IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2011 - 23

distributed to over 2.5 million children
worldwide.
Keynote speaker Anousheh Ansari,
the first female private space explorer
and first space ambassador, inspired the
audience with her discussion of the importance of taking inspiration from everywhere and how you can turn dreams into
reality with passion.
The 770 attendees included industry and academic professionals and
college and high school women. More
than 150 students attended the event,
with their attendance sponsored
by technology companies and local
universities.
IBM is the Anita Borg Top Company
for Technical Women Award Winner.
IBM exemplifies many of the acknowledged best practices in the creation of a
diverse and vibrant technical workforce.
These include having a strong pipeline
of technical women from entry to executive level. Women have significant roles
in the technical management, executive
level, and individual contributor career
tracks, which lead to strong role models
at the top and allows for the significant
benefits of diversity in innovation at the
highest level. IBM's mentoring culture is
tightly integrated into its advancement
requirements.
The three Women of Vision Award
winners were selected from a field of
more than 65 nominees, all of whom are
engaged in technology professions in industry, academia, nongovernmental
organizations or government chosen by
a selection committee of industry and
academic leaders. Videos about the three
winners are posted on the ABIWT channel
on YouTube.
The Anita Borg Top Company for
Technical Women Award recognizes
an organization that has demonstrated
measurable results in the recruitment,
retention, and advancement of technical
women at all levels. Grounded in organizational research and based on quantitative data, the award measures the current representation of technical women

laborative environas well as improve"Women have
ment where evment in women's
significant roles in the
eryone can work
representation
technical management,
together to
over time. The
executive level, and
address accesTop Company
sibility issues.
is widely recindividual contributor career
Asakawa
ognized as
tracks, which lead to strong role
joined IBM in
a leader in
models at the top and allows
1985 and beleveraging
for the significant benefits of
came an IBM
diverse talent
diversity in innovation
fellow in 2009.
for greater inShe received her
novation.
at the highest
doctorate from
level."
the University of ToProviding
kyo in 2004, and she is
Leadership
a member of the IBM AcadChieko Asakawa is the Women
emy of Technology. Inducted into the
of Vision Award winner in the LeaderWomen in Technology International
ship category. She is recognized for her
Hall of Fame in 2003, Asakawa is also a
work as a leader in the field of accessimember of the Association for Computbility. Her work at IBM has led to breaker Machinery (ACM), a member of the
through technologies including Japan's
Institute of Electronics, Information,
first computer-based Braille library sysand Communication Engineers, and a
tem and Home Page Reader, which has
fellow of the Information Processing
helped the visually impaired and others
Society of Japan.
with disabilities easily surf Web sites. Her
most recent innovation,
aDesigner, is used
aD
Success and Innovation
b y Web de sig n Mary Lou Jepsen is the Women of Vision
ers today across
Award winner in the Innovation category.
the globe to help
She is honored for her technical successthem build pages
es in innovative design of computer dist h at a re acce splays over several iterations, her leadersible to those with
ship of the One Laptop per Child (OLPC)
poor
sight.
project to accomplish its ambitious goals,
Chieko Asakawa
Based on deand in the impact of OLPC's work on accades of unrelenting efforts, Asakawa
cessibility of digital technology to enable
has become an international leader in acchildren in all nations to use the digital
cessibility research. After helping to cretools of the modern world, and use them
ate Japan's digital Braille network in the
collaboratively.
1980s, Asakawa developed a pioneering
Jepsen is globally recognized as an invoice browser, and from her work, IBM
novative technology leader with indepenreleased the Home Page Reader in 1997.
dence from industry majors, yet deeply
In 2008, Asakawa launched the Social
connected throughout-from architecAccessibility project. The project introture, design, sourcing, business stratduced a brand new approach to creating
egy, manufacturing, software, content, to
bridges among the communities of visubrand level. She is known for creating and
ally impaired Web users who face Web
leveraging small but powerful teams and
accessibility issues. Using a mix of servnegotiating insertion of those teams at efer- and client-based software developed
fective levels in the Asian manufacturing
by her team, Asakawa's team developed
structure to deliver innovative product to
a solution which offers an open and colmass production quickly with minimal

DECEMBER 2011

IEEE WOMEN IN ENGINEERING MAGAZINE

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine - December 2011