HomelandSecurity fundingpasses as GOPsteps back A7

MEN’S BASKETBALL

College of Idaho winsCascade ConferenceChampionship SPORTS, A8

RECIPES

A TOAST TOPOTATO BREAD

EXPLORE, E1

ON THE WEB

WEST ADA SCHOOLSOVERCROWDINGEven if district voters approve a$96 million bond for threeschools, there will still be othersstruggling with too many stu-dents. Read Bill Roberts’ blog atIDAHOSTATESMAN.COM/INTHECLASSROOM

ERUPTION IN CHILE

BSU PROFESSORIS WITNESS DEPTH, D4

IDAHO STATESMAN: A McClatchy Newspaper, 1200 N. Curtis Road, Boise, ID • P.O.Box40,Boise, ID83707 • (208)377-6200•©2015 IdahoStatesman,Vol. 150, No. 222, 3 sections, 26 pages

INSIDE TODAY “How can I pay child support if I can’t get a job.” MICHAEL MIRSKY, a convicted criminal trying to fight through background checks. DEPTH, D1

IdahoStatesmanWEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015 47° / 27° SEE A12

MOSTLYSUNNY

$1

KATHERINE JONES / kjones@idahostatesman.comMarianna Budnikova mingles at a reception at Boise State University before sitting on a panel to talk about her efforts to encourage more women topursue careers in technology. Men aren’t the only ones who think women can’t learn computing, she said. “There’s still enough women who say,‘Math is hard. I don’t understand computers.’ Here I am thinking, ‘Writing is hard. Psychology is hard. You can learn computers like anything else.’ ”

WOMEN IN TECH

KNOCKING ON THEDIGITAL CEILING

A Boise immigrant fights the perception that computer science is a man’s game

In Boise and across the nation, women steer away from the male-dominated technology world.Russian-born Marianna Budnikova wants to change that. The MetaGeek programmer spends

some of her free time encouraging women to get involved in tech. Her best weapon? Enthusiasm.Reporter Zach Kyle examines how she tackles the problem. DEPTH, D1

A NEWS & SPORTS D DEPTH E EXPLORE

A GUIDE TO THE NEW IDAHO STATESMAN

Catching Up . . . . A2-3Business . . . . . . . . . . A7Legislature . . . . . . . . A4Nation/World . . A6-7Sports section . . A8-12Weather . . . . . . . . . A12

Carolyn Hax . . . . . . . . . E1Comics, Puzzles . . .E2-3Obituaries . . . . . . . . E4-5Death notices . . . . . . E4Classifieds . . . . . . . E6-8

Opinions . . . . . . . D1-2Letters to editor . . D2Legal ads . . . . . . . . . D4

COURTS

Silak: Idaho needswomen judgesFormer state Supreme CourtJustice Cathy Silak writes aboutthe shortage, particularly afterthe announcement by KarenLansing, who spent 22 years onthe Court of Appeals, that she isretiring. DEPTH, D1

BACKGROUND CHECKS

Criminals do time,can’t make a dimeFor people seeking employ-ment who have a record, theprocess can often be self-de-feating. Surveys show that to betrue, and some people are won-dering if the process is a fairone. DEPTH, D1

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INQUIRY

Missouri police violate rights of black residentsA scathing report says that those rights were ignored routinely, including using ex-cessive force and making unjustified traffic stops. The report concluded that thediscrimination was fueled by racial stereotypes held by city officials. NEWS, A6

Rajan Zed, a guest chaplain, gave the Idaho Senate invocation Tuesday morningin both English and Sanskrit. The lengthy prayer focused on selflessness andpeace. He was received warmly by many of the legislators in attendance, but afew wouldn’t hear the prayer. “Hindu is a false faith with false gods,” said SherylNuxoll, of Cottonwood. She said the U.S. is a Christian nation. NEWS, A4

ACHD IS RECONSIDERING A RECENTLY PASSED POLICY TO BEGIN MEETINGS WITH PRAYER, NEWS, A5

LEGISLATURE AND RELIGION

A few GOP lawmakers refuse to attend Hindu prayerIRAN NUKE TALKS

NETANYAHU: ABAD, BAD DEALIsraeli Prime Minister Ben-jamin Netanyahu spoke to Con-

gress on Tues-day and made itperfectly clearhe is not onboard with Pres-ident BarackObama’s tack.

