The participation of women in Computing in the Arab world is an important and timely topic. At a time when female enrollment in Computer Science in the US has fallen from 37 percent in the early 80’s to a dismal rate nearing 20 percent today. In the Arab world, our preliminary research findings indicate that females comprise the majority of undergraduate students studying Computer Science in several Arab countries.
This conference explores our preliminary research findings focusing on representations, the opportunities as well as the diverse challenges facing women in computing in the Arab world. Prominent regional and international women in computer science discuss research and innovation in computing, opportunities for collaboration throughout the region and world, women enrollment in computer science, entrepreneurship, the role of women in tech start-ups, Women VC’s, promotion, gender gap, and positive trends as well as difficulties in the field.
Convener and Chair
Sana Odeh, Affiliated Faculty of Computer Science, New York University Abu Dhabi, Clinical Professor Of Computer Science, and Faculty Liaison for Global Programs of Computer Science, Courant Institute of Mathematical Science, New York University, New York.
Partners
Arab Women in Computing (ArabWiC)
Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology Systers Communities
Association for Computing Machinery Council on Women in Computing (ACM-W)
The Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI)
Program
Participants
Time
Description
9-9:10am
Opening Remarks — Sana Odeh
9:10-9:15am
Welcoming Remarks — Dr. Fatma Abdulla
9:15-9:35am
Keynote — Noor Sweid
9:35-10:40am
Session I — Arab Women in Computing Research Keynotes Panel
Moderator: May Al Dabbag
Panelists: Sana Odeh, Marc Michael, Jennifer Olmsted
11:05am-12pm
Session I (Continued) — Why "Difference Matters: Dominant Discourses and Arab Women in Computing
Fida Adely, Hannah Bruckner, May Al Dabbag
12-1pm
Lunch
1-2pm
Session II — Keynote Speakers: Prominent International Women in Computing Organizations and Venture Capitalists (VC)
Moderator: Fatma Mili
Panelists: Arati Dixit, Rosario Robinson
2-2:10pm
Break
2:10-3:10pm
Session II (Continued) — Panel: Prominent International Women in Computing
Ruthe Farmer, Claudia Galvan, Peggy Wallace
3:10-3:20pm
Break
3:20-4:15pm
Session III — Women in Computing in Academia Q&A Panel
Moderator: Houda Bouamor
Panelists: Manar Abu Talib, Behjat Al Yousuf, Marianne Azer, Dalila Chiadmi, Eman Fituri, Manar Abu Talib
Session V — Women in IT Industry Professionals Q&A Panel
Moderator: Susan Malaika
Panelists: Raihana Alhashmi, Fatma Zohra Djoudjou, Ghida Ibrahim, Satha Jiayyousi, Jihed Mestiri, Rabab Othmani, Alaa Shaheen
6:30pm
Dinner
7:30pm
Visit to Mosque
Time
Description
9-9:25am
Keynote — Fatma Mili
9:25-10:10am
Session VI: Arab Women Entrepreneur Q&A Panel
Moderator: Rahilla Zafar
Panelists: Sarah AlMubarak, Amira Cheniour, Rana Chmaitelly
10:10-10:30am
Session VI (Continued) — Gaza Sky Geeks Experience (Virtual Interview)
Mai Temraz, Mariam AbuItiewi, Hadeel Elsafadi
10:30-11:30am
Session VII: Women in Computing Ecosystem in the Arab World, Q&A Panel Moderator: Sherin Abdelhamid
Panelists: Noor Sweid, Nina Curley, Shaima Ghafoor, Monika Papadopoulou, Ambar Amleh, Sana Odeh
11:30-11:40am
Break
11:40am-12:30pm
Session VIII: CS Research Technical Papers Presentations
Moderator: Kaoutar El Maghraoui
Safa Messaoud, Ouassila Hoceini, Hind Lamharhar
12:30-1:30pm
Lunch
1:30-2:30pm
Session IX: CS Research and Innovations Keynotes
Moderator: Kaoutar El Maghraoui
Panelists: Houda Bouamor, Susan Malaika, Kaoutar El Maghraoui
230-2:40pm
Break
2:40-9pm
Closed Sessions: ONLY Conference Participants MUST attend!
