More and more we’re seeing evidence mount that diversity is, in and of itself, a beneficial quality to have in any workplace, including tech companies. Just within the Microsoft Research team, we’ve seen this evidence borne out: bringing together people from a wide variety of backgrounds, including women, minorities and people with disabilities, broadens perspectives and leads to new and fascinating technology applications and discoveries.
Recently we had the chance to celebrate and honor diversity in the workplace with other groups across the company at the 2015 ACM Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing, right here in Boston. This annual event brings together undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, researchers, and computing professionals of all backgrounds and ethnicities.
This year’s theme was “Diversity at Scale”, highlighting efforts that go beyond just talking about diversity and actually implementing a number of great ideas around increasing diversity in all aspects of computing. Our own Jennifer Chayes, director of Microsoft’s New England and New York research labs, participated, as did a number of other Microsoft employees.
For more details on the event, you can read the Microsoft Research Connections’ team blog post.