Early Career Mentoring Workshops

Upcoming

Overview

Are you in the early stages of your career, working in academia, industry or at a government lab? Are you interested in interacting with senior women in your field?

If so, participate in one of our Career Mentoring Workshops!

– The most recent Early Career Mentoring Workshop for Early CMW Research and Early CMW Lab took place on November 3-4 in Phoenix, Arizona.

– UPDATE: We will no longer be hosting a Career Mentoring Workshop for Early CMW Education before SIGCSE 2019. Please check back for updates on future workshops.

When you attend an Early Career Mentoring Workshop, you will learn: how to build a great research program, advise students and get funding, how to be an effective and inspiring teacher, how to set yourself up for promotion and success, and how to balance work and life, among other things.

CRA-W offers three different types of Early Career Mentoring Workshops for participants who are:

Early CMW Research – in their early stages of a research career in academia.
Early CMW Lab – in their early stages of a research career in an industry or government research lab.
Early CMW Education – in their early stages of a career in teaching and undergraduate education.

This is an NSF funded program. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number (1310792). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Eligibility

You are eligible to attend an Early Career Mentoring Workshop program if you meet the following criteria:

Identify as a woman.
A senior PhD student, or post-doc.
In early career as a researcher in academia.
In early career as a researcher in an industry or government lab.
In early career as a faculty member in academia.
Attending or affiliated with an institution in the United States or its territories.

If you have any questions regarding eligibility, please direct your questions to earlycmw@cra.org

If there are extenuating circumstances for applying beyond the timeframe listed in the eligibility requirements, please make sure you address this in the application. Extenuating Circumstances beyond an applicant’s control include, but are not limited to:

Documented medical condition or serious illness
Documented learning disability
Death of a family member or friend
Involuntary call to active military duty
Maternity/family leave

Application

Travel & Financial Support

Funding may be available for participants of Early Career Mentoring Workshops if they meet the eligibility requirements listed below. Participants will be notified of any travel assistance upon acceptance to the workshop. If funded, the participant will submit a reimbursement form and be directly reimbursed, up to the approved limit, for reasonable expenses incurred such as travel, lodging, and meals associated with the workshop.

You qualify for financial support for an Early Career Mentoring Workshop (Early CMW-E/R/L) program if you meet all of the following criteria:

A graduate student in year three or later, post-doc, early career faculty member, or early career researcher in an industrial or government lab
A member of the computing field community
Attending or affiliated with an institution in the United States or its territories
Identify as a woman

NOTE: Priority will be given to Early CMW applicants who are a citizen or permanent resident of the United States or its territories.

Guidelines for Expense Reimbursements from CRA

Past Years

Early Career Mentoring Workshop – Phoenix, AZ

Early Career Mentoring Workshop – SIGCSE 2017

Early Career Mentoring Workshop – Washington D.C. (November 2016)

Resources from the workshop:

Photos

25th Anniversary of the Early CMW

Early Career Mentoring Workshop: Where Are They Now?

About

In 1993, CRA-W began holding annual Career Mentoring Workshops for women in academia. The first workshop was held at FCRC. For 25 years these workshops have provided participants the opportunity to network with women in their field and receive mentoring from leading academic professionals. The following tiles celebrate the participants of the first workshop and their many achievements over the past 25 years.

Joanne Atlee: Then

Degree: Ph.D., University of Maryland, 1992
Research Area: Software Engineering
First Position: Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo

Joann Atlee: Now

Professor, University of Waterloo

"Enriching experiences from my career include creating the Software Engineering degree program and serving as Director of Women in Computer Science, at an institution that now has 880 female majors enrolled in one of four CS degree programs, and has over 50 female CS graduate students."

Laura Dillon: Then

Degree: Ph.D., University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1984
Research Area: Software Engineering
First Position: Visiting Assistant Professor at University of Massachusetts Amherst

Laura Dillon: Now

Professor, Michigan State University

"As the only woman on the Computer Science faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara for my 12 years, I was thirsty for female role models and I found some great ones at CRA-W meetings!"

Yolanda Gil: Then

Degree: Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University, 1992
Research Area: Artificial Intelligence
First Position: Research Assistant Professor

Yolanda Gil: Now

Research Professor and Director, University of Southern California

"The most enriching experience of my career has been working with scientists in many fields on challenging research projects and getting high-school students and undergraduates interested in computer science."

Judy Goldsmith: Then

Degree: Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1988
Research Area: Computational Complexity
First Position: Postdoc at Dartmouth College

Judy Goldsmith: Now

Professor, University of Kentucky

Mary Hall: Then

Degree: Ph.D., Rice University, 1991
Research Area: Compilers and Parallel Computing
First Position: Research Scientist, Stanford University

"The 1993 CMW came at an important time when I was trying to sort out career and family decisions. I believe the workshop helped me figure out how to stay in academia."

Mary Hall: Now

Professor, University of Utah

"What I like most about working with students, undergraduate and graduate, and with young faculty, is the opportunity to influence their careers, and provide the training and guidance important to their future success."

Silvia Heubach: Then

Degree: Ph.D., University of Southern California, 1992
Research Area: Mathematical Biology
First Position: Visiting Assistant professor at Colorado College in Colorado Springs

Siliva Heubach: Now

Professor, California State University Los Angeles

Janie Irwin: Then

Degree: Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, 1977
Research Area: Computer Architecture
First Position: Assistant Professor at Penn State

"I presented "Getting Tenure" at the first CRA-W Early Career Mentoring Workshop in 1993."

