Anita Borg

Anita Borg (January 17, 1949 - April 6, 2003) was born Anita Borg Naffz in Chicago, Illinois, She grew up in Palatine, Illinois, Kaneohe, Hawaii, and Mukilteo, Washington.

Career

Borg was one of a relatively small group of female computer scientists at the Ph.D. level. After getting her doctorate in computer science from New York University in 1981, she worked for several computer companies and then spent 12 years in Digital Equipment's Western Research Laboratory and as consultant engineer in the Network Systems Laboratory in Palo Alto. Her primary responsibility was for the MECCA Communications And Information Systems project. She developed and patented a method for generating complete address traces used for analyzing and designing high-speed memory systems.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1987 while attending a major industry conference, Borg realized there were only a handful of women attending. She pulled that small group together and started Systers, an e-mail list and information-sharing community providing mentors, support and encouragement to women in computing. Today, Systers has grown to include over 2,500 women in 38 countries.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

She also started a technical conference for women, called the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~