Bangladeshi computer scientist wins Elsevier award

Tanzima Hashem, an associate professor at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), is among five researchers who have been named winners of the 2017 Elsevier Foundation Awards for early-career women scientists in the developing world for their research in engineering, innovation and technology.

The computer science department teacher of BUET has developed “computational approaches” to protect the privacy of people accessing location-based services, wrote Asian Scientist, an information source of the Asian scientific community.

It mentioned that the award recognises her new and innovative solutions which allow citizens to have control over their personal and sensitive data on health, habits and whereabouts.

“This award gives me the confidence to fulfill my dream of making user-friendly technology to solve the specific challenges we face in the developing world,” Tanzima Hashem, a PhD, was quoted to have said.

In 2014, she took the initiative to arrange the first ever workshop for women in computing in Bangladesh, workshop which was described as a highly successful one on women empowerment through ICT.

Four other winning scholars are María Fernanda Rivera Velásquez of the Universidad Nacional de Chimborazo in Ecuador; Felycia Edi Soetaredjo of the Widya Mandala Catholic University Surabaya in Indonesia; Grace Ofori-Sarpong of the University of Mines and Technology in Ghana; and Rania Mokhtar of the Sudan University of Science and Technology.

“The determination, commitment and enthusiasm of these five women are an inspiration to us all, and especially to other women undertaking scientific research in developing countries,” said Jennifer Thomson, president of the Organisation for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD).

“This award celebrates their excellent science and demonstrates that their hard work has had an impact both regionally and internationally, despite the difficult local conditions.”

A panel of eminent scientists selected the winners, who will all receive $5,000 and all-expenses-paid trip to attend the 2017 AAAS annual meeting, provided by the Elsevier Foundation, according to the Asian Scientist report.