Thursday June 19, 2008
Katy Dickinson
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Thursday June 19, 2008
86 SEED Participants Selected
Late yesterday, I announced the selection of the 86 participants in the Sun Engineering Enrichment and Development (SEED) mentoring program for the 2008-2009 terms. The worldwide Sun-Engineering-wide selection took months of work in preparation by the SEED program staff and our partners in Sun Human Resources, plus the essential contributions of the applicants, their managers, and the recommenders.
We very much appreciate the time and trouble that everyone put into developing their SEED materials. Whether or not the applicant got into SEED this time, I know it takes a great deal of work to apply and the work is much appreciated! Thanks also to the SEED Selection Committees for their time in reviewing and picking the new participants!
Participants in the SEED program for the two terms which start in September 2008 were chosen based on professional performance and manager's recommendation, with consideration given to the other factors included in their applications. We picked two distinct groups yesterday:
- 23 September 2008-September 2009 Recent Hires (12 month term)
- 63 September 2008-March 2009 Established Staff (6 months)
The next steps for new participants is to create their 15-name Mentor Wish Lists and their personalized SEED web pages (for potential mentor review). Here are some general metrics on the new SEEDs:
Location of Participants
1 Australia, 1%
1 Canada, 1%
3 China, 3%
7 Czech Republic, 8%
1 Finland, 1%
1 France, 1%
2 Germany, 2%
5 India, 6%
2 Ireland, 2%
1 Israel, 1%
4 Italy, 5%
2 Japan, 2%
1 New Zealand, 1%
1 Russia, 1%
3 Spain, 3%
1 Sweden, 1%
2 Switzerland, 2%
4 UK, 5%
42 USA, 49%
7 Central USA, 8%
7 Eastern USA, 8%
28 Western USA, 33%
Division of Participants
4 CTO/Sun Labs, 5%
1 Marketing, 1%
10 Microelectronics, 12%
20 Sales & Services, 23%
34 Software Group, 40%
5 Storage Group, 6%
4 Systems Group, 5%
5 Worldwide Operations, 5%
Tanya Jankot and I have been answering happy emails ("I'm so happy to be a SEED participant. Thanks for your kind advice and great help!"), frustrated emails ("Need answers please!"), and requests for more information ("How come xxxxx didn't make it into the SEED program? Can you give me a call?"), or all three ("I am ecstatic that two of my direct reports, xxxxx (new hire) and xxxxx (established staff), made it through. However, I'm very disappointed that xxxxx, a star performer in my group, did not make it. I would definitely like to talk to you to understand the rationale for his not making it so that we can keep that in mind for future applications.") from applicants, managers, and recommenders. Lots and lots of emails...
More information on the SEED worldwide Engineering mentoring program is available at http://research.sun.com/SEED/
Posted at 01:37PM Jun 19, 2008 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business |
Wednesday June 18, 2008
Sun's Technology Advisory Board (TAB)
I usually write about my work here at Sun for the SEED worldwide Engineering mentoring program. Another of my programs is Sun's Technology Advisory Board or TAB, which I manage for Greg Papadopoulos (Sun's Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Research and Development).
What does TAB Do?
Since 2005, TAB has met several times a year to discuss key technical topics and trends, partnering to shape Sun's technological vision for future development and product plans. The role of a TAB member is to support Sun's CTO organization in making recommendations to the CTO and Chief Executive Officer, as well as to the Chairman of the Board and Sun's Board of Directors. Here they are at yesterday's meeting:
TAB in June 2008
L to R Standing: Greg Papadopoulos, Steve Ward
L to R Seated: Ivan Sutherland, Danny Hillis, Dave Patterson, Mike Splain
Who are They?
Image Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson
Posted at 10:01AM Jun 18, 2008 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business |
Monday June 16, 2008
High School IEP - Individualized Education Program
We held my son Paul's IEP today and I thought it might help other parents going through this annual special education ritual to read about it. Paul just finished his Sophomore (grade 10) year in High School here in the San Francisco Bay Area. An IEP or Individualized Education Program is a meeting and set of documents describing the interventions or accomodations which will support the unique educational needs of a particular disabled child. The IEP is essentially the record of what has happened during the prior year and what the school, teachers, parents, and child agree will help that child learn best within the school. (There are much more precise and complex ways to define an IEP, of course.) IEPs can be used in public or private schools. Paul attends public school.
