Amsterdam Girl Geek Dinner

Getting fired up about studying Volcanoes

Date: Tuesday, 31 August, 2010
Time: 7-11 PM
Location: Flexbar (Pazzanistraat 1, Amsterdam)
Ticket: 22.50 euros (buffet dinner, excluding drinks). Early bird price: 15.00 euros
Subscription possible until: Saturday, 28 August

Click here to get a ticket

Abstract

In the field of Science, Geology is often regarded as a bit of a soft option. Geologists typically have to make do with less than complete information and often have to use educated guesses to fill in the gaps. There is no Nobel Prize for geology but as far back as the time of the ancient Greeks, geologists have busied themselves with finding solutions to some mind-blowing questions like: How old is the Earth? How do you get coral reefs at the top of a mountain? And What really happened to the dinosaurs? I have personally busied myself with: Why do volcanoes erupt? And specifically: Why do some volcanoes erupt more violently than others? Finding possible solutions to these questions has taken me around the world and required not only scientific testing but, in the grand tradition of my “pseudo-science”, significant mounts of imagination too.

Speaker Bio

Jane Chadwick works at the Vrije Universiteit where she is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Earth and Life Sciences (FALW). She gives lectures, takes students on excursions to see geology “in the field” as well as carrying out her own research.
She is a specialist in volcanic systems but is also interested in other aspects of geology including the mechanics of mountain building and how geological processes can be replicated and tested in a lab. Her work takes her to many different locations including Ireland, Scotland, the Alps of Germany, Austria and Italy, Serbia and Montenegro, The Canary Islands, and Indonesia to name a few. Her recent work has focused possible triggers for explosive eruptions in active volcanoes. Jane finished her PhD at the University of Dublin, Ireland in 2008, and has also worked at the Danish Lithosphere Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Jane Chadwick’s website.

Sponsors for GGD #8:

Dinsdag het eerste Utrecht Girl Geek Dinner!
Aanmelden kan nog tot maandagavond.
Voor de mensen die niet komen: er is ook een live stream!

Datum: Dinsdag 22 juni 2010
Tijd: 19:00-23:00
Locatie: Setup (Neude 4, Utrecht)
Kosten: 12,50 euro inclusief diner, exclusief drankjes
Aanmelden: Tot 21 juni, via organizers@girlgeekdinner.nl

Inhoud

PC’s, Internet en smart phones behoren inmiddels zo vanzelfsprekend tot onze dagelijkse attributen en gewoontes dat we (M/V) nauwelijks nog stilstaan bij deze ‘automagische’ apparaten en wat zij vermogen. Een lezing over waarom computers zo leuk zijn, en de huidige pogingen tot verduistering en verwolking zo geniepig. Over Internet-metaforen en het gevaar van gefeminiseerde interfaces, over het hacken van Barbies en computers, en de lange roemruchte geschiedenis van geek girls.

Bio

Marianne van den Boomen werkt in Utrecht als docent-onderzoeker Nieuwe Media en Digitale Cultuur aan het Departement Media- en Cultuurwetenschappen van de Universiteit Utrecht. Daarvoor werkte zij als zelfstandig webredacteur en internetadviseur voor onder meer de Groene Amsterdammer, Infodrome en het Internationaal Informatiecentrum en Archief voor de Vrouwenbeweging (IIAV). Zij was betrokken bij de Digitale Stad en publiceerde onder andere Internet ABC voor vrouwen
(1995), Leven op het Net (2000) en Digital Material (2009). Momenteel werkt zij aan haar proefschrift over Internet-metaforen en is zij lid van de commissie e-cultuur voor de Raad van Cultuur. Website: www.Meta BlogNote.nl.

Date: Wednesday, 12 May, 2010
Time: 7-11 PM
Location: Flexbar (Pazzanistraat 1, Amsterdam)
Cost: 22.50 Euros (buffet dinner, excluding drinks)
Subscription possible until: Sunday, 9 May

The Flexbar is located on the Westergasfabriek terrain.

Abstract

Men want to know: Which gifts impress a woman?  What is the best strategy for approaching a group of women in a pub?   And women might wonder:  How do you know if your partner is the right one?  And is it possible to predict whether your relationship will last with the help of a formula? Love and mathematics hardly seem related but mathematician Ionica Smeets will answer these pressing matters of the heart with the help of some mathematics.

Speaker Bio

Ir. Ionica works for “Public Understanding of Science” (Leiden University). Half of the week she researches there - with Bas Haring - how science can best be explained to a general audience. The rest of the week she writes articles, gives lectures and presents science days. On June 16 2010 she will defend her thesis “On continued fraction algorithms”. Website: www.ionica.nl.

Sponsor

Photo by Arie Wapenaar, edited by Bert van Zutphen.

On the 6th of March the third Women Inc Festival will take place. And the Girl Geeks will be there! We are part of the market place and will share a stand with Femtech and Genderchangers.

Check out our page on the Women Inc website, more will be revealed there later.

And…… if you attend the next Girl Geek Dinner you can win one of the 8 festival tickets that we are going to give away!

After a “zomerstop” the AMS Girl Geek Dinner is baaaaaaaaaack!
Email organizers if you want to attend.

Date: Thursday, 18 February, 2010
Time: 7-11 PM
Location: Flexbar (Pazzanistraat 1, Amsterdam)
Cost: 22.50 Euros (buffet dinner, excluding drinks)

The Flexbar is located on the Westergasfabriek terrain.

