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Profile: Shirley Collier
Monday, May 7, 2007
(The Horizon Foundation) --
Shirley Collier is a nationally known speaker,
author and technology entrepreneur, and is a
member of the Horizon Foundation Board of
Trustees and Chair of the Foundation’s Policy
and Communications Committee. She is CEO of
Optemax, a firm that has licensed early stage
optical wireless networking technologies from
two regional University-based research
institutions and has a contract with the Navy
to develop these technologies for surveillance
applications on unmanned aerial vehicles. This,
in addition to other volunteer work, keeps her
very busy and tuned into the growing demand for
technology.
Collier is also in
tune with the need to continually encourage
young women to see themselves not just as
consumers of technology, but as potential
inventors and developers. As the founder of
Computer Mania – an event which provides an
introduction to middle school girls on the ways
different careers make use of information
technology – she wants young women to
understand that, “Regardless of the
profession you choose, the ability to leverage
technology will be important to your
success.”
Computer Mania
Computer Mania was Collier’s response to
an article she read regarding girls not
embracing technology. After feeling outraged
about what she read, she channeled her energy
into developing a local event to inspire and
interest girls in information technology. The
hope was this might entice them to take the
next step of enrolling in computer science
classes at school.The girls not only see the applications of technology, but see the faces of the people behind it were once young girls like them. “We invent, develop and utilize technology to solve the problems of the world AND we are the CEO’s of those businesses,” says Collier.
Computer Mania has grown – really grown. For the first few years, the event was held in a Howard County high school gymnasium, with Collier and her colleagues not only presenting to students, but also taking care of event logistics and serving pizza. It’s now under the auspices of University of Maryland Baltimore County’s Center for Women and Information Technology, reaches hundreds of top students in multiple counties, and has corporate sponsors like BGE, Lockheed Martin, Dow, Cisco, and ATT. It’s an idea that been franchised to other localities across the country, and Shirley Collier is not running the registration table as she has done in the past, but is Professor Emeritus of the event.
Last fall, Collier was invited to a United Nations symposium in Paris and participated in a strategic planning session regarding the under-representation of women in technology. “It was fascinating,” says Collier. “There were women from every continent – savvy, brilliant women.” Collier’s outreach to young women extended past stateside. After hearing about Computer Mania, a woman from Cameroon who was concerned about the lack of positive female role models for her daughter (who was working on her PhD in physics in the U.S) approached Collier. She asked, “Will you talk to my daughter?”
Other Pursuits
In addition to the Horizon Board and Computer Mania, Collier also serves on the Advisory Board at the Neotech Incubator, on the Superintendent’s Advisory Board on Business Partnerships and a new group called STEMBEC (Science, Technology Engineering & Math Business Education Coalition) and the Informatics Coalition. She volunteers and speaks at a number of events surrounding technology entrepreneurship at UMBC, Towson University, Howard Community College, the National Science Foundation and other colleges and institutions around the country to encourage the education and funding of technology innovation in our country.While Collier is professionally entrenched in technology and its applications, she has non-tech hobbies (gardening, playing golf, cooking and reading, to name a few.) She owns a small plane with her husband that they use to visit family spread out across the country. She is also working on a book about strong southern women.
Ironically, Collier and her husband live in a log house at the end of a dead end gravel road in Howard County (one of the last gravel roads in Howard County). “Someone actually asked if I live there year round,” she laughs. “Our neighbors have a variety of critters including sheep, monkeys (rescued from research labs), chickens and horses. We just have a dog. It is a nice contrast to our high tech careers.”