Google Student Blog

Rahul Nagvekar wins 2012 National Geographic Bee

2012-05-24T13:39:00.002-07:00

Cross-posted from the Google Lat Long Blog

Congratulations to 8th grader Rahul Nagvekar, who was just named the 2012 National Geographic Bee champion! Rahul is 14 years old and from Missouri City, Texas. It’s a good thing he has a passion for traveling, as this year’s winner receives a trip to the Galapagos Islands, in addition to a lifetime membership to the National Geographic Society and a $25,000 college scholarship. To get here today, Rahul has answered more than 300 geography-related questions since the Bee started at Quail Valley Middle School last fall.

This year, over four million students around the United States participated in the National Geographic Bee. Participants in the qualifying rounds were asked a variety of questions, ranging from locations of carnivorous plants, spider monkeys, natural disasters, soil types, language dialects, labor reforms, and glaciers. Participants must have a vast amount of knowledge in order to successfully answer questions on such diverse topics.

Physical, human, and cultural geography encompasses much of what takes place on our planet. These nine to fourteen year olds have a wealth of knowledge about the world that extends way beyond their years. The last question of this year’s final was: “Name the Bavarian City on the Danube River that was the legislative seat for the Holy Roman Empire from 1663-1806.” The winning answer is, of course, Regensburg, in Bavaria, Germany.

Google is once again proud to sponsor the National Geographic Bee. This contest highlights the importance of being geographically literate, a skill that is vital for all students. We are all explorers and must invest in understanding the world around us. Technology, like Google Earth, allows us to virtually visit any place on the planet so we can make those connections between people and their environment.

You can watch the 2012 National Geographic Bee tonight, Thursday, May 24th at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the National Geographic Channel and Nat Geo WILD. It will also air later on public broadcasting stations.

Congratulations to Rahul and all of the other state finalists!

Posted by Brian McClendon, VP of Engineering, Google Earth and Maps

The interns are here!

2012-05-24T10:31:00.001-07:00

That’s right. Summer interns are already descending upon our North America offices. This year we are welcoming a class of over 1,000 technical interns in Mountain View, New York, Seattle/Kirkland, and Cambridge just to name a few. As always, they are a mix of undergrad and graduate students working on some of our most critical projects and coming from a wide variety of backgrounds and universities.

We strive to deliver a world class internship experience where our technical interns are key players in our daily innovation. They have the opportunity to make big contributions as Software Engineers, Product Managers, User Experience Researchers, and in many other roles. Stay tuned for this year’s Diary of a Summer Intern series to hear straight from the source what it’s really like to intern at Google.

Posted by Jacqueline Pan, University & Intern Programs

Applications available for the inaugural Google Student Veterans Summit

2012-05-18T07:25:00.001-07:00

At Google, our goal is to create a diverse workplace that represents our users. We work in teams to do cool stuff that matters and know you do too. As a member of the Veteran community, you have demonstrated a commitment to the core values of impact and collaboration. We want to celebrate this commitment by giving you an opportunity to refine, build, and practice these skills at Google.

Up to 20 participants will be selected to attend an all-expense-paid Summit at Google’s Mountain View office from July 16th-July 17th. The inaugural Google Student Veterans Summit will include a professional development curriculum geared towards your transition into the workplace. Through networking opportunities with Google’s Veteran community and exposure to the business side of a technology company, you will gain access to Google’s culture of impact and collaboration.
Selection Process

To apply, students must:

Be currently enrolled in a 4-year BA/BS program, in any major, at a university in the United States OR matriculate into a United States MBA Program in the Fall of 2012.
Must have served in one of the following United States Military Services: Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, or Navy.

You can apply through our Programs & Scholarships site by May 31st, 2012 at 11:59pm (PST). All decisions will be communicated to applicants in June 2012.

Posted by Mala Tejwani, University Programs

Covering all your codebases: A conversation with a Software Engineer in Test

2012-05-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

Today we’re featuring Sabrina Williams, a Software Engineer in Test who joined Google in August 2011. Software Engineers in Test undertake a broad range of challenges on a daily basis, designing and building intelligent systems that can explore various use cases and scenarios for distributed computing infrastructure. Read on to learn more about Sabrina’s path to Google and what she works on now that she’s here!

Tell us about yourself and how you got to Google.
I grew up in rural Prunedale, Calif. and went to Stanford where I double-majored in philosophy and computer science. After college I spent six years as a software engineer at HP, working primarily on printer drivers. I began focusing on testing my last two years there—reading books, looking up information and prototyping test tools in my own time. By the time I left, I’d started a project for an automated test framework that most of our lab used.

I applied for a software engineering role at Google four years ago and didn’t do well in my interviews. Thankfully, a Google recruiter called last year and set me up for software engineer (SWE) interviews again. After a day of talking about testing and mocking for every design question I answered, I was told that there were opportunities for me in SWE and SET. I ended up choosing the SET role after speaking with the SET hiring manager. He said two things that convinced me. First, SETs spend as much time coding as SWEs, and I wanted a role where I could write code. Second, the SETs job is to creatively solve testing problems, which sounded more interesting to me than writing features for a product. This seemed like a really unique and appealing opportunity, so I took it!

