consultant engineer in the Network Systems Laboratory under
Brian Reid
, she developed MECCA, an email and Web-based system for communicating in
virtual communities
.
[6]
In 1997, Borg left Digital Equipment Corporation and began working as a researcher in the Office of the
Chief Technology Officer
at
Xerox PARC
.
[8]
[6]
Soon after starting at
Xerox
, she founded the
Institute for Women and Technology
, having previously founded the
Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing
in 1994.
Advocacy for technical women
[
edit
]
Borg passionately believed in working for greater representation of women in technology. Her goal was to have 50% representation for women in computing by 2020.
[9]
She strove for technical fields to be places where women would be equally represented at all levels of the pipeline, and where women could impact, and benefit from, technology.
Systers
[
edit
]
In 1987, Borg founded
Systers
,
[2]
the first email network for women in technology. While attending the
Symposium on Operating Systems Principles
(SOSP), she was struck by how few women were present at the conference. She and six or seven other women met in the ladies' room and talked about how few women there were in computing. A dozen of the women at the conference made plans to eat lunch together, and that is where the idea for Systers was formed.
[10]
Systers was established to provide a private space for its members to seek input and share advice based on their common experiences. Systers membership was limited to women with highly technical training and discussions were strictly confined to technical issues. Borg oversaw Systers until 2000.
[8]
Systers occasionally tackled issues that were not highly technical but pertained to its members. In 1992, when
Mattel
Inc. began selling a
Barbie
doll that said
math class is tough,
the voices of protest that started with the Systers list played a role in getting Mattel to remove that phrase from Barbie's microchip.
[8]
Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing
[
edit
]
In 1994, Anita Borg and
Telle Whitney
founded the
Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing
. With the initial idea of creating a conference by and for women computer scientists, Borg and Whitney met over dinner, with a blank sheet of paper, having no idea how to start a conference, and started to plan out their vision.
[10]
The first Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing was held in Washington, D.C., in June 1994, and brought together 500 technical women.
[11]
Institute for Women and Technology
[
edit
]
In 1997, Borg founded the Institute for Women and Technology (now the
Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
). Two important goals behind the founding of the organization were to increase the representation of women in technical fields and to enable the creation of more technology by women.
[7]
When founded, the institute was housed at Xerox PARC, although it was an independent nonprofit organization.
[7]
The institute was created to be an experimental R&D organization focusing on increasing the impact of women on technology and increasing the impact of technology on the world's women. It ran a variety of programs to increase the role of technology, build the pipeline of technical women, and ensure that women's voices affected technological developments.
[6]
In 2002,
Telle Whitney
took over as president and CEO of the institute, and in 2003, it was renamed in honor of Borg. Since its foundation, the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology has increased its programs in the
United States
and expanded internationally, more than quadrupling in size.
[12]
Awards and recognition
[
edit
]
Borg was recognized for her accomplishments as a computer scientist, as well as for her work on behalf of women in computing. She received the
Augusta Ada Lovelace Award
from the
Association for Women in Computing
for her work on behalf of women in the computing field in 1995. In 1996 she was inducted as a Fellow of the
Association for Computing Machinery
. In 1999, President
Bill Clinton
appointed her to the
Presidential Commission
on the Advancement of Women and Minorities in Science, Engineering, and Technology. She was charged with recommending strategies to the nation for increasing the breadth of participation fields for women.
[6]
In 2002, she was awarded the 8th Annual
Heinz Award
for Technology, the Economy and Employment.
[13]
Also in 2002, Borg received an Honorary Doctor of Science and Technology degree from
Carnegie Mellon University
Borg received the
EFF Pioneer Award
from the
Electronic Frontier Foundation
and was recognized by the
Girl Scouts of the USA
, as well as listed on Open Computing Magazine's Top 100 Women in Computing. Borg was also a member of the board of directors of the
Computing Research Association
and served as a member of the
National Research Council
's Committee on Women in Science and Engineering.
Legacy
[
edit
]
In 1999, Borg was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She continued to lead the Institute for Women and Technology until 2002.
[14]
She died on April 6, 2003, in
Sonoma, California
.
[8]
In 2003, the Institute for Women and Technology was renamed to the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, in honor of Borg.
[15]
Several other awards and programs honor Borg's life and work.
Google
established the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship in 2004 to honor the work of Borg.
[16]
As of 2017
[update]
this program is known as the Women Techmakers Scholars Program. The program has expanded to include women in
Canada
,
Australia
,
New Zealand
,
Europe
,
North Africa
, and the
Middle East
.
[17]
The
UNSW School of Computer Science and Engineering
offers the Anita Borg Prize, named in her honor.
[18]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Borg, Anita (1981).
Synchronization Efficiency
(PhD thesis). New York University.
OCLC
15102657
.
ProQuest
303020475
.
- ^
a
b
"Systers.org"
.
www.systers.org
.
- ^
"The Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship: Asia-Pacific"
. Retrieved
October 17,
2013
.
- ^
"Girl Geeks Chat: Anita Borg, Researcher, Xerox Park; Founder, IWT"
.
WITI
. Girl Geeks. Archived from
the original
on August 2, 2013
. Retrieved
June 22,
2011
.
- ^
Hafner, Katie (April 10, 2003).
"Anita Borg, 54, Trailblazer For Women in Computer Field"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
November 3,
2020
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"WITI Hall of Fame: Dr. Anita Borg"
.
WITI
. 1998
. Retrieved
June 24,
2011
.
- ^
a
b
c
Gilbert, Alorie (April 8, 2003).
"Computer scientist Anita Borg dies"
.
CNET News
. CNET
. Retrieved
March 29,
2011
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Hafner, Katie (April 10, 2003).
"Anita Borg, 54, Trailblazer For Women in Computer Field"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
June 21,
2011
.
- ^
"Dr. Anita Borg: 50/50 by 2020"
.
Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
. YouTube. April 10, 2007
. Retrieved
June 22,
2011
.
- ^
a
b
"Anita Borg Celebration: Changing the World for Women and Technology"
.
Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
. YouTube. June 14, 2011
. Retrieved
June 22,
2011
.
- ^
"History of the Conference"
. Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. Archived from
the original
on June 23, 2011
. Retrieved
June 22,
2011
.
- ^
"About Us: History"
. Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. Archived from
the original
on June 29, 2011
. Retrieved
June 23,
2011
.
- ^
"The Heinz Awards, Anita Borg profile"
. Heinz Awards.
Archived
from the original on July 20, 2011
. Retrieved
June 23,
2011
.
- ^
"The Most Influential Women in Technology: Telle Whitney"
.
Fast Company
. January 10, 2011.
Archived
from the original on July 5, 2011
. Retrieved
June 23,
2011
.
- ^
"Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology: Believing in Technological Women"
. April 15, 2011
. Retrieved
December 28,
2012
.
- ^
"Google Anita Borg Scholarship"
.
- ^
"Winners"
. The Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship: USA
. Retrieved
October 17,
2013
.
- ^
"University Medallists"
. The University of New South Wales. Archived from
the original
on October 19, 2013
. Retrieved
October 17,
2013
.
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