2:50-3:45pm
ArabWIC Mentoring Session
Members: Diane Jordan, Susan Malaika, Mai Abualkas, Alaa Shaheen, Wafia Boubguira
3:45-5pm
Session X: Arab Women in Computing (ArabWIC) Organizational Table Discussions Topics: ArabWIC Chair and Founder Report, ArabWIC Research/Publication, ArabWIC Program, ArabWIC 2016 Conference, ArabWIC Social Media
Dr. Fatma Abdulla Senior Vice Provost, Strategy and Planning at NYUAD, UAE
May Al Dabbagh Research Fellow, Women and Public Policy Program, Kennedy School, Harvard University; Assistant Professor of Social Research and Public Policy, New York University Abu Dhabi
Raihana Alhashmi Audience Marketing Manager — Academia and Startups, Microsoft
Fatema Al Mansoori Server Admin, C4, Founder & Treasurer of Emirates Digital Association for Women (EDAW111) Founder, UAE
Behjat Al Yousuf Provost, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology
Bedoor Khalifa AlShebli PhD Student, CIS Program, iSmart Lab; Masdar Institute of Science and Technology
Eman Arabyat ArabWIC Co-Ambassador Jordan; Associate Systems Engineer, Cisco, Dubai
Shadi Banna Managing Partner, Potential
Amena Alzaabi Chemical Engineer at ENEC, Emirates Digital Association for Women (EDAW111) Founder, UAE
Hannah Brückner Associate Dean of Social Sciences, New York University Abu Dhabi
Nina Curley Director, Flat 6 Labs, Abu Dhabi
Shaima Ghafoor Products Solution Manager, Yahoo; Regional Director Girls in Tech — Middle East, Dubai
Eman Hableel Millennium Development Goals Specialist, Ministry of International Cooperation and Development, Founder & Secretary of Emirates Digital Association for Women (EDAW111), Founder, UAE
Marc Michael Assistant Professor of Social Research, New York University Abu Dhabi
Sana Odeh Clinical Professor of Computer Science and Faculty Liaison for Global Programs of Computer Science at the Department of Computer Science, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University; Affiliated Faculty of Computer Science, New York University Abu Dhabi; Chair and Founder of Arab Women in Computing
Monika Papadopoulou Community Relations Manager at Potential
Zahra Rabia Student, IGEE ex (INELEC), Electronics and Electrical Engineering; Team Leader, booklib-DZ; Technical Writer, Inelectronics Magazine
Canada
Sherin Abdelhamid Postdoctoral Fellow, Member, Telecommunications Research Lab (TRL), School of Computing, Queen's University
Egypt
Marianne Azer Associate to the Minister of CIT for Strategic Initiatives; Associate Professor, School of CIT, Nile University, Director of Information Center, NTI, ArabWIC Conference and Research committee, Egypt
Noha Mahmoud Program Manager at Juicelabs.me; Co-Founder at Fekra²
Reham Mostafa Faculty of Computer and Information Science, Mansoura University
Mona Nasr Associate Professor, Information Systems Department; Faculty of Computers and Information, Helwan University; Former Vice Dean at the Canadian International College (CIC), El Sheikh Zayed Campus
India
Maria Josefa Choudhary Principal Engineer, Oracle Systems; Member of ACM-W
Arati Dixit Executive Council Member, ACM-W India, Vice Chair, ACM iSIGCSE (India Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education), Associate Professor, Savitribai Phule Pune University
Jordan
Shatha Jjayyousi Customer Management Solutions Manager, OrangeTelecom, and ArabWIC Jordan Ambassador
Rand Muhtaseb Senior Software Engineer, Hashdoc
Kuwait
Amir Zeid Director, Center for Research in Informatics, Sciences and Engineering (RISE), Associate Professor of Computer Science, American University of Kuwait
Lebanon
Rana El Chmaitelly Founder and CEO, Award Winning Creator of "The Little Engineer"