Paul has had an IEP since about 2nd grade. When he was younger, the IEP focussed more on understanding and evaluating his disabilities and what services might help him. Now that Paul is almost 16, the IEP is more focussed on the resources and program needed to support Paul's more-or-less understood educational, social, and cognitive challenges.
Once, when Paul was worried that his IEP accomodations were not fair and that taking advantage of them was like cheating, one of the school administrators explained to him that he had to work so much harder and longer hours than most students because of his disabilities, the accomodations were to level the playing field so that he could compete in the mainstream school. This made good sense to Paul.
This morning, after weeks of preliminary discussions, nine of us met for the IEP. As he has matured, Paul himself has been increasingly consulted during his IEPs and he spoke at length several times during this meeting. We all left an hour and a half later with a twenty-ish page stack of papers but a short list of accomodations and course work for Paul's 2008-2009 (Junior) year in High School. Here is what we signed off on:
- Accomodations:
- Uses own laptop computer at school
- Access to school computer, printer access (while working at school)
- Extra time on exams and assignments, when pre-arranged with teacher
- Alternative setting for test taking, as needed (allowed same access to test instructions and question answering as other students taking that test)
- Possible that test can be read aloud if needed
- Classroom aide in English and History, transitional aide support in Geometry
- Homework log prepared by classroom aide
- Classroom Aide's Duties:
- Note taking assistance
- Collect papers distributed in class
- Facilitate turning in assignments
- Social diffusion (modeling)
- Completion of homework log
- Tentative 2008-2009 Course Work:
- Geometry
- Ceramics
- English
- U.S. History
- Physical Education
- Study Skills (2 periods)
This year (2007-2008), Paul took one more solid subject (Biology) along with Math, Art, English, History, and P.E. but he had only one Study Skills period. We all decided that since Paul recently passed his High School exit exam and has almost completed his required courses for graduation, the stress of a 4th solid wasn't worth it. We will find out in August which teachers are assigned to these classes and how Paul's schedule works out in detail.
Posted at 10:59PM Jun 16, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews |
Sunday June 15, 2008
Opera Girl
My 19-year-old daughter Jessica is in Washington D.C. (Indian Head, Maryland anyway) preparing to sing in her first professional opera on Tuesday night, as part of the Saltnote Stageworks festival this month. I think the first of the five shows in which she appears is Suor Angelica (Sister Angelica) by Giacomo Puccini. The roles keep shifting around but as of today Jessica is scheduled to play a combined role of The Mistress of Novices and the Abess in Suor Angelica. She is also in the chorus for Carmina Burana, Porgy & Bess (Concert Version), Mozart/Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, and she plays a Genii in Mozart's The Magic Flute. I am happy that Jessica is keeping up her blog so I know what is happening. It is very interesting reading about her working to develop her music and roles. Some of the video clips are amazing.
When Jessica called tonight, she sounded excited but very tired. We will talk more tomorrow night. Jessica talked about how hot is was and how big the bugs are. As she says, when rehearsing in an outdoor theater at night, the stage lights attract big bugs, and who is on the stage? The chorus! She liked bugs until they started flying into her face while she was singing Carmina Burana and could not get away.
We will be in Washington D.C. to hear Jessica sing later this month.
Posted at 10:06PM Jun 15, 2008 by katysblog in Home & Family |
MAGIC in Newsweek
On 21 May, I wrote about the new MAGIC girls' mentoring program working with The Girls' Middle School (GMS) in Mountain View, CA. Last week, I was pleased and surprised to find MAGIC mentioned in the June 16, 2008 issue of Newsweek in an article called "Revenge of the Nerdette". I knew about the article in advance because my daughter Jessica was interviewed for it (alas, she did not get mentioned). In fact, I wrote a blog entry on 10 April called "How to Talk with the Press" because Jessica called me for advice on that subject. (Jessica called from from Carnegie Mellon and left me a voice mail message, something like: "Mom, Mom Newsweek wants to interview me, what do I do?".)