So what exactly do SETs do?
SETs are SWEs who are really into testing. We help SWEs design and refactor their code so that it is more testable. We work with test engineers (TEs) to figure out how to automate difficult test cases. We also write harnesses, frameworks and tools to make test automation possible. SETs tend to have the best understanding of how everything plays together (production code, manual tests, automated tests, tools, etc.) and we have to make that information accessible to everyone on the team.

What project do you work on?
I work on the Google Cloud Print team. Our goal is to make it possible to print anywhere from any device. You can use Google Cloud Print to connect home and work printers to the web so that you (and anyone you share your printers with) can access them from your phone, tablet, Chromebook, PC or any other supported web-connected device.

What advice would you give to aspiring SETs?
First, for computer science majors in general: if there’s any other field about which you are passionate, at least minor in it. CS is wonderfully chameleonic in that it can be applied to anything. So if, for example, you love art history, minor in art and you can write software to help restore images of old paintings.

For aspiring SETs, challenge yourself to write tests for all of the code you write for school. If you can get an internship where you have access to a real-world code base, study how that company approaches testing their code. If it’s well-tested, see how they did it. If it’s not well-tested, think about how you would test it. I don’t (personally) know of a CS program that has even a full course based on testing, so you’ll have to teach yourself. Start by looking up buzzwords like “unit test” and “test-driven development.” Look up the different types of tests (unit, integration, component, system, etc.). Find a code coverage tool (if a free/cheap one is available for your language of choice) and see how well you’re covering your code with your tests. Write a tool that will run all of your tests every time you build your code. If all of this sounds like fun...well...we need more people like you!

If you’re interested in applying for a Software Engineer in Test position, please apply for our general Software Engineer position, then indicate in your resume objective line that you’re interested in the SET role.

Posted by Jessica Safir, University Programs

And the 2012 Model Your Town winner is…

2012-05-15T09:24:00.002-07:00

Cross-posted from the Google Lat-Long Blog

Getaria, Gipuzkoa, Spain!

Over the past several months, hundreds of teams from all over the world have submitted stunning geo-models for our Google Model Your Town Competition. These examples of pure 3D civic pride are breathtaking to behold. Difficult as it was, the SketchUp team managed to pick six finalists, after which we asked the general public to vote for their favorite collection of models. Tens of thousands of you weighed in, and the talented team from the north of Spain were victorious. Zorionak! (That’s “Congratulations!” in Basque.)

Want to see how they won? Take a look at Team Getaria’s collection in the 3D Warehouse, pop over to our winners’ page, and watch this video to see their astounding work:

The winning team is a dynamic duo: Josetxo Perez Fernandez, 36, is a professional who works in computer administration; and Pedro Domecq Aguirre, 45, is a programmer, 3D data specialist and network administrator. Those are their day jobs, anyway. It turns out that they’re actually world-class, polygon-wrangling, texture-mapping, megabyte-optimizing, geo-modeling superheroes. And now they’re bona fide local heroes, too. Thanks to them, millions of people across the globe can now get familiar with the beautiful little town of Getaria.

The beautiful coastline of Getaria

Not only that, but we’ll also be awarding US$25,000 to a local school and hosting a celebration with the town of Geteria in honor of Pedro's and Josetxo's accomplishment.

Getaria Lighthouse on Mount San Antón

Zorionak to the winning town, to the other five finalists, and to all the other entrants who collectively modeled almost 25,000 local landmarks that are now available for all to enjoy in Google Earth’s 3D Buildings layer. The virtual world is a richer place thanks to your efforts, and the real one is a lot better off, too.

Posted by Allyson McDuffie, SketchUp Team

Announcing the 2012 Google HCF Scholars

2012-05-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

As part of our commitment to diversity in computer science, since 2006, Google has partnered with the Hispanic College Fund (HCF) to provide scholarships for Hispanic students who are pursuing degrees in computer science and related fields.

Congratulations to this year’s recipients of the 2012 Google Hispanic College Fund (HCF) Scholarship:

Google HCF Scholars will receive a $10,000 scholarship for the 2012-2013 school year and will be invited to attend the annual Google Scholars’ Retreat held at the Googleplex in Mountain View, California this June.

Juan Alvarez Alanis, The University of Texas - Pan American
Rosangela Arlequin, Kean University
Guillermo Diaz, California State University - Sacramento
Lorenzo Gomez, University of California - Los Angeles
Raul Gutierrez, Stanford University
Angel Hernandez, University of California - Los Angeles
Jorge Horcasitas, Kettering University
Stephen Laplante, University of Washington - Seattle Campus
Tylor Louis, University of California - Los Angeles
Jose Navarro, Eastern Washington University
Oliver Nina, University of Central Florida
Laura Pina, University of California - San Diego
Daniel Rincon, University of Florida
Ivan Ruiz, University of California - Santa Cruz
Lesly Sandoval, Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus
Wendy Sepulveda, The University of Texas at Austin

Find out more about Google’s Scholarship Programs at http://www.google.com/jobs/scholarships.

