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Being a woman and a Computer Scientist
Leonor Frias is a PhD student at the Software Department (LSI) at the UPC. She is working under Drs. Jordi Petit and Salvador Roura's supervision in the ALBCOM research group. Leonor is a enterprising, woman, lively, social and willing to learn and work. These abilities have been some of the reasons the committee of the Google Europe Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship 2008 took into account when they selected Leonor Frias as one of the finalists of this important prize. A nice acknowledgement and a little step towards Google.
(Catalan Version)
Leonor Frias is pursuing her PhD studies at the research group ALBCOM from the Software Department (LSI) under Drs. Jordi Petit and Salvador Roura's supervision. When she was still studying at the secondary school, programming appealed to her. Although she was a bit scared of not being exactly the type of person who would study Computer Science, she decided to apply for the Barcelona School of Informatics (FIB).
In 2004 she finished Computer Engineering. After working on her graduation project on data structures and algorithms, she decided to go on with her third cycle studies under the supervision of the same professors who acted as their turos on her graduation project.
This spring Leonor got good news. She selected as a finalist at fo the Google Europe Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship 2008. This prize aims to encourage women to excel in computing and technology, as well as becoming active role models and leaders.
Apart from tje candidates CV, the selection criteria are also based on the development of four topics by the candidates. For example, how which type of project they would find interesting enought to be founded. Leonor would like to get representative statistic information about why people use certain libraries of functions of data structures and not others. She believes that the recollection of this data is something crucial for future improvements as well as it is essential to justify some of the decisions he is making along her doctoral work.
Leonor is very happy to have gotten this recognition, because she believes that is not always easy to see your work acknowledged and appreciated. She also would like to live in a society where being a woman and a computer scientist were not an exception. She tells us that she was a bit surprised when she saw many women following Computer PHD studies. However she still believe there is a long way to go. She thinks that the absence of women in Computer Science could be genetically rooted, but he believes that this is a trend that, instead, has deep cultural roots. Leonor encourages everybody, men and women alike, to do what they like and she thinks that people should not be afraid to try anything they like.
Libraries of data structures define interfaces and they implement algorithms and data structures. One example is the Standard Template Library (STL) which is part of the C++ programming language. Leonor's PhD Thesis aims to develop more efficient and/or versatile implementations of some STL components. In order to achieve what she aims, Leonor has used Algorithm Engineering techniques.
Leonor has worked in different aspects in order to improve the efficiency of algorithms by taking into consideration the hierarchy of memory, as well as the effects of the newest multi-core technology. In this sense, we should mention her participation in the MultiCore STL project. This is a parallel STL implementation for multi-core machines that nowadays is part of the GCC compiler. To introduce parallelism in the library components in a capsule is a good compromise in order to obtain better performance and spend less time and money because you do not have to program the applications again.
This project was born at the Karlsruhe University, in Germany. Leonor stayed there twice, during two months each time, in 2007. She developed a parallel implementation for the STL dictionaries. She worked under Professor Peter Sanders' supervision and with the collaboration of Johannes Singler who also woked on a PhD Thesis is about MultiCore STL.
Leonor describes herself as a lively and social person. These virtues have brought her to organise many Conferences in Barcelona and in other Spanish cities. On top of that, she has presented five articles during International Conferences. These are the conferences where she has been involved in:
On the other hand, she had the honour of being invited at an Algorithms Engineering workshop at Oberwolfach, Germany, during May 2007.
Leonor got many contacts, a global vision and proximity to the Google Europe Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship 2008 prize, thanks to the assistance and organization of these conferences, as well as the four months that she stayed at Karlsruhe University.
Leonor is planning to become a computer science Ph D next year. She looks at the past with happiness and she is very pleased of her days at FIB. Obviously, she remembers many stressful moments, never-ending practices and some other misfortunes. However, she loves what she learned and the people she dealt with.
These past years have been very intense for Leonor. She has lived many intellectual and personal changes. During the PhD courses she missed more mathematical training and she says she was a bit surprised by her mates because they were mostly mathematicians. On the other hand, she also complains about the actual work conditions of those who want to go on with their academic career until the end. However, Leonor loves and enjoys research.
Her love for research brings her to wish to go on doing research at University or even for a company. She is willing to change and if she got a good opportunity, she would leave Barcelona. This is a not far away dream, the Google Europe Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship 2008 prize can get her closer to Google, a company at the top of the for any computer science doctor. Good luck!
