I became interested in technology through music. I was a music major through the first round of college and graduate school. During graduate school studying music history, I worked with a wonderful professor (Jan LaRue) who used computers to organize and analyze 18th century symphonies. By capturing the music as digital data, we were able to compare symphonic themes, orchestrations and structure across thousands of symphonies algorithmically. No one had ever done such work before. That's what hooked me on technology and computer science.
From there, I continued my studies in music, but started taking more and more computer science. Eventually, the balance moved more toward computer science, although I still try and practice as often as I can. There's a connection between how one learns a piece of music as a performer, and how one writes a program. It's a sequential process with repetition, branching. Both require creativity, precision and discipline.
There are so many connections between computer science and other domains. More and more we are seeing computing and algorithmic thinking as critical to subjects such as economics, medicine, biology, art and music. In all these areas, and especially in computer science, we'd like to engage more women. In computer science, it's important for women to participate in the design, development and implementation of the applications, tools and technologies that the world uses. Women provide a unique and essential perspective that must be a part of the picture.