Posted by Azusa Liu, Talent & Outreach Programs

Google Online Marketing Challenge: Learning Series recap

2012-05-08T16:14:00.002-07:00

We just wrapped up a three part Learning Series for the Google Online Marketing Challenge, via Google+ Hangouts On Air. Each broadcast highlighted the fundamentals of setting up successful AdWords campaigns, how to use the data to optimize your marketing efforts and gave tips on how to utilize Google+ for your businesses. For those who aren’t participating in this year’s Challenge, the videos are a good introduction as to what the competition is all about-- and maybe you’ll choose to rally a group of classmates together to participate next year!

Part 1: Growing your business with Google+

Part 2: AdWords Fundamentals

Part 3: Measuring your success

You can learn more about the Google Online Marketing Challenge at www.google.com/onlinechallenge.

Posted by Bryan Gomez-wong, Google Online Marketing Challenge

Announcing the winners of the first Google SVA Scholarship for Student Veterans

2012-05-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

As announced earlier this year, we launched the Google Student Veterans of America (SVA) Scholarship in partnership with SVA to support student veterans in their pursuit of a degree in computer science and related fields.

Today, we are excited to announce the recipients of the scholarship:

Bryan Grounds, University of California, San Diego
Maxwell Perez, University of Colorado-Boulder
Matthew Burns, University of California, San Diego
Mathew Ryden, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Eric Parsons, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Harry Rybacki, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Phelan Vendeville, University of Vermont
Steve Hohman, Fayetteville State University

Google SVA Scholars will receive a $10,000 academic scholarship for the 2012-2013 school year and will be invited to attend the annual Google Scholars’ Retreat held at the Googleplex in Mountain View, CA this June.

Find out more about Google’s Scholarship programs at http://www.google.com/jobs/scholarships.

Posted by Azusa Liu, Talent & Outreach Programs

Announcing the first class of Generation Google Scholars

2012-05-03T14:05:00.004-07:00

Earlier this year, we announced the launch of the Generation Google Scholarship to support students who are underrepresented in computer science throughout their undergraduate education.

We are excited to announce the first class of Generation Google Scholars, who are all high school seniors and will be attending a university in the Fall of 2012:

Jiexi Cao, Harvey Mudd College
George Claghorn, University of Pittsburgh
Erin King, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Kaitlyn Lee, University of Southern California
Jenny Lin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Emma Meersman, Harvey Mudd College
Rachel Mellon, Stanford University
Sabrina Shemet, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Samantha Swartz, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Yjaden Wood, Northwestern University

Generation Google Scholars will receive a $10,000 academic scholarship for up to four years or until graduation, and will be invited to attend Google’s Computer Science Summer Institute this summer.

Find out more about Google’s Scholarship programs at http://www.google.com/jobs/scholarships.

Posted by Azusa Liu, Talent & Outreach Programs

70 young women recognized as Google Anita Borg Memorial scholars

2012-05-02T13:18:00.001-07:00

Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog

The Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship honors the memory of Dr. Anita Borg, who devoted her life to encouraging the presence of women in computing and founded the Institute for Women in Technology in 1997. Anita passed away in 2003, and we created the Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship in 2004 to honor her memory. Anita’s legacy lives on today through this scholarship and the organization she created, which has since been re-named the Anita Borg Institute for Women in Technology.

This year we’d like to recognize and congratulate the 70 Google Anita Borg Memorial scholars and the 79 Google Anita Borg Memorial finalists, all of whom attend universities in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East or Africa. These students will attend the annual Google Scholars Retreat this summer, where they will have the opportunity to attend tech talks on Google products, network with other scholars and participate in social activities. Students from the U.S. and Canada will attend the retreat in Mountain View, Calif., and students from Europe, the Middle East and Africa will attend the retreat in Zurich, Switzerland.

Here’s a full list of this year’s scholars and finalists along with the institutions they attend. In the coming months, we’ll also announce the recipients of the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship in Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

For more information on all our scholarships, visit the Google Scholarships site.

Posted by Jenny McColl, University Programs Specialist

Google Online Marketing Challenge Learning Series: Measuring your success

2012-04-30T08:40:00.000-07:00

We hosted our second GOMC Learning Series session last week and walked through the fundamentals of setting up successful AdWords campaigns. As participants approach the final weeks of the competition, we will be hosting our third and final Hangout on Air on Wednesday, May 2nd at 2:15PM PT (find your time here) on measuring and optimizing the performance of your AdWords campaigns once they’ve been running for a week or two.

If you have questions that you would like answered, we encourage you to submit them via Google+ or Twitter using the hashtag #GOMCseries or by completing the form here. We’ll collect a list of questions and answer them live during the Hangout on Air next week. Keep the questions coming!