Perhaps the two should havecompared notes. NEWS, A6

PAPERS SPEAK OUT, OPINIONS, D2

NAMPA MAN SENTENCED

FREED FROM PRISON, HE TOOK A BUSHOME — AND ROBBED A BANK NEWS, A5

VARSITY EXTRA

Mountain Home reboundsafter 0-20 season SPORTS, A8

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BY ZACH KYLEzkyle@idahostatesman.com

© 2015 Idaho Statesman

A smile creeps over Marianna Budniko-va’s face as the panel moderator introducesher to the audience by her official title:“Professional Hacker.”

Budnikova takes pride in her program-ming work at Boise tech firm MetaGeek,which develops troubleshooting softwarefor wireless routers. Her path to that jobwas unusual: She grew up in a poor familyin Podolsk, Russia, and graduated fromBoise State University’s undergraduateand master’s computer science programs.

On this day she is back at Boise State’sStudent Union Special Events Center aspart of a four-person panel to talk about“Harnessing Business for Good.” She isspeaking about why she started two Boisenonprofits with a shared mission: to givegirls and women the skills and confidencethey need to take strides in the Y-chromo-some-dominated world of technology.

Budnikova tells the audience of about 75that she’s driven to make sure women facefewer obstacles breaking into the industrythan she did.

“Companies are now missing out on thatdiversity and that talent,” she says. “I want-ed to support other women in my shoes.”

A young programmer hopes to see more women enrolledin Boise State University’s computer science program

and working for Boise tech companies

See WOMEN IN TECH, D3

From Russia, will code

Out of trouble, but out of work

BY BINYAMIN APPELBAUMNEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE

Michael Hugh Mirsky landed atemporary job in December rollingstacks of crated milk and orangejuice to the loading docks at a com-mercial dairy in central NewJersey. He’s not making much, andhe doesn’t know how long it willlast, but after 30 months of unem-ployment, he counts himself lucky.Mirsky is a convicted criminal, and

work is hard to find.A series of unfortunate events

that began in 2012 when Mirskylost a job as a Verizon technicianculminated last year in a guiltyplea for resisting arrest. He is fac-ing the foreclosure of his home; hischurch has told him that he cannotserve as an usher; he is thousandsof dollars in arrears on child sup-port payments for his 8-year-olddaughter. Even as the economy im-proves, Mirsky, 43, has been unableto find a permanent position so hecan start rebuilding his life.

“Even your lower-paying fast-food jobs are now doing back-

ground checks,” he said. “How canI pay child support if I can’t get ajob?”

The share of American menwith criminal records — particu-larly black men — grew rapidly inrecent decades as the governmentpursued aggressive law enforce-ment strategies, especially againstdrug crimes. In the aftermath ofthe Great Recession, those men arehaving particular trouble findingwork. Men with criminal recordsaccount for about 34 percent of allnonworking men ages 25 to 54,

WOMEN IN TECH

CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECKS

D WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015LETTERS TO THE EDITOR D2 • LEGAL ADS D4

Inside:OpinionsNETANYAHU STATES HIS CASE,

BUT NOT EVERYONE IS CONVINCED D2Depth

KATHERINE JONES / kjones@idahostatesman.comMarianna Budnikova, who works at Boise’s MetaGeek, speaks on a Boise State University panel about social entrepreneurs, or people who use busi-ness to benefit the community.

The process of findingemployment can be defeatingfor those with a record.

