NMITSA Announces Women in IT Winners
On April 3rd the best women in technology from across New Mexico were recognized at a lunch ceremony at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Albuquerque presented by the New Mexico IT & Software Association.The 2008 Women in Technology awards event was hosted by 770 KKOB Radio’s Terrie Q. Sayre and included a keynote presentation by Caren Shiozaki, Executive Vice President, Managing Director and Chief Information Officer of Thornburg Mortgage. Caren spoke of the critical need for female leaders in technology companies and the recent decline in the number of women pursuing science and technology-related careers, due at least in part to a lack of female role models.
Brad Key, NMITSA Chairman and Director of Software & Systems at QinetiQ North America highlighted the value of the event, “We believe that inspiring more women to choose technology careers is critical to ensuring that our country can compete in the global economy, that we maximize opportunities for innovation, and that the technology industry is as diverse and creative as the people it serves.”
The awards were presented to seven exceptional New Mexican women for their leadership, commitment, expertise, innovation, accomplishments, and technical excellence in the technology arena. The awardees are:
Caroline Dennis. Cofounder, Grappa Wireless / President, Wired Nation
Patricia Janney, CIO/COO, New Mexico Energy Federal Credit Union
Shelly Jennings, IT Manager, PNM Resources
Samantha Lapin, President & CEO, POD, Inc.
Irene Anne Lee, Principal Investigator, Santa Fe Institute
Diane Schaller, Deputy CIO, City of Albuquerque
Kelley Shaw, Mainland Engineering Manager, Commercial Data Systems
Posted on 04/03/2008
NMITSA Announces Details for 2008 Women in Technology Celebration
NMITSA to Celebrate Women in TechnologyNMITSA is very excited to announce the details for the first ever Women in Technology Recognition Celebration in the state of New Mexico!
NMITSA will be recognizing the contributions and achievements of women in New Mexico's technology industry at a recognition brunch and we need your help to celebrate!
To nominate a woman for a recognition award, please click here for a pdf version or here for an MS Word version (please note the document has macros, which your computer may alert you).
The recognition brunch will take place on Thursday, April 3rd from 10:00 am until 12:00 pm at the Embassy Suites in downtown Albuquerque. Tickets will go on sale February 1st and will be available through the NMITSA website at www.nmitsa.org.
Sponsorship packages for the entire event are still available! Please contact Phil Garcia to receive sponsorship information.
In addition to recognizing our industry's women, NMITSA has developed two programs to assist young women who aspire to join New Mexico's technology community:
The NMITSA Women in Technology Internship program will match young women in high school or the early phases of college with hi-tech companies for a summer internship. If your company is interested in taking on a female intern, please contact Phil Garcia at
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Additionally, NMITSA will be raising scholarship funds to assist young women who would like to pursue post graduate degrees in technology. On April 7th, NMITSA will host a golf tournament at Four Hills Country Club in Albuquerque. The proceeds from the tournament will go directly to the scholarship fund. If you would like to register a 4-some for the golf tournament, please follow the Acteva link. Individuals are welcome to register, as well.
Single-Hole sponsorships are available for companies that are interested. Please contact Phil Garcia if you would like to be a hole sponsor.
Posted on 01/17/2008
2007 New Mexico IT Excellence Award Winners
SOLUTION AWARDS• The IT Excellence Award for Best Solution – Commercial Software
Ultramain Systems – efbFlightLogs
Ultramain efbFlightLogs is Electronic Flight Bag software that allows pilots to capture flight log information in real time and alert ground-based maintenance systems prior to arrival, thereby minimizing delays. The software completely replaces FAA-mandated paper flight logs, benefiting fleet operations, ground and air traffic controllers, pilots, and passengers. The system works as a standalone system on aircraft as well as on ground servers, communicating via the Internet or offline.
• The IT Excellence Award for Best Solution – Custom Software
POD – Public Education Automated Budget Management System
Managing the State of New Mexico’s education budget and accounting tasks is a very tall order, one of the largest and most complex software system challenges in the state. POD delivered the new 6-module web-enabled Automated Budget Management System to the Public Education Department to meet this challenge. ABMS performs a wide range of budget and accounting management functions critical to keeping our schools running as efficiently as possible.
• The IT Excellence Award for Best Solution – Innovative Research
Sandia National Laboratories – Adaptive Thinking and Leadership Simulation
The Adaptive Thinking and Leadership (ATL) simulation uses computer game technology to train Special Forces soldiers in critical skills. The ATL simulation allows players to discover their strengths and weaknesses in mental agility, cultural awareness, interpersonal adaptability, and communication. By role-playing in a dynamically changing environment, users sharpen their ability to anticipate the consequences of different courses of action for problems that may not have a "right" answer.