Details:

GOMC Learning Series: AdWords Fundamentals
Wednesday, May 2nd
2:15 p.m. PST
Google Students Google+ Page

Tune in by visiting the Google Students Google+ page. The Hangout will be posted to our YouTube channel shortly after. Hope to see you all there!

Posted by Bryan Gomez-Wong and AJ Pascua, GOMC Team

Google partners with CRA-W for 2012 Graduate Cohort

2012-04-26T15:32:00.000-07:00

Google was recently a sponsor of the 2012 CRA-W Graduate Cohort. This two day workshop is for women in graduate school in Computer Science or a related field. The goal is to increase the ranks of senior women in computing by building and mentoring communities of women through their graduate studies.

This unique event welcomes new women graduate students into the community of computing researchers and professionals by providing them with a broad range of strategies and role models. Students met for two days on topics such as grad school survival skills to how to interview for a technical job. The workshops included a mix of formal presentations and informal discussions and social events.

Google has sponsored this event for several years now in an effort to support the CRA community to increase the number of women participating in Computer Science and Engineering research and education at all levels. Three software engineers from our Seattle/Kirkland office also presented during the conference in six different workshops, including Dana Zhang ("Master’s vs. PhD: Which one to Choose?" and "PhD Job Search"), Lamia Youseff ("Being a Woman in Computing" and "PhD Non-Academic Career Paths"), and Frances Perry ("Summer Internships" and "MS Job Search & Resume Writing Clinic").

Over 70 women presented their research at the annual poster show, developing their presentation skills while engaging with each other and representatives from sponsor companies. The topics ranged from "Modeling and Enhancing Android’s Permission System" to "Bringing Computer Science Education to Low and No-Technology Communities". The poster session was followed by a reception sponsored by Google and Microsoft Research.

A report from the National Science Foundation in 2011 reported findings that show that Grad Cohort has a positive impact on the graduate students who participate. The study relevant to Grad Cohort sought comparison data from students completing their graduate degree in computing between September 1, 2010 and August 31, 2011. Past Grad Cohort participants were recruited to participate in this survey.

Some key findings in the first year of this ongoing study are:

Participants completing their degrees seem to have stronger professional networks than nonparticipants
When asked to rate their knowledge of strategies for developing their professional networks, 87% of PhD participants rate themselves as knowing “some” or “quite a bit” compared to 67% of the PhD nonparticipants
For those completing master’s degrees, 85% of participants rated themselves as knowing “some” or “quite a bit” compared to 70% of nonparticipants.

In terms of how they put this knowledge into practice:

About 71% of PhD participants, compared to 37% of PhD nonparticipants, have served on departmental, conference, or professional society committees at least once in their graduate careers.
64% of PhD participants report conferences as a significant source of job information, compared to 31% of nonparticipants.
92% of MS participants compared to 48% of nonparticipants said that they learned about available jobs from their professional networks

Overall, the event was a wonderful celebration of all the attendees' graduate studies and research. The Grad Cohort was filled with mingling with other graduate students, networking with sponsor representatives and culminated in a dance party extravaganza.

We really enjoyed meeting everyone at the conference and wish them continued success.

Posted by Hal Marz, University Programs Specialist

Google scholarships recognize 87 computer science students in Europe, Middle East, and Africa

2012-04-24T09:04:00.000-07:00

The Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship honors the memory of Dr. Anita Borg, who devoted her life to encouraging the presence of women in computing and founded the Institute for Women in Technology in 1997. The Google Europe Scholarship for Students with Disabilities aims to help dismantle barriers that keep students with disabilities from entering computing, encourages them to excel in their studies and become active role models and leaders in creating technology.

This year we’d like to recognize and congratulate the 40 Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholars, 10 Google Scholarship for Students with Disabilities Scholars and the 37 Google Anita Borg Memorial Finalists, all of whom attend universities in Europe, the Middle East or Africa.

Here is a full list [PDF] of this year’s Scholars and Finalists, along with the universities they attend.

These students will attend the annual Google EMEA Scholars’ Retreat this summer, where they will have the opportunity to attend tech talks on Google products, network with other scholars and participate in social activities. The retreat will be held in June in the Google Zurich office, Switzerland.

To find out more about how the scholarships and retreat have impacted the lives of others, take a look at the following two videos:

For more information on all our scholarships and programs, visit the Google Students site.

Posted by Jenny McColl, University Programs

Announcing the 2012 Google Anita Borg Scholarship: Asia

2012-04-22T17:00:00.000-07:00

Dr. Anita Borg devoted her life to revolutionizing the way we think about technology and dismantling the barriers that keep women and minorities from entering the computing and technology fields. In honor of Anita's vision, we established the Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship in 2004, awarding scholarships to women who share her passion for technology. Once again, we’re proud to announce the Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship in Asia. The deadline to apply for the 2012 scholarship is June 3, 2012.