RICHARD PERRY / The New York TimesMichael Mirsky feels fortunate to land temporary work on a loading dockafter 30 months of unemployment, some of it due to his criminal record. Heis shown at his home in foreclosure in Port Murray, N.J., in December.

“The media, in a lot of places, shows programmersas nonsocial creatures in a cave. I work with thosepeople. That’s not the case. Once we change the

perception, a lot more women will go into tech withtheir ideas to start innovation.”

MARIANNA BUDNIKOVA

See UNEMPLOYED, D4

Provided by Marianna BudnikovaMarianna Budnikova taught these fourth-grade students at Boise’s White Pine ElementarySchool some basic coding skills. Boise State University’s chapter of the Association for Com-puting Machinery — Women, which she co-founded, visited several schools last year as partof the national “Hour of Code” outreach program.

BY CATHY SILAKRight before I was sworn in as

the only female judge on Idaho’sCourt of Appeals in 1990, a car-

toon appeared in theIdaho Statesman de-picting an awkwardsituation. There Iwas, the female in theoffice, getting upsetover a request from

the other judges that I make themcoffee.

I can laugh now, because my ex-perience quickly proved to be incomplete contrast to the cartoon.For the next three years, until Iwas appointed to the IdahoSupreme Court, I served on theappellate court with men whotreated me as a respected col-league, as an equal, and as some-one who belonged there. Over theyears they became my great col-leagues and dear friends.

Idaho has a proud history ofthoughtful, thorough and diverseleadership in its court system. Butmaintaining that isn’t easy. AndIdaho faces a turning point thisyear.

This month we mark severalimportant milestones: Today wehonor the role of women in thelaw here in the Gem State, at theIdaho Women Lawyers banquet.The biannual gala does a stellarjob of recognizing the achieve-ments of outstanding women inIdaho’s legal community.

But we have a challenge ahead.That’s because the woman whohas been the only female on theCourt of Appeals since my exit in1993 is retiring. Judge Karen Lans-ing recently announced her retire-ment after 22 distinguished yearson the court.

Judge Lansing’s story is impor-tant to remember: She is an Idahonative who was born and raisednear Orofino. She earned a politi-cal science degree from the Uni-versity of Idaho and went on tograduate from the University ofWashington’s school of law in1978. After several years as a cityattorney and then a partner forHawley Troxell Ennis and Hawleyin Boise, she was appointed byGov. Cecil Andrus to Idaho’sCourt of Appeals in 1993. Her im-print on that court is undeniable,and can be tracked over thecourse of the thousands of casesheard and in more than 2,600 judi-cial opinions she authored.

Idahoans have benefitted fromher presence on the court,whether they have had a casethere or not. All Idahoans benefitfrom a court whose diversity re-flects society. On a more basic lev-el, the court’s gender makeupshould reflect that of our popula-tion. We want to be seen as a sys-tem where you get a shot regard-less of your background. By hav-ing women at all levels of the judi-ciary we reflect society’s values.

With Judge Lansing’s retirement,

GUEST OPINIONCOURTS

Idahoneeds

womenjudges

See WOMEN JUDGES, D2

Americans who hear thatBudnikova’s mother is a doc-tor assume she comes fromwealth, she told the States-man. Not so. In Russia,teachers and doctors areamong the lowest paid. Herfather didn’t make much as abank security guard, either.“We got hungry a few daysbefore paychecks,” she said.

The family bought its firstcomputer in 2002, whenBudnikova was 12. The mon-itor’s screen was small. Therest was a “big, blobbything,” a mishmash of refur-bished parts.

Budnikova remembersplaying “Age of Empires,” astrategy game released fiveyears earlier, because thecomputer couldn’t handlecurrent, slicker games of theday.

Budnikova played a lot of“Age of Empires” as well as“Disciples: Sacred Lands,”another turn-based gamefrom the ’90s that her cousingave to her.