Abstract

Data about our communication, our health, our whereabouts, our financial transactions, etc. are kept all over the place and it’s increasingly difficult to understand who uses what data for which purpose. Who is allowed access to such data, who makes decisions about us on the basis of it? How do privacy matters affect us? Karin Spaink will present trends in the collecting / use of personal data.

Speaker Bio

Karin Spaink (1957) is a columnist and writer. Her main subjects are politics, medicine, technology, internet and civil rights. Website: www.spaink.net.

Sponsor

Date: Tuesday, 21 April, 2009
Time: 7-11 PM
Location: Flexbar (Pazzanistraat 1, Amsterdam)
Cost: 22.50 Euros (buffet dinner, excluding drinks)

The Flexbar is located on the Westergasfabriek terrain.

Abstract

Flies are true acrobats in the air. They can hover and even fly backwards! Therefore, for our development of small, flapping, aircraft we can learn a lot from them.

One of the activities in my research group is to simulate air flow around flapping wings in order to better understand the performance of insect flight. Approximating the solution to the physical flow equations
with mathematical techniques, we can compute flight performance quantities, such as lift and drag. Since these are time and memory space intensive computations, efficiency is of utmost importance.

With the insights obtained from analyzing the flow solution of the simulation, we hope to contribute to the design of Delfly Micro - a tiny flapping micro air vehicle developed at the faculty of Aerospace Engineering of Delft University of Technology. Delfly Micro is the smallest in the Delfly series. While the original Delfly has a 20 cm wing span, Delfly Micro only has 5 cm wing span. Due to the small wings aerodynamic performance is very important.

Speaker Bio

Prof.dr.drs.ir. Hester Bijl is full professor Computational Aerodynamics at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering of Delft University of Technology. She studied Applied Math in Delft, as well as English in Leiden. After her studies she decided to become a PhD-student in Delft, developing a new method for the computation of flows with both high and low speeds regions. After her PhD she worked a little less than two years as management consultant for The Boston Consulting Group. Since October 1999 she works at the Aerospace Engineering faculty in Delft, starting as assistant professor. In april 2006 she was appointed full professor - the first female professor at the Aerospace Engineering Faculty of the TU Delft. As department chair, Hester now is a member of the management team of the Faculty. She has a partner and two sons (6 and 7 years old).

Sponsor

(Tales of when Sam-I-Am had something else in mind..)

Date: Monday, 12 January, 2009
Time: 7-11 PM
Location: Flexbar (Pazzanistraat 1, Amsterdam)
Cost: 22.50 Euros (buffet dinner, excluding drinks)

The Flexbar is located on the Westergasfabriek terrain.

Abstract

Expectations — both our own and those of others — strongly influence our careers. Dealing with these expectations can be a challenge! Throughout my life and my academic career, I have encountered numerous choices, surprises, and life-lessons. Pain can be minimized by learning from others — so in this talk, I will share some of the lessons that I and my collegues have learned along the way …

Speaker Bio

Frances Brazier is a Professor of Computer Science at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, chairing the Intelligent Interactive Distributed Systems Group. She has published significantly in the areas of Autonomous Systems, Artificial Intelligence, Multi-Agent Systems, Distributed Systems, Web Services, and Human-Computer Interfaces, and is currently a member of the editorial board of “AI in Design and Manufacturing” and a new book series on Autonomic Systems. Beyond her academic career Frances has also been involved in numerous ventures including NLnet, the first ISP in the Netherlands. Frances is also the Vice-Chair of the Landelijk Netwerk Vrouwelijke Hoogleraren.

Sponsor

Date: Wednesday, 8 October, 2008
Time: 7-11 PM
Location: Flexbar (Pazzanistraat 1, Amsterdam)
Cost: 22.50 Euros (buffet dinner, excluding drinks)

The Flexbar is located on the Westergasfabriek terrain.

Abstract

Julie Lerman has been programming for over 20 years, with the glorious beginnings of a single BASIC computer class while acquiring a degree in Russian history. At her first job (nothing to do with history) the only computer in a company of over 1000 people quickly ended up on her desk. Since then she has used about 10 programming languages, but it took 13 years before she attended her first programming class. Julie will talk to the Amsterdam Girl Geeks about the challenge of trying to remain sane while keeping up with constantly changing technology and some of the extra challenges that being a girl geek added along the way.

Speaker Bio

Julie Lerman is an independent consultant and .NET Mentor who has been designing and writing software applications for over 20 years. Julie is the author of “Programming Entity Framework” (O’Reilly) and is well known in the .NET community as a Microsoft MVP, ASPInsider and INETA Speaker. She is a prolific blogger, a frequent presenter at conferences around the world and author of articles in many technical publications. Julie lives in the tiny U.S. state of Vermont where she runs the Vermont.NET User Group and serves on the board of the Vermont Software Developers Alliance. You can read Julie’s blog at www.thedatafarm.com/blog.

Sponsor

Date: Monday, 30 June, 2008
Time: 7-11 PM
Location: Flexbar (Pazzanistraat 1, Amsterdam)
Cost: 22.50 Euros (buffet dinner, excluding drinks)

The Flexbar is located on the Westergasfabriek terrain.

Abstract

Since the invention of telephony, networks have played an important part in our interactions. These days many computer networks form the thing we know as “the Internet” - a network of networks. Many components help to move bits and bytes, frames and packets around: cables, fibers, routers, switches, etc. This talk will describe the history and basics of the Internet, what’s fascinating about it and what actually happens down the wire.

Speaker Bio

Elisa herds packets and babysits switches at the Amsterdam Internet Exchange. As a member of the CCC hacker association in Germany she helps organize various conferences like the yearly Chaos Communication Congress.

Sponsor