The 2011 Google Anita Borg Scholarship Recipients and Finalists

The Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship: Asia is open to current female students who are enrolled in full-time undergraduate or postgraduate study at an university in any of the following countries: Korea, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam. Students should be enrolled in a computer science, computer engineering or a closely related technical program, and maintain a record of strong academic performance.

This year, we will be expanding our efforts by inviting all scholarship recipients to visit a Google office in Singapore for a networking retreat where students will be able to meet fellow scholars from all over the Asia Pacific region. This includes students from the eight countries listed above as well the from Australia, China Mainland, Taiwan, India, and New Zealand. The retreat will include workshops with a series of speakers, panels, breakout sessions and social activities, and will provide an opportunity to meet and share experiences.

For those of you outside the countries listed above, the Google Anita Borg Scholarship program is also available in Africa, Australia, Canada, China Mainland, Taiwan, India, Europe, the Middle East, New Zealand, and the United States.

We look forward to receiving your application!

Posted by the Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship Asia Team

Google Online Marketing Challenge Learning Series: AdWords Fundamentals

2012-04-18T05:45:00.001-07:00

Introduction: The Google Online Marketing Challenge is a global competition providing students with the opportunity to learn about online marketing by using Google AdWords. Our first GOMC Hangout on Air provided general information about the Challenge, and we have decided to create a Learning Series to help students successfully compete in all aspects of the Competition!

Last week we hosted our first GOMC Learning Series and discussed how to incorporate Google+ Business Pages as part of your team’s online advertising strategy. Join us for our second Hangout on Air next Tuesday where we will cover the AdWords side of the competition and give your team some tips to set up a successful AdWords campaign.

If you have questions that you would like answered, we encourage you to submit them via Google+ or Twitter using the hashtag #GOMCseries or by completing the form here. We’ll collect a list of questions and answer them live during the Hangout on Air next week!

Details:

GOMC Learning Series: AdWords Fundamentals
Tuesday, April 24th
12:30 p.m. PST
Google Students Google+ Page

Tune in by visiting the Google Students Google+ page. The Hangout will be posted to our YouTube channel shortly after. Hope to see you all there!

Posted by Bryan Gomez-Wong and Anndrea Moore, GOMC Team

Hangout on Air with Research at Google - Live in Lyon from WWW 2012

2012-04-16T07:10:00.000-07:00

Googlers are taking an active part in the ongoing dialogue with the research community at the World Wide Web (WWW) conference, happening this week in Lyon, France. While we’ve been a member and supporter of the community for years, we’re excited to bring the research at Google discussion to Google Plus for the first time. This Wednesday, April 18 at 16:30 CET, members of our technical team will be hosting a Hangout on Air live from the Google Booth at WWW.

Tune in at Google Students page on Google+. Our technical team is taking on topics like the interplay between engineering and research required for product innovation and tips on how to be a well-rounded researcher.

We’re taking your questions too about research at Google and Google at WWW -- the very conference to which Larry and Sergey published their paper on PageRank more than a decade ago. Submit your questions (and vote on others) on the WWW 2012 Google Moderator page or via Google+ using the hashtag #GoogleWWW2012 in a publicly shared post.

After the conference, we’ll add video of the discussion to the Hangouts On Air playlist on the Google Students YouTube channel.

Posted by Marni Levasseur, People Programs Specialist, Europe Middle East & Africa

Google Android Camp for computer science students studying in Europe

2012-04-10T01:00:00.000-07:00

At Google, we are committed to helping the innovators of the future make the most of their gifts. We also believe open source development is a very useful and accessible way for passionate students to get involved with Computer Science in a practical and rewarding manner.

With this in mind we are excited to expand the Google Android Camp programme to launch in Europe for 2012. Up to 25 current first and second year undergraduate students will be selected to attend the all-expense-paid Android Camp at Google’s London office from August 12th - 18th, 2012. The Android Camp will include interactive and collaborative curriculum focusing on a practical introduction to developing applications for Android and will explore the concepts behind Android, the framework for constructing an application, and the tools for developing, testing, and publishing software for the platform. Students will also get the opportunity to enjoy technical talks by Googlers, and social activities around London.

Where can I apply? Visit this site to learn more about the program and apply before the April 15, 2012 deadline.

When is Android Camp? Android Camp will begin on Sunday, August 12th and will run until Saturday, August 18th.

I want to know more! To learn more about Android Camp and to submit your application, please visit our website. You can also read about the US Android Camp from a previous year here.

Posted by Jenny McColl, University Programmes Specialist

Tune in to this week's broadcast to learn about the Engineering Trainee Summer Program

2012-04-09T00:00:00.000-07:00

Updated on April 13, 2012: Correct application deadline listed

Last month we launched the application for the Engineering Trainee Summer Program in Europe. This is a brand new program (modeled after North America’s Engineering Practicum), which will last for 10 weeks over the Summer from July to September with opportunities available in London, Munich and Krakow. The program is targeted at future computer scientists and software developers, particularly those who are historically underrepresented in the field.