Hala Fadel Chair, MIT Enterprise Forum of the pan-Arab region; Angel Investor in start-up companies in the Middle East and Europe; founder, Coworking+961; Portfolio Manager for European Equities, Comgest
Wiem Ben Rim Student, American University of Beirut; Recipient of the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) scholarship
Ghida Ibrahim Planner and Designer, Content Delivery Network (CDN) of Liberty Global
Libya
Maraim Masoud Project Developer; Lecturer, Tatweer Research Center Benghazi University
Morocco
Sanae Baatti Manager and Co-founder, Tayssir Side
Lamiaa Bounahmidi Founder, Looly's Pearls
Dalila Chiadmi Computer Science Professor/Researcher, Mohammadia School of Engineers
Hadeel Elsafadi Founder of Davinci Box, Newton, and Gaza Sky Geeks
Mai Temraz Mentorship & Women's Inclusivity Program Fellow at Gaza sky Geeks
Qatar
Houda Bouamor Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar; Special Faculty-Senior Scientist , Senior Researcher, Computer Science Natural Language Processing Lab; Arabic NLP with Kemal Oflazer
Eman Fituri Director of Educational Initiatives, Qatar Computing Research Institute
Dina Sherif Senior Advisor, Engagement. Silatech; Founding Partner, Ahead of the Curve
Saudi Arabia
Houda Bouamor Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar; Special Faculty-Senior Scientist , Senior Researcher, Computer Science Natural Language Processing Lab; Arabic NLP with Kemal Oflazer
Eman Fituri Director of Educational Initiatives, Qatar Computing Research Institute
Dina Sherif Senior Advisor, Engagement. Silatech; Founding Partner, Ahead of the Curve
Tunisia
Amira Cheniour IT Engineer, I.T. Grapes
Semya Elaoud Assistant Professor, High Institute of Computer Science and Multimedia, Sfax-Tunis; Consultant and Co-founder, ASM (All Soft Multimedia)
Jihed Mestiri Part of Community, ArabWIC Blogger; SAP ABAP Developer, Focus & Focus International
Dorra Mlouhi Computer Lab Instructor, PhD Student
Turkey
Reyyan Ayfer Chair, ACM-W Europe Executive Committee
Gulustan Dogan Assistant Professor, Yildiz Technical University, Co-founder, Turkish Women in Computing
United Kingdom
Nada Albunni PhD, Southampton University
Rabab Othmani Software Engineer, and ArabWIC Blog/publication and /or social media committee, England
United States
Fida Adely Assistant Professor, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Ashwag Alasmari MS Student of Computer Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore, ArabWIC Saudi Arabia Chapter Ambassador, USA (from Saudi Arabia)
Yasmin Alnoamany PhD Candidate and Researcher, Old Dominion UniversityRama Chakak
Claudia Galvan Senior Director, Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, ABI
Kaoutar El Magraoui Research Scientist, IBM, T.J. Watson Research Lab
Ruthe Farmer Director of Strategic Initiatives, National Center for Women & IT (NCWIT)
Diane Jordan Emeritus, IBM
Susan Malaika Senior Technical Staff Member, IBM
Safa Messaoud University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Fatma Milli Professor of Computer Science; Associate Dean, Educational Research & Development, Purdue University
Jennifer Olmsted Technical Advisor, UNFPA (UN); Professor and Chair, Drew University
Rosario Robinson Senior Manager, Community Engagement and Development, Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
Peggy Wallace Managing Partner, Golden Seeds, Venture Capital & Private Equity
Rahilla Zafar Business Development Consultant, Wondros
Diane Jordan Emeritus IBM
Kaoutar El Maghraoui Research Scientist, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
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