Ready, Steady, Go!
Let’s get it started on Project NERD (”Non è roba per donne” – It’s not women thing) 2020! On Friday 17th of January took place the first meeting of the project in San Giovanni a Teduccio Campus (Faculty of Engineering of Federico II),which was attended by hundreds of female students from all over Campania region with the aim of breaking down the walls and the stereotypes of computer science.
What the future has in store for us
Professor Paolo Maresca of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology Department of Federico II, who is also the teacher of the tutors of IEEE Unina Student Branch, started the meeting by showing a vision of computer science’s future, in particular by focusing the attention on how the skills required to aspirant computer scientists and engineers to be able to fit in the future working context will be drastically influenced by the advent and the progress of Artificial Intelligence software development.
The professor has also highlighted to the audience how the creativity of human beings is fundamental, with the advent of AI, to understand and figure out the horizons that can be explored by projects of very high potential.
The creativity is as important as the alphabetization and we should treat it the same way.
A Model Woman: Floriana Ferrara
Following Professor Paolo Maresca, Dr. Filomena Floriana Ferrara steps in as a representative of IBM Italy Foundation, of which she is the Director. By using autobiographical hints, her achievements in particular, Dr. Ferrara has proved on many occasions how one of the most important elements that allowed her to be one of the most important people in ltaly in the latest years has been her determination, that guided her throughout her life, with which she faced the obstacles and the people who tried to block her path towards her goal, to become a Computer Engineer.
A dispetto degli stereotipi vigenti al tempo della sua infanzia (e purtroppo seppur in quantità minore, presenti anche oggi) la Direttrice della Fondazione IBM Italia ha mostrato alle studentesse presenti in aula come non debbano lasciarsi scoraggiare, e come con la determinazione, l’impegno e la resilienza non esistano ostacoli e luoghi comuni che possano impedire il raggiungimento dei loro obiettivi.
Despite the stereotypes in force at the time of her childhood (and that, unfortunately, are also present today, even though in a less extent), the Director of IBM Italy Foundation showed the female students in the classroom how they might not be discouraged by theme, and how with determination, commitment and resilience there are no obstacles or clichés that can hinder the achievement of their goals.
She creates new inventions, makes mentor other employees through the patent process, foster innovative thinking, and help evaluate ideas for patenting. Becoming a Master Inventor is the result of a cumulative contribution to the IBM patent portfolio.
An introduction to Project NERD:
Monica La Mura, a member of the IEEE ITALY Section and Research Fellow at the Department of Information and Electrical Engineering and Applied Mathematics of UNISA, officialy introduces us to Project NERD with her intervention in the middle of the meeting.
As every year, for the project the IBM Cloud online platform is going to be used by groups made up of a maximum of 5 students that will work together with tutors (represented by students of the 2nd year of Computer Engineering at Federico II University), in order to design and program by using the tools made available on the platform and to create a Chatbot on a topic that will be chosen by each group.
A chatbot is a piece of software that conducts a conversation via auditory or textual methods.[1] Such programs are often designed to convincingly simulate how a human would behave as a conversational partner. – Wikipedia
The deadline for the projects submission is set on 5th April, 2020, to encourage women’s participation in the IT field even more than it is today: the students that present the most interesting project, are going to be rewarded by IEEE and IBM.
Francesca Ferrara: The importance of communication and digital technologies.
The day ended with an intervention of Francesca Ferrara, a multimedia journalist and Digital Marketing expert, about digital technologies. Ms. Ferrara’s speech dealt with her passion for the IT WORLD and technology/digital world and how is was born. The reference to the C6 Multichat, a program of the last decade of instant messaging developed by Telecom Italia, was particularly relevant. Thanks to it, Ms. Ferrara came into contact with IT world exponents, with whom she subsequently developed her interest in the subject.
Behind the Curtains: Interview with the Female Students!
Behind the scenes of the meeting our girls Francesca di Martino, Raffaella d’Alessandro and Gabriella di Gloria were engaged into researching and picking some students who attended the meeting, in order to ask them some questions and opinions about the project and their future aspirations. Shown below there is a small teaser, waiting for the full content to be released.
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For the whole album of the photos shot on this day, visit our Facebook Page!
– Article edited by Simone Giordano
– Photos by Luigi Crisci
