Fabulous teachers, a keen interest in math and science lead to an IT career

673_ Fabulous teachers, a keen interest in math and science lead to an IT career 
Terry Morreale introduces us to yet another Woman in IT. We're talking to Professor Elizabeth Jessup, Computer Sciences Department at CU. For some, their career path is pretty straightforward. Terry asked, "How did you get to Professor in the Computer Sciences Dept at CU?" "It was a long and convoluted route. In high school I became interested in math and science, I had fabulous teachers. I went on to college where I was a math major, but I also took a lot of physics." Today she teaches numerical computing. When asked what type of research she did, Liz explained that computers in general can't represent numbers exactly. Larry was very surprised. "The first main issue is how to get the right answer on a computer. There are standards in place so you don't have to worry... but scientists do. The second issue is how to get the right answer in a reasonable amount of time. We're always interested in speeding up the process." Terry asked if Liz noticed a difference in student enrollments for computer sciences. As suspected they're down but much worse for women. "It's cyclical, but at the high point women represented 35% down to single digits today." Liz thinks working on the curriculum can help - she's had success in the past. Listen now for more insights...
Related Links: Barking Seal Blog || Applied Trust || Women in IT || Liz Jessup || Keywords: Elizabeth Jessup, Terry Morreale, Applied Trust Engineering, ATE, Barking Seal, CU, Computer Sciences > Channels: WiIT Bytes: 13526834 LISTEN 6/8/09 LISTEN