Resources for Women in Tech at UC Berkeley

Resources for Women in Tech at UC Berkeley

The Women in Tech Initiative has compiled a list of resources for female students at UC Berkeley interested in technology. There are a lot of great ways to learn about tech and participate in tech communities including student groups, on-campus conferences, programs, and more. Here is a quick list of resources. If you like to contribute to this list, please email us at witi@berkeley.edu.

Student Groups

Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is a national nonprofit organization that strives to highlight the achievements of women as leaders and engineers.

Website: https://swe.berkeley.edu
Twitter: https://twitter.com/UCB_SWE

Association of Women in EE&CS is a student-run organization at UC Berkeley that supports undergraduate women interested in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. AWE hosts a variety of academic, social, and outreach events throughout the academic year to empower and connect members. Their office is located in 286 Cory Hall.

Website: https://awe.berkeley.edu
Twitter: https://twitter.com/aweberkeley

FEMTech is UC Berkeley’s first interdisciplinary tech club for women and underrepresented students, aimed to provide support for those interested in the tech world, regardless of their major or experience level. FEMTech offers tutoring sessions, robotics workshops, speaker series and professional development workshops.

Website: https://femtechberkeley.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/femtechberkeley

Student Programs

CS Kickstart is a non-profit student organization that aims to empower women in computer science through a one-week introductory class to computer science. Students learn how to program, meet computer science students and professionals, and are introduced to different areas of computer science.

Website: https://cs-kickstart.berkeley.edu
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kickstartcs

Computer Science Mentors is a student-run organization that provides guidance and resources in a smaller classroom environment through group tutoring sessions for introductory electrical engineering and computer science courses at UC Berkeley.

Website: https://csmentors.berkeley.edu

Cal NERDS is comprised of a suite of programs and initiatives that provide faculty mentored research opportunities, specialized tech training, graduate school preparation, career coaching, community building, and professional development to high achieving STEM undergraduates and graduate students.

Website: https://calnerds.berkeley.edu

Big Ideas Contest is an innovation contest that provides up to $300,000 in funding, training, networks, and recognition to interdisciplinary teams of students who have transformative solutions to real-world problems.

Website: https://bigideascontest.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BigIdeasContest

Startups @ Berkeley connects student entrepreneurs with UC Berkeley’s startup ecosystem.

Website: https://startup.berkeley.edu/

The Berkeley Gateway to Innovation (BEGIN) is the portal to the entrepreneurship community at UC Berkeley. Our goal is to help students, faculty, researchers, and other innovators understand the resources available at Berkeley to support educating entrepreneurs, commercializing research, and advancing startups.

Website: https://begin.berkeley.edu/

The Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program (URAP) is designed to involve Berkeley undergraduates more deeply in the research life of the University. The Program provides opportunities for you to work with faculty and staff researchers on the cutting edge research projects for which Berkeley is world-renowned. Working closely with mentors, you will deepen your knowledge and skills in areas of special interest, while experiencing what it means to be part of an intellectual community engaged in research.

Website: https://urap.berkeley.edu/

The Data Science Discovery Program connects undergraduates with hands-on, team-based opportunities in cutting-edge data research projects at UC Berkeley, government agencies, community groups, and entrepreneurial ventures.

Website: https://data.berkeley.edu/research/discovery-program-home

Conferences and Events

The Women in Tech Symposium is an annual event on the UC Berkeley campus presenting the experiences of women towards a particular tech-related topic. In addition to the panels and discussion, the event also recognizes those who embody, encourage, and promote the inclusion of women in technology through the Women in Tech Initiative Athena Awards.

Website: https://witi.berkeley.edu/women-in-tech-symposium
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WITIatUC

Women in Data Science (WiDS) Conference at Berkeley is an annual one-day technical conference, which brings together data scientists and professionals in adjacent fields from around the globe to discuss the latest research and applications of data science in a broad set of domains.