She told him once that shewanted to create a videogame one day. He laughedher off, saying entire teamsof programmers were need-ed to build games. He wasmostly right at the time. To-day, Budnikova relishes thereality that a single game de-veloper has enough pre-built tools available to createher own game, by herself.

Back on the panel, themoderator asks Budnikova,“What makes you excited toget up in the morning?”

“I’m excited about socialissues because they affect usall,” she says, and begins rat-tling off statistics.

A SHORTAGE OF WOMENNationwide, women

made up 26 percent of pro-fessional computing occupa-tions in 2013, according tothe National Center forWomen & InformationTechnology, a nonprofit ad-vocacy group.

That percentage used tobe higher, especially in pro-gramming, said Amy Moll,dean of Boise State’s Collegeof Engineering, which in-cludes the Computer Sci-ence Department. Moll set agoal of doubling the numberof women in the university’sengineering and computersciences programs when shetook charge in 2011. But fe-male student enrollment hasclimbed just 1 percentagepoint in computer science,to 13 percent of the morethan 500 students thisschool year.

“We have a hard time re-taining them,” Moll said.“But we also don’t get themin the door. We don’t getthem showing interest. That,honestly, is a harder prob-lem.”

The Boise metro areaneeds computer scientists.In December, companieshere posted about 450 open-ings with the Idaho Depart-ment of Labor for positionsrequiring some level of com-puter expertise: applicationdevelopment, computer sys-tems analyst, network andsystems administrator, andall others designated as“computer occupations.”

Women fill just 20percent of Treasure Valleytech jobs, the departmentsays.

Budnikova’s boss, Meta-Geek founder Ryan Wood-ings, says tech has a diversityproblem. His company be-gan emphasizing hiringwomen several years ago. Asa result, women now makeup 40 percent of MetaGeek’s28 full-time employees.

“The problem with soft-ware being a boys club isthat numerous studies haveshown workforce diversityimproves the effectivenessof organizations,” Woodingssaid.

Budnikova tells the audi-ence that part of theproblem is a stereotype thatprogrammers are single menwearing underwear and sit-ting at computers in base-ments.

“The media, in a lot of

places, shows programmersas nonsocial creatures in acave,” she says. “I work withthose people. That’s not thecase. Once we change theperception, a lot morewomen will go into techwith their ideas to start inno-vation.”

IN AMERICA, A COLLEGEEDUCATION

Budnikova had neverheard of Boise before shelearned she would comehere as a high school ex-change student. She didn’tmake the cut the first timeshe applied.

Only about 10 percent ofapplicants were selected,she said, and her English wasa little rough. She read andwrote well, but her ear forthe language was influencedby watching too manyBritish films. So sheswitched to American filmsand made “Pirates of theCaribbean” her most fre-quent study aid. The ex-change program acceptedher the following year.

Budnikova lived withMaria and Don Essig, a hostfamily, while attending BoiseHigh School for a year. Thecouple relieved some of thepressure on Budnikova’sbank account by inviting herto continue living there aftershe enrolled at Boise StateUniversity.

Budnikova flirted withpre-med and political sci-ence before taking an intro-ductory Java class her junioryear. She was one of threewomen in the class and theonly one who ended up pur-suing a computer sciencemajor. She was usually theonly women in her comp sciclasses.

Harassment wasn’t aproblem, but she didn’t feellike she belonged. She feltlike a foreigner in the “geekculture.”

“At some point, I stoppedwearing the cute clothes thatthe women wear so I couldfit in,” Budnikova told theStatesman. “I’d wear baggyclothes, baggy T-shirts, notwear makeup, not care abouthow I looked. A lot of guys

do that. But then I realized,no, I cannot do that. I’m awoman. I can own that.”

Though she loved tech-nology, Budnikova said shedidn’t have the lexicon andinstitutional knowledge thatcomes from growing up anAmerican geek.