Engineering Trainee program qualifications

Be studying Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Informatics, or a closely related technical field.
Have completed your first year of Bachelors studies by Summer 2012
Have programming experience in either Java, Python, C, or C++
Be available between 2nd July - 7th September 2012

With the deadline fast approaching (April 27th), we wanted to give you the opportunity to learn more about what the Trainee Program has to offer, the recruitment process and how to apply. Please join myself and Farrah Djohan, another recruiter here in London, during a Hangout On Air on Friday, April 13th at 4:30 pm London time (http://goo.gl/PHNnH) to learn more. Want to know more about the intern recruitment process in Europe as well? We will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Submit your questions on Google+ using the hashtag #ETSPhangout.

Posted by Kerry Lale, Technical Campus Recruiter, EMEA

Celebrating six students receiving the AP-Google Journalism & Technology Scholarship

2012-04-05T15:10:00.002-07:00

Cross-posted from the Official Google Blog

Last summer, we announced a joint scholarship program for aspiring journalists with the Associated Press, administered by the Online News Association. Congratulations to the six students who will each be receiving $20,000 to pursue degrees that lie at the intersection of journalism, computer science and new media:

Emily Eggleston, 24, graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, studying journalism and geography.
Reginald James, 30, undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, studying political science and African American studies.
Katie Zhu, 20, undergraduate at Northwestern University, studying computer science and journalism.
Rebecca Rolfe, 25, graduate student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, studying digital media.
Kevin Schaul, 20, undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota, studying journalism and computer science.
John Osborn, 29, graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, studying journalism.

These students have big plans that range from producing hyperlocal data-driven stories, to developing open-source apps that allow for democratic news gathering and greater collaboration, to data visualization for current events and entertainment, to producing political news games and teaching journalists how to code.

We hope these scholarship winners, and their future projects, inspire the broader journalism community to keep rethinking how to report and share stories through new technologies.

For all undergraduate and graduate students already brainstorming ideas for next year, read more about the application process and eligibility on the scholarship program’s website. Thank you to the Associated Press and the Online News Association for making this scholarship program possible, and we look forward to seeing the impact these students have in their communities and in journalism.

Posted by Sean Carlson, Global Communications & Public Affairs

Google Online Marketing Challenge Learning Series: Google+ & Social Media Award!

2012-04-04T15:58:00.000-07:00

Introduction: The Google Online Marketing Challenge is a global competition providing students with the opportunity to learn about online marketing by using Google AdWords. Our first GOMC Hangout on Air provided general information about the Challenge, and we have decided to create a Learning Series to help students successfully compete in all aspects of the Competition!

Has your team created a Google+ Business Page for your partnering company to compete for the Social Media Award? Traditionally, the Google Online Marketing Challenge has provided students the opportunity to partner with an organization to use AdWords for online marketing. For the 2012 Challenge, we introduced a new award, the Social Media Award, to enable students to incorporate social as another means for effective online advertising by creating Google+ Business Pages for their partnering businesses. We understand that some student teams may not be too familiar with Google+, so we will be covering what it is and how it works in our first GOMC Learning Series Hangout on Air!

If you have questions you’d like answered, we encourage you to submit them via Google+ or Twitter using the hashtag #GOMCseries or by completing the form here. We’ll collect a list of questions and answer them live during the Hangout on Air next week!

Details:

GOMC Learning Series: Google+ & Social Media Award
Monday, April 9
1:00 p.m. PST
Google Students Google+ Page

Tune in by visiting the Google Students Google+ page and as always, the Hangout will be posted to our YouTube channel shortly after. Hope to see you there!

Posted by Anndrea Moore & Bryan Gomez-wong, GOMC Team

Last chance to apply! BOLD Immersion Program for Freshmen

2012-04-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

The Building Opportunities for Leadership & Development (BOLD) Diversity Immersion Program for Freshmen is designed to provide exposure into the technology industry for students who are historically under-represented in this field. Google invites current undergraduate first years to apply for a unique summer experience over four days at Google’s Headquarters in Mountain View in early August. The BOLD Immersion Program for Freshmen will provide participants with a rare glimpse into the technology industry; career opportunities at Google; and valuable professional and peer networks. We encourage students to take a chance and discover what it's like to work at a technology company, particularly those who are pursuing non-technical degrees.

This summer experience includes an all expense-paid trip to Google’s Mountain View Headquarters and a robust program including tech talks, skill-building seminars, and of course, fun! We will have social activities, community and network building, and the opportunity to develop relationships with not only peers, but Googlers as well.

Hear about it from the mouth of a past participant here!

Current Freshmen can apply through our Scholarships & Programs site by Friday 4/6 at 11:59pm PST. The BOLD Immersion application consists of a general application, a resume, a short essay, and a reference letter that need to be completed by April 20th.

Posted by Demian Caponi, University Programs: Road Warrior

Google Model Your Town 2012: Vote for the winner!

