The keynote speaker at the event was renowned mathematician

Were always looking for opportunities to partner up with organizations that promote diversity and encourage women to excel in technology. moncler tulsa jacket brown black Girl Geek Dinners is a world-wide initiative that does exactly thatit helps build communities of women who have a passion and interest in science, technology and other traditionally male-dominated fields by hosting social events around the world.We recently sponsored the Amsterdam Girl Geek Dinner and I attended the event with my colleague Noha, who, like me, is a software engineer for Google in Zurich. At the dinner, we had the opportunity to meet and mingle with other women in the tech community and talk about what its like being a woman in the field of computer science. Ionica Smeets and I cant imagine a woman more inspiring.Google shares a similar goal to Girl Geekswe want to make it possible for everyone to pursue careers in technology, regardless of gender. And, in our presentation at the event, we outlined our numerous initiatives to promote and support diversity in technology. We have various scholarship programs to help students to pursue their interests, excel in their studies and become leaders. And to encourage more female computer scientists to attend and participate in research conferences around the world, we also offer travel and conference grants in the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions. You can learn more about our diversity programs, here.Posted by Alexandra Alecu, Software Engineer| (Cross-posted with the Google Students Blog)We know firsthand how vital a good science or math education is to building products that change the world and enrich peoples' lives. We're committed to supporting students in their pursuit of the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields particularly those from traditionally under-represented backgrounds. moncler tulsa jacket black Over time, we've dedicated time, people, and financial resources to organizations, events and schools to help advance this mission and we're excited to share that we rounded out 2009 with a donation of $8 million to a variety of organizations who share our dedication to this cause. Our efforts were focused in four key areas:Starting in high school STEM education at an elementary and high school level builds technical skills early and encourages interest in technology. To support the ongoing education of these subjects, we identified more than 600 high schools with significant populations of students from under-represented and economically disadvantaged backgrounds and are providing laptops to their computer science and math departments. We are also offering laptops to some of the most promising students in these schools. In a time when many of these schools are experiencing decreased funding, we wanted to support their continued commitment to learning and teaching these subjects, and recognize the exceptional work done by teachers in these communities. If you're interested in learning more about our efforts in this field, check out Google Code University (CS tutorials for students and teachers) as well as our tools, tips and lesson plans for K-12 educators.Growing promising talentWe've worked with over 200 outstanding students as part of our FUSE, CSSI, BOLD and BOLD Practicum summer programs. To help the alumni of our 2009 summer programs pursue their studies, we awarded former program participants with school-based scholarships. We hope that this support for tuition will lessen the financial burden moncler grey jacket wool quilted hooded on these students and their families, reduce work-study commitments and free them up to explore other educational opportunities, like studying abroad.Advancing technical knowledge through universities We have close relationships with universities around the world not only do we employ their alumni, but they are also a source of groundbreaking research and innovation. We awarded grants ranging in size from $20k to $100k to 50 U.S.-based universities with whom we already have relationships and directed these funds toward departments that are closely aligned with promoting under-represented minorities in technology.