Dr. Anita Borg: WITI Hall of Fame 1998 Induction Video - Women In Technology International

Dr. Anita Borg
Member of Research Staff, Xerox PARC
Founding Director, Institute for Women and Technology
(profile at the time of induction in 1998)

Dr. Anita Borg was a computer scientist in the Office of the Chief Technologist at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). A visionary who started the first e-mail network for women in technology, "Systers," Dr. Borg also co-founded the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, the enormously successful technical computer science conference inspired by the legacy of Navy Admiral Grace Murray Hopper and featuring successful women in computing. She also founded the Institute for Women and Technology, an experimental R&D organization focusing on increasing the impact of women on technology and the positive impact of technology on the world's women. At the Institute, technologists, social scientists and community members work together to create technologies based on women's needs, situations, and genius.

Dr. Borg received her doctorate from New York University for work on operating systems synchronization efficiency. She spent four years building a fault tolerant Unix-based operating system, first for Auragen Systems Corp of New Jersey and then with Nixdorf Computer in Germany. In 1986, she joined Digital Equipment Corporation's Western Research Laboratory, where she developed and patented a method for generating complete address traces for analyzing and designing high-speed memory systems. Her experience running the ever-expanding "Systers" mailing list lead her to work in email communication and instigated her move to the Network Systems Laboratory. There, she developed MECCA, an email and Web-based system for communicating in virtual communities.

Dr. Borg was a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and a member of the board of directors of the Computing Research Association (CRA). She served as a member of the National Research Council's Committee on Women in Science and Engineering and the Committees on Women of both CRA and ACM. She served on the Presidential Commission on the Advancement of Women and Minorities in Science, Engineering and Technology. In 1995, Dr. Borg received one of three Pioneer Awards from the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Augusta Ada Lovelace Award from the Association for Women in Computing for her work on behalf of women in the computing field.

Dr. Borg passed away in 2003, at the age of 54.

More information on Dr. Anita Borg is available at the following:
Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology

This video was presented at the 1998 WITI (Women In Technology International) Hall of Fame Award Ceremony.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• WITI
• Women In Science
• Hall of Fame