2012-04-02T09:34:00.000-07:00

Cross-posted from the SketchUp Blog

The 212 teams that participated in this year’s Google Model Your Town Competition produced thousands of models, the vast majority of which were jaw-droppingly, heart-stoppingly, mind-bogglingly gorgeous. Narrowing down the field to six finalists was a gut wrenching affair, but it had to be done. In alphabetical order, the finalist teams for 2012 are:

Evansville, Indiana, United States | Evansville’s collection of models
Modeler: Randall Crane

Getaria, Gipuzkoa, Spain | Getaria’s collection of models
Modelers: Josetxo Perez Fernandez, Pedro Domecq Aguirre

Leominster, Herefordshire, United Kingdom | Leominster’s collection of models
Modeler: Tom Harvey

Lowell, Massachusetts, United States | Lowell’s collection of models
Modeler: Beryl Reid

Toruń, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Poland | Toruń’s collection of models
Modelers: Arkadiusz Pawlowski, Górniak Grzegorz

Zielona Góra, Lubuskie, Poland | Zielona Góra’s collection of models
Modeler: Tomasz Szular

This video provides an aerial, musical tour of each of the six finalists’ models in situ. Make some popcorn and enjoy.

It’s voting time!

It’s up to you (and the rest of the world) to pick an overall winner. We’ve created separate one-minute video tours for each town, as well as KML files that you can download to see the models in Google Earth. Peruse the entries, then vote for your favorite. You have until May 1st, 2012 to cast your ballot.

Congrats and thanks to everyone who entered—this year’s models were truly amazing.

Posted by Allyson McDuffie, Google SketchUp Team

Last chance to apply! Google AdCamp for current college sophomores

2012-03-30T11:21:00.000-07:00

At Google, we are committed to helping students explore career opportunities that align with their passions and strengths. With this in mind, our team is pleased to offer the inaugural summer of Google AdCamp.

Up to 30 current college sophomores will be selected to participate in the all-expense-paid program at Google New York from June 24-27, 2012. AdCamp will include a collaborative curriculum focused on our advertising sales operations, Google products and advertising solutions, and insight in the advertising industry. AdCamp participants will get the opportunity to connect with Googlers and Google interns, compete in a case competition, and build a peer network through social events.

Current sophomores can apply through our Scholarships & Programs site by TODAY, Friday 3/30 at 11:59pm PST. The Google AdCamp application consists of a general application, a resume, and a short essay.

Posted by Kira Chappelle, University Programs

Think Biggy: How one Google Student Ambassador in Sub-Saharan Africa brought his community online

2012-03-30T08:06:00.000-07:00

Introduction: Emmanuel Abiodun Adepoju, otherwise known as “Biggy” on campus, is a Google Student Ambassador from University of Ibadan in Nigeria. He is currently pursuing a B.SC in computer science. Biggy’s ability to think “big” has not only allowed him to be a successful Student Ambassador but has given him tools and resources to have a profound impact on his community.

We recently caught up with Biggy and learned more about his journey from a Google Student Ambassador to most recently being named a Google Mapping Advocate for Nigeria.

What inspired you to apply to the Google Ambassador program?
Before I applied, my university was actually not involved with the Ambassador program. In fact, at that time, my university’s internet connection was near dead. If it wasn’t completely down, it was then super slow. It was also only accessible to university lecturers and not students. This was a big challenge, but it didn’t stop me from applying.

I have always believed in making my community better in my own little way. My major inspiration for applying to be a Google Student Ambassador was to do exactly this - to help my fellow peers in the area of technology.

Once selected as an Ambassador, what did you do?
Aside from being super excited because this was a dream come true, it was also a time of deep reflection for me. I became very focused on how I could make the best use of the opportunity that was given to me.

Immediately following the announcement, the Vice-Chancellor of my university sent a congratulatory message from his office stating clearly that he would support me to carry out my functions properly. With all the support and the accolades I was getting, I knew that if I was going to work hard, I could make a big difference on my campus.

How did you help your university community? For example, the students, the faculty, the university as whole?

Immediately following my acceptance, so much changed! Now that I became a Google representative on campus, I changed the way I carried myself. I even started dressing nicer. :) But the real focus was - how I was going to make an impact.

During the Ambassador orientation in Lagos I discovered the Google Apps supporting program which I never knew about since my university was not involved with at the time. I knew I had to convince my university to adopt this program as so many students could benefit from these free tools. After some convincing and hard work, deployment of Google Apps for Education is now in progress.

In the last couple of months I have led campaigns for a better IT structure at my university and this has yielded great results. They promised to invest more funds into our technology infrastructure and also restructure the whole IT policy. I was also chosen to be a member of the University Information Technology Board, which is the highest decision making body for university technology structure and I happen to be the first student to be on this board since its inception a few years ago.

I introduced Google Apps for Education to the university lecturers so they could see for themselves all the free tools available such as Gmail, Calendar and Docs. I have also taken time to introduce lecturers to some of the opportunities Google provides in form of scholarships, research grants and especially the Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship for women in technology.

