Computing Sciences Contributes to Diversity Conference

The 2013 Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference was the most successful in the 12-year history of the conference, with Berkeley Lab Computing Sciences making key contributions. Held Feb. 7-10 in Washington, D.C., the 2013 conference drew a record 550 participants, 60 percent of whom were students.

In addition to being one of 25 supporters and providing two scholarships for students, Computing Sciences staff contributed to the organization of the conference.

Elizabeth Bautista, leader of NERSC's Operational Technology Group, served as program chair for Panels and Birds-of-a-Feather sessions, evaluation proposals and selecting the most appropriate ones.

Jon Bashor, CS Communications manager, was the conference communications chair, writing news releases and compiling the conference program.

Tony Drummond of CRD's Scientific Computing Group was again the Student Research Posters chair, reviewing more than 175 submissions and organizing an evening session featuring the top 60 student posters. He also recruited judges and awarded prizes for the top graduate and undergrad posters.

Jeff Todd, the HR recruiter for Computing Sciences, helped with social media in support of Tapia 2013. During the conference, he staffed a Berkeley Lab table and spoke with attendees about job opportunities at the lab.