Leonor Frias
In 2004 she finished Computer Engineering. After working on her graduation project on data structures and algorithms, she decided to go on with her third cycle studies under the supervision of the same professors who acted as their turos on her graduation project.
Apart from tje candidates CV, the selection criteria are also based on the development of four topics by the candidates. For example, how which type of project they would find interesting enought to be founded. Leonor would like to get representative statistic information about why people use certain libraries of functions of data structures and not others. She believes that the recollection of this data is something crucial for future improvements as well as it is essential to justify some of the decisions he is making along her doctoral work.
Leonor is very happy to have gotten this recognition, because she believes that is not always easy to see your work acknowledged and appreciated. She also would like to live in a society where being a woman and a computer scientist were not an exception. She tells us that she was a bit surprised when she saw many women following Computer PHD studies. However she still believe there is a long way to go. She thinks that the absence of women in Computer Science could be genetically rooted, but he believes that this is a trend that, instead, has deep cultural roots. Leonor encourages everybody, men and women alike, to do what they like and she thinks that people should not be afraid to try anything they like.
Data structures libraries, her PhD Thesis.
Libraries of data structures define interfaces and they implement algorithms and data structures. One example is the Standard Template Library (STL) which is part of the C++ programming language. Leonor's PhD Thesis aims to develop more efficient and/or versatile implementations of some STL components. In order to achieve what she aims, Leonor has used Algorithm Engineering techniques.
Leonor has worked in different aspects in order to improve the efficiency of algorithms by taking into consideration the hierarchy of memory, as well as the effects of the newest multi-core technology. In this sense, we should mention her participation in the MultiCore STL project. This is a parallel STL implementation for multi-core machines that nowadays is part of the GCC compiler. To introduce parallelism in the library components in a capsule is a good compromise in order to obtain better performance and spend less time and money because you do not have to program the applications again.
Universities promote intellectual and social exchanges
- She presented her first article about an extension of STL dictionary classes at the 7th Workshop on Algorithm Engineering and Experiments (ALENEX'05) in Vancouver, Canada.
- She was part of the organizing committee of the International Analysis of Algorithms Conference (AofA 05) in Barcelona
- She supported the on-site organization of ALGO 2005 in Mallorca
- She was part of the organizing committee Fifth International Workshop of experimental Algorithms in Menorca (WEA 2007) a Menorca and she presented an efficient STL implementation of memory hierarchy.
- She supported the on-site organization of the 9th International Workshop on Approximation Algorithms for Combinatorial Optimization Problems (APROX 2006) and the 10th International Workshop on Randomization and Computation (RANDOM 2006)
- She went to the 13th International European Conference on Parallel and Distributed computing (Euro-Par 2007) in Rennes, France. She presented an article about multicore-implementation in STL dictionaries at the HPPC workshop.
- She collaborated in the organization of the European meeting European Project Delis-Compnet
- She was part of the organizing committee of the Second International Conference on Complex, Intelligent and Software Intensive Systems (CISIS-2008) and she presented an article about parameters on sequence operations at the MuCoCos workshop.
- She has presented her last project about multi-core implementations in order to solve partition problems at the 7th International Workshop on Experimental Algorithms (WEA08) a Provincetown, USA.
- And she will co-chair at the 8th International Conference on Hybrid Intelligent Systems.
On the other hand, she had the honour of being invited at an Algorithms Engineering workshop at Oberwolfach, Germany, during May 2007.
Leonor got many contacts, a global vision and proximity to the Google Europe Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship 2008 prize, thanks to the assistance and organization of these conferences, as well as the four months that she stayed at Karlsruhe University.
Beyond 2010
Leonor is planning to become a computer science Ph D next year. She looks at the past with happiness and she is very pleased of her days at FIB. Obviously, she remembers many stressful moments, never-ending practices and some other misfortunes. However, she loves what she learned and the people she dealt with.
These past years have been very intense for Leonor. She has lived many intellectual and personal changes. During the PhD courses she missed more mathematical training and she says she was a bit surprised by her mates because they were mostly mathematicians. On the other hand, she also complains about the actual work conditions of those who want to go on with their academic career until the end. However, Leonor loves and enjoys research.