The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology will celebrate its 2011 "Women of Vision" award winners at Mission City Ballroom, Santa Clara Convention Center, May 19. I attended last year and it was great. I got to meet and speak with Arianna Huffington, the keynote speaker.

Here are this year's winners:

Chieko Asakawa, IBM Fellow and Chief Technology Officer of Accessibility Research and Technology, IBM Research

Chieko Asakawa is the Women of Vision Award winner in the Leadership category. She is recognized for her work as a leader in the field of accessibility. Her work at IBM has led to breakthrough technologies including Japan's first computer network based Braille library system and Home Page Reader which has enabled the visually impaired to easily surf websites. Another innovation, aDesigner, is used by Web designers today across the globe to help them build pages that are accessible to those with poor sight.

Mary Lou Jepsen, CEO of Pixel Qi

Mary Lou Jepsen is the Women of Vision Award winner in the Innovation category. She is honored for her technical successes in innovative design of computer displays over several iterations including most recently as CEO of Pixel Qi, her leadership of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project to accomplish its ambitious goals, and in the impact of OLPC's work on accessibility of digital technology to enable children in all nations to use the digital tools of the modern world, and use them collaboratively.

Karen Panetta, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of the Simulation Research Laboratory at Tufts University

Karen Panetta is the Women of Vision Award winner in the Social Impact category. She is recognized not only for her contributions in both academia and industry but also as one of the United States leading experts in innovating successful low-cost methods for disseminating engineering and science to youth, parents, educators and the general public to help recruit young women to the STEM disciplines. Her Nerd Girls international program has inspired young women by teaching them that engineers and scientists create innovations for the benefit of humanity.

The keynote will be delivered by Anousheh Ansari - the first female private space explorer and first space ambassador.