Kagonya Awori
PhD student Kagonya Awori is the latest Kenyan to be awarded the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship. Earlier this year, Charity Chao Mbogo, a PhD Computer Science student at the University of Cape Town, also got awarded the same scholarship in the EMEA region.
Kagonya Awori is a PhD student in the Department of Computing and Information Systems at the University of Melbourne and has been awarded for her work in encouraging women to pursue computer engineering. The scholarship is awarded to female undergraduates and postgraduates from around the world who show exceptional academic and leadership skills
Kagonya became heavily involved in empowering women to use technology after completing her Masters study, when she returned to Kenya, as a mentor. By founding a local chapter of ACM SIGCHI, the leading academic society for Human-Computer Interaction, she was able to extend her work and encourage local students to design useful, usable and relevant technologies. Despite what Kagonya has already achieved, she is determined to extend her commitment to women in computer sciences and human computer interaction.
Kagonya had this to say about being awarded the scholarship: “I am grateful to be have been chosen to be part of a collective of highly motivated women who are keen to use technology to better the society. It is a joy because the Scholarship does not only benefit me, but it also highlights the great work that goes on at the University of Melbourne.â€
Other Kenyan recipients of the Google Anita Borg Scholarship are: Jackline Mutua (2013), Caroline Muthambiri (2011) and Shikoh Gitau (2010).