OXFORD, Miss. - Millions of Web surfers use Google Search but seldom does anyone receive an invitation to visit the Internet giant's headquarters in California's Silicon Valley for pre-employment exposure to the company's operations.

So when University of Mississippi students Cindrell Harry and Susan Lukose learned they had been chosen to participate in the recent inaugural Google Workshop for Women Engineers, their excitement soared.

"Only 200 women from across the nation were selected to attend," said Lukose, a doctoral student in computer science from Cochin, India. "As best we could tell, we were the only ones there from Mississippi."

Harry, a computer science master's degree candidate from Douglasville, Ga., said she and Lukose applied last fall, after learning of the opportunity from an e-mail shared within the department. Included in each application were the student's resume, letters of recommendation, a summary of academic and extracurricular activities, and details of career plans.

"The purpose for the workshop was to recruit women candidates for employment," Harry said. "Presently women comprise approximately 9 percent of Google's 5,000-person workforce. Their goal is to increase that percentage to 25 or 30 percent by actively encouraging more women to enter the industry."

During the two-day event in late January, Lukose and Harry joined the other 198 participants in various workshops, tours of the facilities and sessions in which women employees shared their experiences with the company, including employee benefits.

"Their offices were unlike any that I've ever seen," Harry said. "There are beauty salons, massage parlors, a dry cleaners and fine dining - all free all the time for employees. Everything seems designed to ensure the people who work for Google are always happy while on the job." The two students agreed that they were most impressed with the youthfulness of Google's employees, the unique work schedule observed and the variety of in-house services and luxuries available.

"Most of the women were in their mid-20s to early 30s. They all come from the nation's top universities," Lukose said. "They work on their assigned projects Monday through Thursday, but on Friday everyone is allowed to do recreational, fun things that stir their creativity. We were told that many of Google's best-known products have been birthed during relaxed Fridays."

The students were privy to demonstrations of the latest Google technology, "projects that aren't yet available to the public," Harry said.

Both Lukose and Harry plan to apply for employment at Google. Besides undergoing personal interviews during the workshop, they were instructed about the process of applying online and being available for telephone interviews.

"They really showed us that there is a place for women in industry and not just in academics," Lukose said. Pam Lawhead, associate professor of computer and information science and director of the UM Institute for Advanced Education in Geospatial Sciences, said both Harry and Lukose are strong students and she's confident that they represented the university very well.

"The institute is really proud of them for taking the initiative to apply for the Google workshop and then attending once they were accepted," Lawhead said. "I want them to have every advantage possible as they transition out of academia into the workforce. This workshop certainly provided them with the awareness of the many opportunities available to women."

For more information about the Department of Computer and Information Science see:

• http://www.cs.olemiss.edu
• http://www.iaegs.com