Janie Irwin: Now

Emerita Professor, Penn State University

"The colleagues I have collaborated with at Penn State and the friends I have made through CRA-W have enriched my career."

Sandra K. Johnson: Then

Degree: Ph.D., Rice University, 1988
Research Area: Computer Architecture
First Position: Research Staff Member, IBM T.J. Watson Research Lab

"I was one of the presenters at the first CRA-W CMW. I discussed alternative research careers in industrial research organizations."

Sandra K. Johnson: Now

CEO, SKJ Visioneering, LLC

"I absolutely loved working together with fellow researchers, brainstorming as part of a team. Especially when our work was bleeding-edge technology. For me, it was part of the team that developed Vulcan, the IBM research prototype that was the predecessor to Deep Blue, IBM's world-famous chess machine."

Eileen Kraemer: Then

Degree: Ph.D., Georgia Tech, 1995
Research Area: Visualization
First Position: Washington University in St. Louis

"I attended the first CRA-W CMW and served as a student volunteer. A few years later I gave talks on "First Year Surprises" and "Getting a Job" at the CRA Workshop on Academic Careers for Women in Philadelphia in 1996."

Eileen Kraemer: Now

Director of the School of Computing at Clemson University

"The most enriching experience of my career has been working with my graduate students, watching them mature and go on to their own successful careers in computing."

"This was among the most effective mentoring experiences of my career, and probably the most impactful."

Deborah Leckband

Kathryn McKinley: Then

Degree: Ph.D., Rice University, 1992
Research Area: Programming Languages
First Position: Postdoc at Ecole des Mines, Paris France

"I attended the first CMW workshop in 1993, about a month before I started my first faculty position at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The practical advice and the warmth of the community helped me hit the ground running!"

Kathryn McKinley: Now

Senior Research Scientist, Google

"I directly credit attending and speaking at many CRA-W events over the past 25 years and joining the CRA-W Board for encouraging me, for helping me make good strategic career decisions, and for making my career a lot more fun."

Claire Mathieu: Then

Degree: Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1988
Research Area: Computational Complexity
First Position: Postdoc at Rutgers University

Claire Mathieu: Now

Research Director of the French National Center for Scientific Research

Dawn Tilbury: Then

Degree: Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1994
Research Area: Control Systems
First Position: Assistant Professor, University of Michigan

Dawn Tilbury: Now

Professor, University of Michigan

Lynn Stauffer: Then

Degree: Ph.D., Sonoma State University, 1994
Research Area: Data Compression
First Position: Assistant Professor, Sonoma State University

Lynn Stauffer: Now

Dean, Sonoma State University

Bonnie Melhart: Then

Degree: Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, 1990
Research Area: Software Engineering and Requirements Specification
First Position: Assistant Professor, Texas-Christian University

"CRA-W was recommended as a great opportunity to network and see women leaders in action."

Bonnie Melhart: Now

Associate Provost for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies

"The most enriching experience of my career has been to enable faculty funded research."

Margaret Martonosi: Then

Degree: Ph.D., Stanford University, 1994
Research Area: Computer Architecture
First Position: Princeton University

"This workshop was my first experience with CRA-W! It was exciting to be in a room with so many women I looked up to. And the information imparted helped me feel better prepared and more confident as I went onto the faculty job market and started a tenure-track position the following year."

Margaret Martonosi: Now

H. T. Adams '35 Professor of Computer Science, Princeton University

"Working with my graduate students is my greatest joy. I like getting to know them over the course of their degree program, and I love watching them mature as researchers."

Vijaya Ramachandran: Then

Degree: Ph.D., Princeton University, 1983
Research Area: Theory of Computing
First Position: Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

"My first experience with CRA-W was as a panelist at the 1993 CMW."

Vijaya Ramachandran: Now

Professor, University of Texas at Austin

"I have served on two career mentoring workshops organized by CRA-W and both were rewarding experiences."

Ronitt Rubinfield: Then

Degree: Ph.D., University of California, Berkley, 1990
Research Area: Theory of Computation, Algorithms
First Position: Postdoctoral researcher at DIMCAS/Princeton University

Ronitt Rubinfield: Now

Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"I have been fortunate to be in a thriving research area, to have a fantastic research advisor, and colleagues, and to be able to work on problems that are exciting and interesting."

Elke Rundensteiner: Then

Degree: Ph.D., UC Irvine, California, 1992
Research Area: Data-Intensive Systems
First Position: Faculty, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

"To be in a room full of amazing women, each highly talented and driven to succeed in the computing field was a thrilling experience."

Elke Rundensteiner: Now

Professor and Director of Data Science, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

"Heading up the Data Science Initiative at Worcester Polytechnic Institute to design a forward-looking, now highly successful, Data Science program including undergraduate, MS, and Ph.D. degrees has been a truly unique experience"

Rebecca Wright: Then

Degree: Ph.D., Yale University, 1994
Research Area: Cryptography
First Position: Researcher at Bell Labs

"All of my involvements with CRA-W have been valuable in some way."

Rebecca Wright: Now

Professor, Rutgers University and Director of DIMACS

"There have been many enriching experiences in my career. Highlights include privacy research, founding a living-learning community for women in computer science at Rutgers, and leadership of the DIMACS Center."