CS Diversity & Leadership Summit 2017
The ACM and ACM-W student clubs of the Computer Science Department organized the CS Diversity & Leadership Summit held at the CSU Fullerton campus on Saturday, April 29. The summit was designed to develop leadership skills of computer science students and to talk about diversity in the workplace. The event featured keynote speakers, panelists, and mentors from within the computer science industry.
Speaking about the event, Anand Panangadan, Assistant Professor, Computer Science said, “The first Computer Science Diversity & Leadership Summit at CSUF aims to develop leadership skills of students through a full-day of interactive workshops and panel discussions. Students will gain exposure to a variety of careers in computer science by engaging with industry professionals in small group settings. The summit is jointly organized by the ACM-W and ACM student clubs.”
Lakshmi Shekaripuram, Director of Engineering, Predix Advanced Engagements GE Digital was the event’s keynote speaker. Lakshmi joined the GE Digital family in 2013. Lakshmi also leads several mentorship programs part of GE Women’s network like Girls who code, and Code like a girl, to spark young girls' curiosity in STEM and encourage them to pursue careers in science, technology, math and engineering.
Lakshmi has over 19 years of experience in building software systems for Silicon Valley startups and enterprises, and in engineering and management positions. She holds a Master’s Degree in Computer Science.
ACM President Alvaro Rivas reflected on the importance and purpose of the event. “I've always wanted to bring back to our students some of the skills I have acquired by attending conferences and summits because events such as this one have shaped me as I have developed and gained the skills necessary to achieve my academic and professional goals. I am especially thankful to ACM-W President Sara Lipowsky. Together we organized, created, led, and developed this vision. I also wanted to thank both ACM and ACM-W advisors for believing in us.”
The event also included a Reflective Listening Icebreaker, “Out of This World Teams” Team-building activity, Components of a Good Team, Diversity at the Workplace Panel and Speed Mentoring.
Other companies represented at the event included:
- Boeing
- C.R. Bard, Inc.
- Chevron
- EdTechTeam
- GE Digital
- JPL
- MonsterVR
- NAVAIR
- Northrop Grumman
- PinPointView
- Raytheon
- Synopsys
