By Luz Hernandez |Staff Writer|
President of Harvey Mudd College (HMC) in Claremont, Maria Klawe, spoke to students at CSUSB last Thursday Jan. 31 regarding the increasing amounts of jobs for women in the technology field.
The presentation took place in the Santos Manuel Student Union (SMSU) Theater, and was preceded by a reception.
During the event Klawe sat down and spoke to students regarding her motives.
Klawe said she grew up doing things that females weren’t supposed to do, such as technology.
She explained to a group of students how she would like to encourage many to do as she did.
One of her many goals she wishes to accomplish is to help bridge together the gender gap between men and in the field of computer science and help women understand the value of a career in technology.
“The industry is trying to hire more women,” she said.
“What I find astonishing about Dr. Klawe’s accomplishments at HMC is how she has managed to raise the percentage of female computer science students from 12 to 40 percent,” said Kerstin Voigt, professor and director of CSUSB’s school of computer science and engineering.
Klawe’s made efforts to woo members of the audience who were familiar with her work.
“She is renowned in computer science,” said CSUSB student Yakira Dixon, a computer systems major.” I have heard what she’s done to increase the number of females in computer science.”
With the rising amount of technology careers growing, Klawe encouraged women to become a part of this male-dominated field of expertise. “I’m just trying to take down barriers, not just for women but for everyone,” said Klawe.
During the event, Klawe informed students of Tapia Conference in Washington D.C. that is taking place Feb. 7-10.
She explained to the students that the Tapia Conference was geared towards minorities, to help and encourage their accomplishments in the world of computer science.
It is noted that Klawe has had many accomplishments in computer science and engineering, according to news.csusb.edu.
Some of the scholarly contributions that she has made in those areas are: functional analysis, discrete mathematics, theoretical computer science, human-computer interaction and interactive-multimedia for mathematics education.
She is currently the first female president of HMC since the year 1955, and is helping the school run a program by the name “HMC 2020: Envisioning The Future,” according to news.csusb.edu. This program was inspired by her previous ambitions at Princeton University.
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