Saturday 2 January 2010

Four Extraordinary Women

From The Right Perspective:

Barack Obama has chosen Amanda Simpson as a Senior Technical Advisor to the Department of Commerce...
...
Simpson has more than 30 years of experience in the aerospace and defense industry, most recently serving as Deputy Director in Advanced Technology Development at Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, Arizona.
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Simpson also holds degrees in physics, engineering and business administration along with an extensive flight background. She is a certified flight instructor and test pilot with 20 years of experience.
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Simpson will be working in the Bureau of Industry and Security.
In 2004, the YWCA recognized her as one of their “Women on the Move,” and in the same year, she won the Democratic nomination to the Arizona House of Representatives. In 2005, she was given the Arizona Human Rights Foundation Individual Award.


From Get Surrey:

Kate Craig-Wood...was named one of the main winners at the NatWest Everywoman Awards.
...
Last week’s award capped off a hugely successful year for Ms Craig-Wood and Memset, which is the country’s first carbon-neutral internet service provider.

A fortnight ago, her enterprise was also recognised when she was chosen as the Young Director of the Year by the Institute of Directors.
She's made Management Today's 35 most successful women under 35 list, won the IBM-sponsored Demeter award at the 2008 NatWest Everywoman National Awards, was recognised as the IoD's South East Young Director of the Year, and recently became the youngest person and third woman to join the board of Intellect UK, an IT, telecom and electronics trade association.

She also recently participated in the world's first skydive over Mount Everest to raise money for Computer Clubs 4 Girls, which aims to attract more girls to the sector by improving their technology skills.

From the ACLU:

Schroer, 49, retired from the Army as a Colonel in 2004 after 25 years of distinguished service. As an Airborne Ranger qualified Special Forces officer, Schroer completed over 450 parachute jumps, received numerous decorations including the Defense Superior Service Medal, and was hand-picked to head up a classified national security operation.
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When she interviewed for a job as a terrorism research analyst at the Library of Congress, she thought she'd found the perfect fit, given her background and 16,000-volume home library collection on military history, the art of war, international relations and political philosophy. Schroer accepted the position...

From Lynn Conway's site:

Lynn Conway is a famed pioneer of microelectronics chip design. Her innovations during the 1970's at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) have impacted chip design worldwide. Many high-tech companies and computing methods have foundations in her work.

Lynn received her B.S. and M.S.E.E. degrees from Columbia University in 1962 and 1963. She began her career at IBM Research at Yorktown Heights, NY, in 1964, moving on later to work at Memorex Corporation, at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), and at the Defense Advanced Research Project's Agency (DARPA). Concurrent with her work at Xerox PARC, she served as Visiting Associate Professor of EECS at M.I.T. in 1978-79. She joined the University of Michigan in 1985 as Professor of EECS and Associate Dean of the College of Engineering.

Thousands of chip designers learned their craft from Lynn's book, Introduction to VLSI Systems, which she co-authored with Professor Carver Mead of Caltech. Thousands more did their first VLSI design projects using the government's MOSIS prototyping system, which is based directly on Lynn's work at PARC. Much of the modern silicon chip design revolution is based on her work.

By successfully simplifying and demystifying the previously extremely complex process of silicon chip design, the work of the Mead-Conway team was largely responsible for the rapid progress in VLSI chip design and design tools in the 80's. Taken together, Lynn's many diverse contributions to computer architecture, VLSI design and internet-based chip-prototyping have greatly enhanced later progress in microelectronics, computing and information technology.

Lynn went on to win many awards and high honors, including election as a Member of the National Academy of Engineering, the highest professional recognition an engineer can receive.

What no one knew until recently is that Lynn also did earlier pioneering research at IBM in the 60's.
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Professor Conway has received many major awards for her research contributions, including the Wetherill Medal of the Franklin Institute, the Pender Award of the Moore School at the University of Pennsylvania, the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Achievement Award, the Electronics Award for Achievement, Xerox Corporation's recognition as a Xerox Research Fellow, the National Achievement Award of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), the GLBT Engineer of the Year Award from the National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals (NOGLSTP), an honorary doctorate from Trinity College, election as a Fellow of the IEEE (Lynn was the 12th woman to be so elected), election to the National Academy of Engineering, and election to the Electronic Design Hall of Fame.

Lynn has also served on many significant committees and boards, including the Editorial board of IEEE Spectrum magazine, numerous committees of the National Science Foundation and the National Academy of Engineering, and the U.S Air Force Scientific Advisory Board. She has served on the Board of Visitors of the U.S. Air Force Academy (a Presidential appointment), as a Member of the Corporation of the Draper Lab, as a member of NASA's Office of Space Science Task Force on Technology Readiness, and as a Member of the Council of the Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable (GUIRR) and also of the Air Force Science and Technology Board of the National Academies.

All of these women are transsexual though, so the following reaction at the Right Wing site Free Republic to Ms Simpson's appointment is typical:

I’d hit it:

148 gr at 200 yards sounds about right to me.
'Nuff said.

12 comments:

Lloyd Flack said...

That thread of FR has got worse. Little Jeremiah has pubicised the fact that Screaming_Gerbil is transsexual and has publicised her identity. A feeding frenzy has started.

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Good list, and why care about some mad freepers?

Unknown said...

Because some of them mean it. In the USA we have 17 times the normal murder rate, remember?