Website: https://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/events/2020/wids-berkeley
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WIDSBerkeley

CITRIS Research Exchange Seminar Series delivers fresh perspectives on information technology and society from distinguished academic, industry, and civic leaders.

Website: https://citris-uc.org/news-events/citris-research-exchange/

Ada Lovelace Day, hosted by the Women in Tech Initiative and CITRIS People and Robots, is an international celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering, and maths.

Website: https://findingada.com/

Other Resources

Cal Hacks is a nonprofit organization composed of students passionate about fostering a culture of hacking, entrepreneurship, and social good via the empowerment of technology.

Website: https://calhacks.io
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CalHacks

Berkeley Student Technology Services is powered by a staff of more than 80 students who provide both front-line support and work behind the scenes to deliver critical technology services to students and staff. Students work in a variety of technical and non-technical roles that range from entry-level to supervisory, including customer service and device support, systems administration, and marketing and design.

Website: https://studenttech.berkeley.edu

Gender Equity Resource Center (GenEq) is a UC Berkeley campus community center committed to fostering an inclusive Cal experience for all. GenEq is the campus location where students, faculty, staff and alumni connect for resources, services, education and leadership programs related to gender and sexuality.

Website: https://campusclimate.berkeley.edu/students/ejce/geneq

Berkeley Student Tech Fund is one of a number of campus fee programs that offers grant opportunities.

Website: https://techfund.berkeley.edu

Citizen Clinic at the Center for Long Term Cybersecurity is a public-interest cybersecurity clinic at UC Berkeley. It supports the capacity of politically-vulnerable organizations to defend themselves against online threats.

Website: https://cltc.berkeley.edu/about-us/citizen-clinic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CLTCBerkeley

Blockchain at Berkeley is an organization dedicated to becoming the blockchain hub of the East Bay. They also debuted the world’s first undergraduate university-accredited blockchain course, Blockchain Fundamentals.

Website: https://blockchain.berkeley.edu
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CalBlockchain

CITRIS Tech for Social Good supports student-led learning and technology development that address pressing social challenges.

Website: https://citris-uc.org/tech-social-good
Twitter: https://twitter.com/citrisnews

Community Groups / Networks (Off Campus)

Women Who Code’s mission is to inspire women to excel in technology careers.

Website: https://www.womenwhocode.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/womenwhocode

AnitaB.org connects, inspires, and guides women in computing, and organizations that view technology innovation as a strategic imperative.

Website: https://anitab.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/anitab_org

Grace Hopper Celebration brings the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront, and highlights the contributions of women to the tech world.

Website: https://ghc.anitab.org

Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) is the premier organization with a national reach dedicated to bringing together women in cybersecurity from academia, research, and industry to share knowledge, experience, networking and mentoring.

Website: https://www.wicyssiliconvalley.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WiCyS_SV

GSA Semiconductor — In conjunction with the launch of the Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI), GSA has developed a free, career-specific internship/new hire portal for college students interested in securing college or post-graduate internships/new hire opportunities in the semiconductor industry.

Website: https://www.gsaglobal.org/internships/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GlobalSemi

Silicon Valley Robotics (SVR) is a not-for-profit coalition of robotics companies and startups, representing the robotics cluster of northern California.

Website: https://svrobo.org/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/svrobo

Girl Geek Dinners provide a community space for women (and men) in the technology sector to meet and support one another.

Website: https://girlgeekdinners.wordpress.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ggdworldwide

Volunteer Opportunities (Off-campus)

Technovation — Be a judge
https://technovationchallenge.org

Coding-based volunteering opportunities in the Bay Area
https://medium.com/@dhinesh.dharman/coding-based-volunteering-opportunities-in-the-bay-area-77ba4f870faf

Black Girls Who Code — mentoring
https://www.blackgirlscode.com/volunteer-signup.html

Catchafire — pro bono tech projects for nonprofits
http://catchafire.org

And more opportunities from the Berkeley Startup Cluster
http://berkeleystartupcluster.com/giveback/