"Revenge of the Nerdette" By Jessica Bennett and Jennie Yabroff is interesting and worth reading. MAGIC got mentioned in the last paragraph:
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Outreach programs such as TechBridge, an after-school workshop for middle- and high-school girls, and MAGIC (More Active Girls In Computing), a national mentoring program for aspiring computer scientists, are among the dozens of programs aimed at getting girls to think about futures in science and technology. The Nerd Girls also conduct weekly outreach: "We try to give them real examples of what engineers do," says Panetta. "You love watching special effects in 'Harry Potter'? That's an engineer. You like the iPhone? An engineer made that. Cheerleading? Dancing? How about sports engineering?" Because you know, girls: the geeks really are inheriting the earth.
We on the MAGIC core team are still forming the program. It is gratifying if strange to get such high visibility press so early. Not that I am complaining!
Posted at 09:39PM Jun 15, 2008 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business |
Friday June 13, 2008
Palo Alto High School
My son just finished his Sophomore year final exams at Palo Alto High School or "Paly". This was a tough year for Paul academically and we are all glad he is done and has the summer to recover. Paul has done homework and studied 4 to 6 hours a day after school (more on weekends) since September. He is one tired boy.
Paly is a large school (over 1,600 students) originally built in 1898. Here are some of the pictures I have taken there this year:
Paly Front Door
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Main hallway
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Oak outside window
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Stained glass
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100 Years of Graduates
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Paly Alley Sign
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Columned walkway
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Reluctant Photo Subject (Paul)
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Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson
Posted at 06:19PM Jun 13, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews |
SEED 2008-2009 mentoring terms status
Since the 9 June deadline, Tanya Jankot and I have worked with Sun's Human Resources records to review the 169 SEED applications which were submitted on time. 121 of the 169 were complete and verified by HR. Yesterday, I passed the 27 eligible Recent Hire (RH) applications to the 2008-2009 executive Selection Committee for review. The Recent Hire and Established Staff selections will be made and announced on 18 June.
There is a wide seniority range among the RH applicants: from Sun Grade 5 (Member of the Technical Staff 2) through Grade 13 (Director). This term, SEED has modified is scope and welcomed acquired staff as RH candidates within 9 months of their acquisition date.
The job of the RH Selection Committee is to sort the applications assigned to each of them into L-Low, M-Medium, or H-High buckets. Giving someone a H-High rating means that in the Selection Committee member's opinion, that person has a good potential over time to rise to the top of Sun Engineering's individual contributor or management ranks.
Why not accept them all? Because we have unfortunately found in prior terms that just meeting the basic SEED criteria does not mean an applicant can be expected to rise to the top of Sun Engineering's individual contributor or management ranks. If I am going to ask senior or executive Sun staff to accept a SEED mentee and spend a year coaching them, the mentee should be a rising star with potential for notable success in Sun Engineering.
Each SEED application is read independently by at least two Selection Committee members. Each member ends up reading about the same number of applications. The discussions are often around differences of interpretation (usually for an Applicant rated High by one and Low by another) and around how many Medium/Mediums to include to achieve an appropriate level of diversity among the Participants. Diversity is considered in terms of demographics, geographic work location, and professional area within Engineering (software, microelectronics, labs, storage, etc.). So long as they have one or more Medium/Medium (or higher) ranked Applicants, every Sun division gets at least one Applicant accepted.
After the selections are announced on 18 June, I will not tell RH applicants what rating they got (H, M, or L). However, I will tell their managers their staff member's rating if the manager calls to talk about it. I will not tell anyone who on the Selection Committee gave which rating. Some terms, 30 or more managers call to get specific information on the case of their staff members. I will not refer any managers to the Selection Committee.