And in 37 states, Trans women can be, and routinely are, fired for being Trans.

There's no Federal protections either, so Ms Simpson doesn't have the same employment protections as other Obama appointees.

Col Schroer's job offer was rescinded as soon as they found out she was trans, national security be damned.

IBM fired Prof Conway - a move they've regretted ever since, and is one reason why IBM has a well-enforced trans-inclusive policy now.

Kate Craig-Wood avoided the problem - she founded her own firm. Oh yes, her photos don't do her justice, she's not at all photogenic, and looks far more beautiful in person. She had her surgery when I did, in Chonburi, in 2006.

And here's GOP Presidential hopeful Pawlenty:

Pawlenty was lauded by gay rights activists in 1993, when as a freshman Republican legislator, he supported adding sexual orientation to categories of employment, housing and other discrimination prohibited by state law. He has since said he regrets that vote, a position he reiterated to Newsweek's Howard Fineman.

He went on to spell out a change he wants made in the statute: It should not outlaw discrimination against "things like cross-dressing, and a variety of other people involved in behaviors that weren't based on sexual orientation, just a preference for the way they dressed and behaved."


Gay Good, Trans Bad.

Anonymous said...

I am a little woried that the curent admin is pushing accpetance on America faster than it is ready to.
This is going to bite us in the ass when the right wing takes over. Religious fervor and clossed minded bible thumping is going to make a strong comeback.
Laws that protect us will be repealed under the guise of rightiousness.
Not looking forward to 2012 election.

Cynthia Lee

Lloyd Flack said...

Zoe,

I had Exerbinius and Phantomworker contact Screaming_Gerbil for you. They let her know your FR account had been wiped out. I gave them your email address to pass on to her. I had both do it to play safe.

Unknown said...

Cynthia Lee -

I disagree: I think that the only progress that will happen in the next 10-14 years will happen in the next 10 months.

The Dems will take a drubbing in the mid-terms, losing their "fillibuster-proof" majority in the Senate, and perhaps losing control of the Senate Entirely. Their majority in the House will be diminished, and it's barely possible they'll lose control there too.

Should the GOP find a candidate with plausible economic credentials, not too on the nose with the Fundies, nor too batshit crazy a Dominionist, they'll win the Presidency in 2012.

In think this unlikely at this point.

But the president in 2017 will be Republican. Whether is his first or second term is debatable.

And he'll treat his loyal Fundie base exactly the way Obama has been a "Fierce Advocate" for GLBT rights. Crumbs, gestures, that's all. We'll gain nothing till the Dems get back in after his or her second term, but we won't lose anything of substance.

So around 2025 we'll go through the same thing again as we're doing now. Trying to repeal DOMA etc.

Lloyd -
Thanks. But I suspect her account has been wiped by now too. The msg may not have gotten through in time.

Anonymous said...

You know, five years ago I would never have imagined that I'd be starting 2010 shopping for a weapon, with all the hassle and expense that goes along with it.

But I do take their threats seriously, and I don't really know what else to do.

I get the sense that, unlike in the Clinton years when they were content to hole up Jim Jones style and wait for Y2K, this time they're actively planning an armed insurrection. In that kind of environment, minorities have a lot to fear.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Lloyd, and thank you to your two friends also. Some of the posters over at FreeRepublic sure turn out to be hateful when it come to Transgender people.

The Admin Moderator deleted the one thread where the two idiots childishly posted the Google cache of my profile after had I deleted my info on it per the Admin Moderator's request.

Also they had identified me wrongly as a Transgender activist from Lansing (they thought they were smart but they certainly aren't).

I sent the Admin Moderator an e-mail pointing out my cached profile information posted by the others after I had in good faith deleted the information from my profile as requested.

I also explained that they had the wrong person identified as me, and I guess the moderator decided to delete the information before they heard from the activist herself.

The other thread the mods deleted a lot of the posts relating to my status, and when the one idiot tried to bring me up in a thread about someone getting mutilated and beheaded in Kenya, the Admin Moderator finally told him to KNOCK IT OFF! (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2372518/posts?page=13#13)

Lloyd Flack said...

Wendy,
glad to help. I'll pass your thanks along.

Yes Little Jeremiah is a piece of work isn't she. Yes the poster says she is female and Hindu.

Since she couldn't distinguish between your photo and that of the older looking fairer haired woman she mistook you for I doubt her abiltity to even get her own sex and religion right.

Unknown said...

The world can only make progress by moving forward. With each small step that we as transsexuals take, progress is made. As people get to know us seeing for themselves that we are good, caring, loving, intelligent, normal people they will become more educated and in turn help make the world a more positive place for all people.
Regarding laws to "protect" us from losing our jobs, such laws provide only incentive for some people to do the right thing. I know from first hand experience - I was fired from my job of 29 years 18 months after I began living full time. The laws "protecting" me in the State of Washington didn't.
In my view the mere fact that there is almost infinitely more public conversation regarding gender and transsexuals specifically is a very good thing. We ARE people first and foremost and deserve the same exact rights as all other people. The concept of equal except for _____ must be done away with. Congratulations for Obama.

Anonymous said...

Shades of Raychel Roo!
Has anyone actually verified the Amanda Simpson story as true? I've yet to see an official press release from any governement source or indeed the NCTE confirming this alleged appointment.

Grace.

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