After getting all this in place, I realized there was so much more I wanted to do as an Ambassador, I knew I couldn’t do it on my own. So I created a G-TEAM on my campus. In just a few months, we accomplished the following:

We were able to create a geographic mapping of our university online. The map was put on a Google map and now the public can access online. This map was acclaimed to be the world best practice guide of University mapping.
We were able to train more than 40 Student Mappers who are currently impacting their environment by mapping their communities.
We were able to produce a very vibrant team in the Google online marketing challenge. Our team was one of 8 universities from Sub Saharan Africa which placed in the top 100 globally.
We were able to get our fellow students to attend g|nigeria, an annual Google hosted event for developers and entrepreneurs. This year alone, more than 60 students from my university attended as a result of the awareness we created.

How did the Ambassador program give you the necessary tools to help your university?

I was taught how to use the Google Map Maker at the Google Ambassador orientation in Lagos. The training has enabled me to also train a group of people which in turn has helped them train others and the cycle goes on and on resulting in more Map Maker users.

The training was a wonderful experience which gave birth to the Mapping party held at the University of Ibadan. Every student that participated was issued a Google Map Maker certificate. This was also celebrated by the school management who in turn organized a dinner in honor of the participants. Today the students can hold their head up high and say they learned something beneficial outside their regular school curriculum.

Before my appointment as a Google Student Ambassador, the University of Ibadan had never attended g|nigeria. After learning how g|days are a great opportunity to keep students and professionals up to speed on the latest technology trends and innovations, I convinced the Head of the Computer Science Department to allow students to attend the conference. It was so successful that it’s now a tradition in the department to send students to the conference every year.

How did this have an impact on your local community?

The University of Ibadan mapping exercise has put the University of Ibadan local community on Google maps. Navigation is now an easy thing in the community. A Google business analyst confirmed this when he visited the Computer Science department at the University of Ibadan during the grand finale of the MIT Accelerating Information Technology Innovation program, even our MIT visitors used it during their stay here. The report we submitted for the mapping exercise has become the leading practice guide for universities. This report was the brain behind Google Map Makerpedia - community generated-learning portal for Google map maker featuring lessons, tutorials and use cases around the world, today other mappers now go to the portal to learn from our experience and also also get to share their own experience to the mapping community.

Additionally, after the report was published on Google Map Makerpedia, the Ondo state government in Nigeria invited me to coordinate the mapping of their state. This is still a work in progress.

How has this program impacted your life?
I kid you not when I say this opportunity literally changed my life. I have always considered myself to be quite motivated and entrepreneurial, but for the first time, through the Google Student Ambassador program, I felt that I had the right tools to go out there and make a real impact.

Being a Student Ambassador brought me to a level of exposure that I never thought I could achieve. It opened me up a world where I could ask questions, engage my community and knowledgeable people in the tech industry. I’ve also realized how much I enjoy public speaking. In the last year, I was invited to speak at a dozen conferences in Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana and most recently in Germany. I’ve also been invited to join high-level committees at my university as well as outside my university. And finally, I was just named a Google Map Advocate for Nigeria this month!

All these achievements would not have being possible if I had not made up my mind to apply to the Google Student Ambassador Program. It really has changed my life. I will be forever thankful to Google for giving me the platform to discover parts of me I never knew existed. I now feel very committed to making my community stronger technically speaking...and hope I can continue to teach and inspire others to become more involved.

If you are interested in learning more about Google’s Student Ambassador Program in Europe, Middle East and Africa, please visit our site for more information. You can also find more information about this program in other regions on our Google for Students page. Finally, if you are interested in learning more about how Google engages with African universities, please visit our African University Programs page.

Posted by Marni Merksamer Levasseur, People Programs Specialist - Europe, Middle East and Africa

Announcing the 2012 Google Lime Scholars

2012-03-29T12:01:00.001-07:00

For the fourth year in a row, Google has partnered with Lime Connect to recognize students with disabilities who have not only shown achievement in Computer Science, but have also demonstrated passion, dedication, and leadership within their studies and in their community.

We’re excited to announce this year’s recipients of the Google Lime Scholarship:

Aaron Snook - Carnegie Mellon University
Brian Moore - Wilfrid Laurier University
Brigit Schroeder - University of Massachusetts Lowell
Christina Lee - New York University
Daniel Hefley - University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Campus
David Christo - Loyola College in Maryland
Grant Ho - Stanford University
Joel Oren - University Of Toronto
Joseph McCormick Jr - Harvard University
Maria Andrade - Olympic College
Michael Dezube - Cornell University
Michael McCarty - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Samantha Krieger - University Of British Columbia
Spencer Atkinson - University Of British Columbia
Yeo Ho Yoon - University of Pennsylvania

Google Lime scholars will receive an academic scholarship for the 2012-2013 school year and will be invited to attend the annual Google Scholars’ Retreat held at the Googleplex in Mountain View, California this June.

Find out more about Google’s Scholarship Programs at http://www.google.com/jobs/scholarships.

Posted by Azusa Liu, Talent & Outreach Programs