More information on the SEED worldwide Engineering mentoring program is available at http://research.sun.com/SEED/
Posted at 05:45PM Jun 13, 2008 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business |
Thursday June 12, 2008
Working from caboose
Lately, with local gas prices being more than $4.50/gallon, I have been working from home several days a week rather than spending $20/day on gas. Or rather, I have been working from caboose. There are still many small projects to complete but after two years WP668, our backyard caboose, is now fully functional!
When I work from WP668, I have my 12-year-old cockatiel, Princess Birdie, for company at my desk. Here are some current caboose photos, by day and by night:
WP668 by day
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Bay window desk
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Princess Birdie
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WP668 by night
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WP668 by night
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Fake rock night light
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Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
Posted at 01:59AM Jun 12, 2008 by katysblog in Caboose Project and Other Trains |
Wednesday June 11, 2008
Fainting Couch
When I was very little, my mother bought a fainting couch. This is a 19th century backless couch with one raised end, suitable for a woman in full Victorian skirts to rest on when she felt faint (probably because she was wearing a corset). Sigmund Freud used something like a fainting couch for his patients. My mother initially used it in her living room but it eventually moved into her art studio as a model's stand. Last weekend, she gave it to me (and thus begins yet another project in my life).
The fainting couch is solidly built but shows its age. It needs repair and a new covering. It is Egyptian Eastlake in style, probably walnut over 125 years old. So far, we have taken it to the antique furniture workshop (for a preliminary review) and then to an upholsterer (to have the current covering removed before more work starts). By the end of the summer at the soonest, the fainting couch will be ready to move into our backyard caboose.
Look at the photos below to see why this couch is worth the trouble - note the greek key, papyrus flowers, and toes with claws carved and stamped into its legs and feet. This is an interesting and useful piece of furniture!
Studio couch (under a red sheet)
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Couch carving
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Couch carving
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View from the foot
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Side view
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Into the workshop
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Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson
Posted at 04:00PM Jun 11, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews |
Tuesday June 10, 2008
Cleaning up and Checking SEED Mentoring Applications
SEED's 2008-2009 Engineering mentoring program application web pages are now disabled. Today, Tanya and I reviewed and cleaned things up before passing a summary to Human Resources for information verification. HR will check dates of hire, titles, annual performance ratings, etc. I also declined many email requests from applicants and managers wanting to submit just one more document after the deadline. Cleaning up the application records takes time and can be complex: sometimes valid documents are misfiled (for example, by managers or executives who mis-type the identification number of the applicant they want to recommend), and sometimes parts of the forms (often the job title) are left blank, so we have to look up the information.
SEED received 169 applications by yesterday's deadline, of which 127 were known to be complete this morning. 4 more were completed today as a result of our cleanup. (I expect to see more completions as we continue to sort out document confusions.) This morning's preliminary total includes:
- Recent Hires: 45 applications, 29 complete
- Established Staff: 124 applications, 98 complete
Applicants were based in Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, P.R. China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the USA. SEED's selection committees meet on 18 June and announcements will be made immediately after.
More information on the SEED worldwide Engineering mentoring program is available at http://research.sun.com/SEED/
Posted at 10:29PM Jun 10, 2008 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business |
Monday June 09, 2008
Just Before Deadline - SEED mentoring application update
Today at midnight (in just over an hour) is the deadline for all 2008-2009 SEED application materials. I am still getting a steady flow of emails from applicants, managers, and recommenders with final submissions. I have been surprised to get several dozen new applications today - usually, the last day of the 20-day-long application period is dedicated to revisions and additional recommendations (polishing the apples rather than planting new trees). I received the most recent new application just over an hour ago.
