SPEAKER 1: When I was going to college, I entered as a computer 
science major and every time I would walk into a classroom people 
would kind of look up with this look in their eye like "are you sure 
you belong here, like did you walk in the right class room?" 

JUDITH SPITZ: The initiative for women in technology in New York is a 
really unique partnership between Cornell Tech and the City University 
of New York and industry with the goal to encourage more young women 
to pursue education and careers in technology. 

DAN HUTTENLOCHER: We're starting to see computing in almost every walk 
of life, so it's important that everybody have opportunities to learn 
and to become involved in this area. In particular, we have a national 
and a global problem that women are extremely underrepresented. The 
essence of this initiative is really changing the status quo. 

RINA SCHILLER: Our whole world is moving toward technology if you want 
to be capable and competent, you need to know what technology is and 
how technology works. 

ANN KIRSCHNER: Closing the gender gap in technology begins with that 
first course, that first exposure that students have to computer 
science. 

LISA PURAN: This whole class has just been a breath of fresh air. 

YASHOMA BOODHAN: Having that ability to tell the computer what to do 
is definitely a powerful feeling. 

PURAN: When you get over the initial, daunting fear, it's simply just 
learning how computers talk and learning all of the syntax. 

MONƒ SKRATT HENRY: It enables me to think differently than I would 
have before. 

PURAN: It empowers you as a person. 

JAMES B. MILLIKEN: WiTNY offers an incredible promise to young women 
in New York to study in technology fields to be supported in that 
work. To have opportunities for internships and experiential learning 
and then have exposure to exciting places to pursue a career in the 
field of their choice. 

SPITZ: WiTNY is bringing together a cohort of young women in 
undergraduate school, graduate school and women in industry so that 
they can serve as role models for each other. 

MICHELE HU: This summer was like the first time I was really 
surrounded by a lot of women. It motivated me that I could do it too. 


LOWELL MCADAM: To really innovate, you have to have diversity of 
thought and diversity of thought comes from diversity of backgrounds. 
So our interest here is to see the full potential of women in computer 
science. 

SPITZ: Our goal is to make sure that the next generation of young 
women in New York are empowered with the tech tools that they need to 
change the world. It has creativity. 

DEBORAH ESTRIN: It has rigor. It has depth. And yet, you can take it 
across many disciplines. That's really what the magic of computer 
science is as a career. 

ILANA BLUMENTHAL: There's so many possibilities with computer science 
where there's really no end to what you can do. You can apply it to 
whatever you passion is. 

JANE NG: It gives you that adventurers mindset. If you can do this one 
thing, you can do another thing and once you do that you can conquer 
the world.