Last weekend, several women from DePauw’s Computer Science department attended the Indiana Celebration of Women in Computing Conference (InWIC). This conference is designed to highlight and encourage women in computing through different speakers, workshops, and poster presentations. Students and professors shared their research in computing or computer science related topics with each other.
InWIC also serves as a mode of recruitment and retainment for women that are new to the field. Even though the amount of women in the computer science department of DePauw has been growing in recent years, that is not necessarily the case for other universities and the workforce. Statistics still show that women are underrepresented in computing.
Whether for a minor or for a major, InWIC and other conferences for women in STEM provide support to women navigating male-dominated areas of study. These conferences provide space and opportunity for the empowerment of women in computing.