• The IT Excellence Award for Best Solution – Integrated Systems
Game Production Services / Abalone Studios – Future Combat Systems Mobile Demonstration Trailer
Abalone Studios created custom video-game-like hi-fidelity modeling and simulation environments and intuitive interfaces for the Boeing Company and the US Army’s Future Combat Systems. Abalone’s work is integrated into a Mobile Demonstration Trailer that provides hands-on, interactive experiences for the general public, military, and governmental decision makers.
• The IT Excellence Award for Best Solution – IT Infrastructure
Blue Jay Enterprises – Santa Fe Public Schools QMOE Project
The main internet infrastructure at Santa Fe Public Schools (SFPS) is virtually humming after Blue Jay designed and installed the QMOE system – a combination of Ethernet and fiber optic technology that enabled a 20-fold increase in internet throughput-speeds, from 1.5 Mbps to 30 Mbps. These dramatic improvements greatly enhance distance learning programs and other bandwidth intensive educational programming in SFPS.
• The IT Excellence Award for Best Solution – IT Support
First Community Bank – Virtualization of the Corporate Desktop Using Microsoft SoftGrid and Citrix
FCB has implemented a very robust and redundant thin-client infrastructure and server farm that can be deployed to a new branch with only 25% of the resources needed to deploy a full PC environment. The bank also implemented a web interface using RSA two factor token authentication, permitting secure remote access to authorized users from any internet-connected PC in the world.
• The IT Excellence Award for Best Solution – Hardware and Embedded Systems
Avistar – Wireless Substation Monitoring
Avistar, a subsidiary of PNM Resources, has devised a low-cost, easily installed multipoint sensor system that monitors circuit breakers and then wirelessly transmits data to a central location for monitoring multiple substations from a single Web page. The communication system is a proof of concept for other possible substation monitoring applications and is currently the subject of a national Electric Power Research Institute project.
• The IT Excellence Award for Best Solution – Internet Solutions
Ultramain Systems – efbFlightLogs
Also winner for Best Solution Commercial Software.
ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
• The IT Excellence Award for Achievement in Industry Leadership
Sponsored by NMITSA
Eric Renz-Whitmore, Program Coordinator, UNM ARTS (Art, Research, Technology & Science) Lab
Eric has been a vital force behind the development of a digital media consortium in New Mexico, stitching together a community out of a fledgling game-development industry, blooming digital media industry, and booming film industry. He has served as catalyst, choreographer, connector and enabler to create very real careers, tangible infrastructure, and economic development based upon digital media.
• The IT Excellence Award for Achievement in Industry Support
Sponsored by the New Mexico Business Weekly
New Mexico State Investment Council
The New Mexico State Investment Council manages the New Mexico Regional Program, which makes investments into venture capital firms that in turn commit to make investments in New Mexico. Since the formation of the program, the NMSIC has made investment commitments that have resulted in investments in over 20 software and IT companies with many others making significant use of information technology.
• The IT Excellence Award for Achievement in Information Technology in Education – Organization
Sponsored by QinetiQ North America
The Uptime Institute
The Uptime Institute has, for a decade, helped some of the US's largest organizations improve data center uptime through a unique collaborative learning environment called the Site Uptime Network. In March 2007, the Institute held a symposium for hundreds of key IT professionals to discuss how IT performance is driving the economic meltdown of Moore's Law.
• The IT Excellence Award for Achievement in Information Technology in Education – Individual
Sponsored by TIG Technology Integration Group
Tom Ryan, Executive Director of Technology, Albuquerque Public Schools
Dr. Tom Ryan provided visionary leadership in establishing the statewide Cyber Academy while chairman of IDEAL-NM, the Innovative Digital Education And Learning in New Mexico team. Tom led the legislative effort to commit $7.5 million to start the Cyber Academy, a program that brings the vast world of knowledge digitally to any student in any public school in New Mexico.
Sponsorship of these awards benefits:
• The New Mexico Supercomputing Challenge, a non-profit program committed to helping students in grades 7 to 12 solve real-world problems using high-performance supercomputers
• The Albuquerque High School Academy of Advanced Technology, a school within a school that provides opportunities for students interested in the application and utilization of technology in the twenty-first century
• The Fractal Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to use the beauty of fractals to educate and inspire students about math, art, science, nature and chaos theory
• Computers for Kids, a partnership between NMITSA and Technology Integration Group that provides new computers to support innovative teaching opportunities in high school classrooms statewide.
Posted on 11/16/2007
