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The College of Engineering and Science at Louisiana Tech University will honor seven high school students and one educator during the first annual National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) awards luncheon, April 16 in University Hall on the Louisiana Tech campus.

Dr. Lucy Sanders

Dr. Lucy Sanders, CEO for NCWIT, will be in attendance and will take part in the presentation of the NCWIT’s Award for Aspirations in Computing to the honorees.  The award recognizes young women at the high school level for their computing-related achievements and interests.  Recipients are selected for their computing and IT aptitude, leadership ability, academic history, and plans for post-secondary education.

NCWIT seeks to increase women’s participation in technology careers by providing encouragement, visibility, community, leadership opportunities, scholarships, and internships to aspiring technically inclined young women.  Since 2007, NCWIT has inducted more than 2,300 young women into this unique community.

The Award for Aspirations in Computing offers both national and local affiliate competitions to generate support and visibility for women’s participation in communities nationwide.  In addition to identifying a pool of talented young women, the Aspirations in Computing Award also identifies outstanding educators who play a pivotal role in helping to encourage young women to continue exploring their interest in computing and technology.  Additionally, the NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Educator Award recognizes educators for their efforts to promote gender equity in computing.

NCWIT reported that women accounted for 18 percent of computer and information-science bachelor’s degrees across the U.S. colleges in 2010 – a 51 percent drop from 1985 when a wave of women earned high-tech degrees.

In addition to being the NCWIT’s CEO, Sanders serves as Executive-in-Residence for the ATLAS Institute at the University of Colorado at Boulder.  She has an extensive industry background, having worked in R&D and executive positions at AT&T Bell Labs, Lucent Bell Labs, and Avaya Labs, where she specialized in systems-level software and solutions (multi-media communication, and customer relationship management.)  In 1996, Sanders was awarded the Bell Labs Fellow Award – the highest technical accomplishment bestowed by the company.

Sanders is a recipient, along with NCWIT co-founders Robert Schnabel and Telle Whitney, of the Computing Research Association’s 2012 A. Nico Habermann Award.  In 2004, she was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Department of Engineering at the University of Colorado and was recognized with the university’s George Norlin Distinguished Service Award in 2011.  She has been inducted into the Women in Technology International (WITI) Hall of Fame and recently was named by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to serve on the department’s Innovation Advisory Board.

Sanders received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science from Louisiana State University and the University of Colorado at Boulder, respectively.

For more information, contact Dr. Jenna Carpenter at jenna@latech.edu.
Written by Catherine Fraser – cfraser@latech.edu