The SEED mentoring program is accepting applications from Sun Engineering staff worldwide for its Recent Hire and Established Staff mentoring terms which will start in September 2008. (The next PreSEED term does not start until January 2009.) To date, we have received 169 SEED applications, 122 of which are complete. This total includes:
- Recent Hires: 45 applications, 28 complete
- Established Staff: 124 applications, 94 complete
More information on the SEED worldwide Engineering mentoring program is available at http://research.sun.com/SEED/
Posted at 10:44PM Jun 09, 2008 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business |
More cactus and other blooms
A few days ago, I wrote about our first big cactus bloom of the season. Here are some of its current competitors, big and small, for loveliest flower this week in my garden:
Crown of thorns Euphorbia
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Pink Comb Cactus
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White Climbing Rose
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Scarlet trumpet vine
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Prickly Pears and Flowers
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Pleiospilos nelli
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Cactus and Caboose
Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson
Posted at 10:18PM Jun 09, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews |
SEED mentoring application update
Today at midnight is the deadline for the 2008-2009 SEED applications. Until then, the SEED program is accepting applications from Sun Engineering staff worldwide for its Recent Hire and Established Staff mentoring terms which will start in September 2008. (The next PreSEED term does not start until January 2009.) To date, we have received 155 SEED applications, 84 of which are complete. This total includes:
- Recent Hires: 42 applications, 17 complete
- Established Staff: 113 applications, 67 complete
All materials are due today. In most terms, more SEED applications are disqualified because materials are submitted late or are incomplete than for any other reasons. SEED's application process is intended to collect information and also to provide an opportunity for applicants to demonstrate that they are good communicators, well thought of, organized, and can meet deadlines.
SEED has applications in so far from Sun Engineering staff working in Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, P.R. China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, the UK, and the USA. They work for Sun Labs, Microelectronics, Global Sales and Services, Software, Storage, Systems, and Worldwide Operations.
Tanya Jankot and I are exchanging many emails with applicants, managers, and recommenders. My SEED email file for June has 759 emails in it already! Extensive materials are available on our SEED web pages inside the Sun network. We have process documents (including flow charts, of course), FAQs for applicants, participants, and managers, best practices and how-to documents, and lists of participants and mentors since 2001. Tanya recently automated the web pages which list who has been a SEED or PreSEED participant from some of Sun's biggest non-US Engineering sites: 76 for Beijing and China, 120 for Bangalore and India, 37 for Prague Czech Republic, and 50 in St. Petersburg Russia. One of the best parts of managing this program is working with people from all over the world who share a passion for Engineering and Computer Science.
More information on the SEED worldwide Engineering mentoring program is available at http://research.sun.com/SEED/
Posted at 11:24AM Jun 09, 2008 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business |
Saturday June 07, 2008
Cactus Blooms
I have several cactus in bloom in my backyard now. One of them has been working up to opening all day. I have been watching that first huge bud swell and almost grow visibly every time I walked by. The new bloom is 9" across - bigger than my hand at full spread. There are many more buds - this will be the best year for flowers yet!
2 weeks ago
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4 days ago
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4 days ago
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This morning
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This morning
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This afternoon
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Before dinner
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After dinner
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After dinner
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After dinner
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Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher
Posted at 11:12PM Jun 07, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews |
SEED mentoring application update
The SEED program is now accepting applications from Sun Engineering staff worldwide for its Recent Hire and Established Staff terms which will start in September 2008. (The next PreSEED term does not start until January 2009.) To date, we have received 134 SEED applications, 55 of which are complete. This total includes:
- Recent Hires: 33 applications, 9 complete
- Established Staff: 101 applications, 46 complete
All materials are due by 9 June. In most terms, more SEED applications are disqualified because materials are submitted late or are incomplete than for any other reasons. SEED's application process is intended to collect information and also to provide an opportunity for applicants to demonstrate that they are good communicators, well thought of, organized, and can meet deadlines.
SEED has applications in so far from Sun Engineering staff working in Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, P.R. China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, the UK, and the USA. They work for Sun Labs, Microelectronics, Global Sales and Services, Software, Storage, Systems, and Worldwide Operations.
This weekend, Tanya Jankot and I are reviewing the applications for big problems as they come in: we try to get back to the applicant or their manager if there is something they can fix before the deadline. For example, if someone was hired in 2006 but they provide annual performance ratings for 2005, 2006, and 2007, this counts as a big problem that can be fixed (we revise the application to drop the 2005 rating).
More information on the SEED worldwide Engineering mentoring program is available at http://research.sun.com/SEED/
Posted at 09:43PM Jun 07, 2008 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business |
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