Red Hat Announces 2018 Women in Open Source Award Winners

Dana LewisIn its fourth year, the Women in Open Source Awards were created and sponsored by Red Hat to honor women who make important contributions to open source projects and communities, or those making innovative use of open source methodology. Nominations for this year's awards were accepted for two categories: academic (those currently enrolled in a college or university) and community (those working or volunteering on projects related to open source). Finalists were determined based on nomination criteria, with public voting to determine the winners.

Lewis, who was recognized in the community category, is the founder of the OpenAPS movement and creator of the DIY Artificial Pancreas System. OpenAPS is an open and transparent effort aimed at making safe and effective basic Artificial Pancreas System (APS) technology available to help improve and save lives and reduce the burden of Type 1 diabetes. An open source contributor for four years, Lewis started her work after becoming frustrated by her diabetes devices. She could not access her blood glucose data in real time and the continuous glucose monitor designed to alert her when her blood sugar dropped was not loud enough to wake her up at night - putting her life at risk.

The louder alarm system she created evolved less than a year later into the open source artificial pancreas system. In the past few years, the OpenAPS community has grown worldwide, with more than 600 people now using various systems based off of her work and original system designs. Lewis also facilitates research projects through the Nightscout Data Commons and the OpenAPS Data Commons, and has developed open source tools to help encourage researchers to engage with the diabetes data sets, helping to expedite their efforts.

Zui Dighe,Dighe, who was recognized in the academic category, is a student at Duke University, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering and computer science. An open source contributor for two and a half years, she has used the power of open source to make an impact on her campus and abroad. Dighe is a primary collaborator on an open source system that tracks vaccine temperatures and GPS locations as they enter developing nations using an Arduino-based device.

She was named a Katsouleas NAE Grand Challenge Scholar for her work on vaccine carriers and is passionate about bridging the gap between medical innovation and need. On campus, she was the chief technology officer of Campus Enterprises, a student-owned and operated business that connects Durham, N.C.-based businesses with the Duke community to offer online ordering, food and laundry delivery, screen printing, marketing, catering and technology services. Dighe restructured the backend and tech stack for the Campus Enterprises product. She also is the technology lead on a transcontinental team of Duke and Makerere University engineering students that branched off of an engineering course taken through both universities in 2016.

The winners will each receive a $2,500 stipend with suggested use to support open source projects or efforts. In addition, they will be featured on Opensource.com and given the opportunity to speak at a future Red Hat Women’s Leadership Community event.

Supporting Quotes

DeLisa Alexander, executive vice president and chief people officer, Red Hat

“Congratulations to Dana and Zui on being recognized as 2018 Women in Open Source Award winners. Their contributions are fantastic examples of how open source is being used to make a difference in people’s lives. We're passionate about promoting the sizable impact that women are making in open source and I am inspired not only by their work, but by their efforts as mentors and advocates for others.”

Dana Lewis, founder of the OpenAPS movement

“I’m honored to be part of the group of amazing women who were nominated for the Red Hat Women in Open Source Award, and appreciate everyone who learned about all the finalists’ commitment to open source. It would be easy to focus on simple metrics such as traditional commit-based counts for evaluating open source contributions, but open source includes so much more. Recognizing that fact often means more easily and fully recognizing the contributions of all of the diverse participants in an open source community. I’m thankful to have learned about open source in the process of helping evolve what became OpenAPS, and I’m excited to continue to explore with our communities about how open source can help us change our health and healthcare.”

Zui Dighe, Duke University student

"It is so important to foster a sense of community for women and girls in underrepresented fields, and that is exactly the platform that open source can provide. I am inspired by the stories of the finalists for the Red Hat Women in Open Source Award and learning about the diverse projects that they have been working on. Open source is much more than just code and final projects; it represents collaboration and the exchange of thought to build something with impact. As a student, it is through open source that I became a developer, and bringing this accessibility to underrepresented groups is something that I am passionate about. I am so honored to receive this award and I hope that my story will inspire young girls to contribute and learn from open source. We are the future and our ideas are what will drive change. I look forward to continuing to learn from open source communities and contributing to the creation of data driven systems for developing countries.”

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