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USA: Honoring women in science

Date: Thursday, October 19, 2017

On May 22, the Midwest Region of the American Committee hosted its seventh annual Women for Science luncheon. Nearly 300 guests gathered at the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago for the event, which raised funds to benefit the Chicago Area Fund for Women Scientists. This year’s Vision and Impact Award honoree was author and physician Dr. Dana Suskind, Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics at the University of Chicago, Director of the Pediatric Cochlear Implantation Program, and Founder and Director of the Thirty Million Words Initiative. Dr. Suskind was recognized for her efforts to help all children achieve their full potential and to close the achievement gap.

After the award presentation, guest speaker Prof. Shafrira Goldwasser of the Weizmann Institute’s Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics discussed her pioneering cryptography research. A winner of the Turing Award (widely considered the highest honor in the field of computing), Prof. Goldwasser developed mechanisms that became the gold standard for enabling secure Internet transactions, and today works in the area of computer privacy protection and encryption. Co-chaired by Denise Noparstak and Rona Wolf, the luncheon brought together longtime and new Weizmann Institute supporters and built momentum for the American Committee’s national Women for Science initiative.