An Interview with Anamary Leal, a GHC 2010 LiC Scholarship Recipient

The Latinas in Computing (LiC) community was formed with the help of the Anita  Borg Insitute for Women inTechnology (ABI) after a Birds of a Feather session at the 2006 Grace Hopper Conference. Since then, members have been organizing various panels and Birds of a Feather sessions every year targeted specifically for Latinas who are qualified as double minorities in the computing field. This year, Latinas in Computing has joined forces with leaders of other underrepresented communities such as Black Women in Computing, Native Americans and People with Disabilities and have put together the Women of Underrepresented Groups (WURG) Track. The track's sessions are tailored at addressing challenges specific to double minorities.

Below is an interview to Anamary Leal, member of Latinas in Computing, and a Ph.D. student in Computer Science at Virginia Tech. Anamary is a Grace Hopper veteran and she shares with us what motivates her to attend GHC and the importance of sessions and communities for underrepresented groups.  Anamary has also been the recipient of the Latinas in Computing Travel Scholarship to attend GHC 2010 sponsored by Wikimedia.

 

• What encouraged you to go for your Ph.D?
  I did undergraduate research and I loved the idea of exploring ideas as a career.     
• Tell us about your research.
  I want to encourage other to hack, build, craft in the real world, so my research is about how to use flexible prototyping materials like fabric as a 3D input device, like how you use your body as input for the Kinect, and how you move a wiimote as input for the Wii. I hope that by getting people to sketch out something they want to make, in the virtual world, it would encourage them to make it in the real world.    
• Did you face any challenges as a double minority in undergraduate/graduate school?
  Yes, one of them is that, in Spanish, I know that there are many words and many ways to say the same thing. English isn't that way at all, so in graduate school I am learning to be more precise with my communication.     
• How many times have you been to GHC?
  This year will be my 4th one. :)
  
• What motivates you to attend every year? It's always inspiring to go. It gets me more encouraged and inspired to keep on going with the Ph.D.
  
• Was there a particular session that had a major impact in your career development in terms of decisions or meeting a specific person that gave you an opportunity/advice with an impact in your life?
  I can't think of any right now, but I love how everyone, even big shots, famous researchers, are all approachable and welcome to chat. IT helped give me the courage to chat and speak up at other professional conferences.
• How being part of the Latinas in Computing (LiC) community has helped you?
  It's a community within a community, so it's a smaller version of that spirit of GHC that I can connect with. I also haven't participated in any Hispanic/Latina organizations, and I felt I could connect with LiC.
• Have you found the sessions specifically for Latinas or women of color useful? Why?
  Yes, my most memorable was speed mentoring!
• This year we have the Women of Underrepresented Groups track. Are you looking forward to any specific session or speaker?
  There are so many good sessions! I tried, but I couldn't!

 About the Authors: Rosa Enciso is a Software Development Engineer at MSN, Microsoft working on algorithms that detect and rank trending topics on search queries and social data. Mirkeya Capellán is a manager consultant at Sogeti USA and an adjunct professor at Pace University. She presently works as a QA Test Engineer/Project Manager for a leading automotive company, responsible for coordinating and conducting enterprise testing