MidWIC 2006

Paper Sessions

CHAIR:	Laura K. Dillon
	Michigan State University

Three technical and three non-technical papers from the proceedings have been selected for presentation in the paper sessions.

The talks are listed in presentation order.

Social, Ethical, Pedagogy Track

Saturday -- 8:30am -- Session 1

8:30am Implanted Computer Chips
Gabrielle Olivera Bradley University	This paper discusses the future of RFID technology and the possible social implications it may bring about. Read more...
8:45am A Summer Internship: Practice for the real world
Breanne Kunz Indiana University	A summer internship is an amazing opportunity. It is a chance to apply what is taught in the classroom, make valuable contacts, and learn about an industry. In this paper, I share my experience as a summer intern at Hewlett-Packard. I hope reading about my experiences will help others considering an internship position. I strongly encourage women in computing programs to seek internships and similar opportunities. Read more... Slides
9:00am Women in Technology: Starting a Student Interest Group on Campus
Meredith Cler Bradley University	This paper describes the experience of Bradley University students who started a Women in Technology/Computing student group during the 2005-06 academic year. A history of the group's inaugural year is provided including mission, objectives, challenges, and accomplishments. Advice for others who wish to start a similar group is offered, including recommendations for structure, interaction with others on and off campus, and use of speakers and other resources. supporting and promoting womens presence in the computer fields. Read more...

Technical Track

Saturday -- 9:15am -- Session 2

9:15am Using Technology to Identify Triggers for Chronic Conditions
Anne M. Faber Indiana University	Millions of people all over the world are currently suffering from chronic conditions. The Security for Ubiquitous Resources Group (SURG) lab is developing a toolkit that will help identify triggers for chronic health conditions. The toolkit will combine on-body sensors, nutrition monitoring, and experience sampling to record in-situ data from patients in order to determine what is causing or exacerbating their condition. While other projects have used these recording methods to gather health-related data, none have used all three together. Read more...
9:30am Segmentation of Child-Directed Speech: A Statistical Approach
Natalya Muzinich Indiana University	This paper describes how distinctive features that classify speech sounds emerge from statistical analysis of Russian child-directed speech. The analysis is based on transcriptional representation of individual speech sounds. From the analysis of bigram distribution major natural classes such as consonants and vowels further subdivided into non-palatalized versus palatalized consonants and front versus non-front vowels can be computed. The results in the form of a probabilistic FSA exhibit strong associations between the uncovered subclasses of consonants and vowels that are supported by traditional linguistic analysis. Read more...
9:45am The Excitement of "I CAN"
Rimma V. Nehme Purdue University	I can. It is a powerful sentence: I can. I didn't always believe that I personally could do anything I want and be good at it. But I had several people who always encouraged me to believe in myself. One of them is my role model and my former advisor in graduate school. In this paper, I want to share some of the lessons I have learned from her that have proved to be invaluable. Her efforts in making us -- her students -- better researchers, better educators and just better people will certainly not go unnoticed. She never ceased to manifest the excitement of "I can". Read more... Slides