In one class — she won’tname the course or the in-structor — she felt discour-aged to the point of nearlyquitting. All of the studentswere struggling to grasp thematerial, she said. But shefelt like the instructor as-sumed she would fail anddevoted more attention tothe male students.

Male instructors are morelikely to bond with male stu-dents or to internalize thestereotype that womenaren’t computer profession-als, Moll said. It’s on thoseinstructors to recognize andaddress those subconscioustendencies. “Part of my jobis making sure my faculty,my chairs, that we all thinkabout this, are aware of thisand start to build mecha-nisms for ourselves,” shesaid.

Said Budnikova: “Anotherprofessor was really sup-portive during that time ofcrisis, who said, ‘No. Youhave to stay.’ He was helpful,and he was why I was able toget all of my scholarships.He put in a good word forme.”

ENCOURAGINGOTHER WOMEN

In grad school, Budnikovafounded the Boise chapter ofthe Association for Comput-ing Machinery — Women,which organizes workshopsfor members and holdsevents open to children asyoung as 5 to teachcomputer basics.

In August, she co-founded a Girl Develop It!chapter in Boise. The grouphosts affordable classes forwomen of all ages, teachinga variety of coding and pro-gramming skills. Betweenfive and 20 people havesigned up for the handful ofclasses the group has hostedso far at the WaterCooler in-

cubator. Budnikova hopes toexpand the courses this year.

The WaterCooler gaveGirl Develop It! space andtime at no charge because itsupports Budnikova’s cause,said Rick Ritter, who over-seas the incubator andcoaches its tenant compa-nies. Ritter said the techworld could use more peo-ple such as Budnikova andchapter co-founders JaneMiceli and Kelsey Suyehira.

“They seem very commit-ted to ‘doing’ rather thantalking — unlike other folksin the Treasure Valley,” Rit-ter said. “I think they canhave a real impact overtime.”

Budnikova visited Treas-ure Valley elementaryschools for several associa-tion events, including in2013 as part of the national“Hour of Code.” Studentslearned basic code entries tonavigate through simplemazes. She marveled at 7-year-olds showing analmost spooky proclivity toabsorb instructions andcode their way through thechallenges — includinggirls.

Budnikova thought backto her cousin’s assertion that

she couldn’t program a gameby herself.

“Now, girls run up to meand say, ‘I want to be a com-puter programmer,’ ” Bud-nikova said. “It’s inspira-tional to see. There’s a lotmore interest now.”

Back in the events center,the moderator asks Bud-nikova why she’s passionateabout encouraging womento join tech fields. A littlemore diversity would go along way, she says, and cites

that 13 percent female en-rollment figure in BoiseState’s computer-scienceprogram.

“That’s a really, reallyscary statistic,” she says.“Suddenly, our products aredeveloped by a differentgender. Business may run in-to problems because they’renot considering the needs ofwomen. We’re 50 percent ofthe population. That’s a lot.”

Zach Kyle: 377-6464,Twitter: IDS_zachkyle

IDAHO STATESMAN • IDAHOSTATESMAN.COM WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015 • D3

WOMEN IN TECHCONTINUED FROM D1

Photos provided by Marianna BudnikovaMarianna Budnikova has become a more comfortable participant in “geek culture,” which in-cludes many hobbies embraced mostly by men. Budnikova dressed as a female version of the10th Dr. Who at the Tree City Comic Con last October in Boise. This year she plans to dress as ahobbit or as a female version of Commander Shepherd from the “Mass Effect” video games.

Budnikova tries the Google Glass wearable technology atGoogle headquarters in Silicon Valley. Budnikova received atrip to Google and $10,000 for school expenses after receiv-ing the Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship in 2014. The previ-ous year, she was honored as one of Boise State University’sTop 10 Scholars.

Zach joined the Statesman business desk inApril 2013. He covers real estate, banking,technology and business policy, among otherthings. Topics that have crossed his desk sev-eral times in the last month include benefit corporations andthe idea that business can drive social change.

ZACH KYLE

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