Google RISE Awards

The mission of Techbridge is to encourage girls in technology, science and engineering, through hands-on projects, career exploration opportunities, and academic and career guidance that expand the interests and options of girls in our community and across the globe.

The Club Techbridge project was designed to allow Techbridge to support and re-connect with the nearly 2,000 graduates of Techbridge. Club Techbridge established formal partnerships with organizations that offered internship opportunities and scholarship assistance, developed an alumnae database and established communications using different mediums (including new social media), and also hosted outreach events at 17 schools which reached over 700 participants and provided support to the families of Techbridge girls.

Our mantra is to change girls’ lives, one girl at a time, reflecting our philosophy to bring about significant change in a student’s life through consistent, personal support and a dedication to increasing their choices for the future. It is important to Techbridge to continue to support our girls even after they leave our direct service. On behalf of the Techbridge team I would like to express appreciation to Google for its support of our program over the years. We are especially grateful for funding from the Google RISE Award that has allowed us to extend our support to Techbridge alumnae.

Brown University, Bootstrap

Bootstrap is a program for middle-school students. It introduces the basic concepts of algebra and computer programming by teaching students to build their own videogames in Scheme. The Bootstrap curriculum consists of nine, 90-minute volunteer-led lessons, with accompanying handouts and software. In the last four years, Bootstrap has reached more than three hundred girls and boys, between ages of 11 and 14, at middle schools in Massachusetts, California, and New York.

New York University, New York City Girls Computer Science and Engineering Colloquium

NYU's Women in Computing (WinC) and Princeton University Graduate Women in Science and Engineering (GWISE) will be inviting young high school women in 9th and 10th grades to the annual New York City Girls Computer Science and Engineering Colloquium at NYU. The program will give young women a taste of the tremendous creativity and innovation involved in computer science and engineering and show young women how these fields can help change the world.  The event will include talks by women computer science and engineering professors, a workshop lead by female scientists from Google, talks and demos of exciting on-going research projects in computer science and engineering at Princeton and NYU, and an engineering design competition where girls will be challenged to construct structurally-sound towers using only spaghetti sticks and gumdrops. We will also discuss the prerequisites required for obtaining an education in computer science and engineering, as well as the undergraduate computer science and engineering experience. The goal of the program is to show young women that an education in computer science and engineering is both an attainable and rewarding goal.For more information about this event, please visit this website: http://cims.nyu.edu/~wincweb/HS/

The Revolving Museum, Inc., Artbotics Summer Camp

The Revolving Museum will expand its Artbotics program to include a summer camp for middle school students.  The middle school years are a critical time to interest students in science and technology; in particular, it is during these years that girls decide not to pursue science and mathematics. We will hold two one-week camp sessions for fifteen students each.  We will adapt our curriculum from our successful after school program for the week long sessions during June 2009, then will offer the camp sessions in July 2009.  The goals of the Artbotics program are to increase the number of women and minorities in computing through the use of innovative and interactive technologies, broaden student understanding of the field of computing, introduce computing to the public through exhibitions of the art projects, and build community with mentoring opportunities for students.  The program, started with funding from the National Science Foundation that will end in February 2009, has been designed to allow students to explore the intersection between Art and Computer Science, especially Robotics, by learning founding principles in both the fields of Art and Computer Science, and put them into practice by creating interactive, tangible exhibits that are displayed in public settings.

See all 2009 Google RISE Award Recipients

Arizona State University, Women in Computer Science, High School Outreach Program
Brown University, Artemis Program
Brown University, Bootstrap
California State University, Fullerton, MESA Robotics Academies
Carnegie Mellon, Women@School of Computer Science, Creative Technology Nights
Chabot Space & Science Center, Club Techbridge
Citizen Schools, Inc., STEM Apprenticeships
Colorado MESA Colorado/Minority Engineering Association, Energy Technology Program
Education Training Research Associates, Tech Teach
The Expanding Your Horizons Network, Upward Bound EYH Partnership
Girls Incorporated of Alameda County, Build IT: Inspiring Middle School Girls in Information Technology
Girls Incorporated of Holyoke, Technology and Girls, Understanding Relevant Information Technology
Girls Incorporated of Orange County, Smart Girls
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Program    
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, National Society of Black Engineers, Pre-College Initiative
New Mexico Adventures in Supercomputing Challenge
New York University, New York City Girls Computer Science and Engineering Colloquium
Puget Sound Center Foundation for Teaching, Learning and Technology, TechREACH
The Revolving Museum, Inc., Artbotics Summer Camp
Spelman College, Computer Science Olympiad
Society of Women Engineers, Santa Clara Valley Section, WOW! That's Enginering
Technology Access Foundation, TAF Academy
University of California, Los Angeles, Center for Excellence in Engineering & Diversity Programs
University of California, Irvine, American Indian Summer Institute in Computer Science
University of Michigan, National Society of Black Engineers, Adams Elementary Engineering Program
University of Michigan, National Society of Black Engineers, Computer Science Special Interest Group
University of Michigan, Women in Science and Engineering Program, RobotC for Girls
University of Texas at Austin, First Bytes
Virginia Tech, Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity, CEED Imagination '08
Virginia Tech, Association for Women in Computing, Women In Computing Day