SHT - Sexiest Geek Alive Contest

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Silicon Valley crowns its goddess Mills College science professor wins 'Sexiest Geek Alive' contest

Meredith May, Chronicle Staff Writer Friday, June 22, 2001

Ellen Spertus strives to be a "geek fertility goddess."

The 32-year-old computer science professor is well on her way -- this week she was crowned "Sexiest Geek Alive" in an annual Silicon Valley pageant that drew 10,000 nerdy hopefuls.

But nobody could beat Spertus, who showed up in a corset made from a circuit board and a slide rule strapped to her thigh in a leather holster a la Sandra Bullock in "Ms. Congeniality."

The computer science professor from Mills College in Oakland trounced the competition, even the guy who did a dramatic reading from "Return of the Jedi. " She became the first woman in the contest's two years to capture the title.

Her resume was geekalicious:

She's "MIT cubed," meaning she has bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees from the geekiest school in America -- Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Her car is electric, of course, with the license plate V EQ IR. For cool people, that's a reference to Ohm's Law of Electricity, V equals IR (volts equals current times resistance).

"Sometimes when I'm driving in Silicon Valley someone figures it out and gets really excited," Spertus said.

She developed a computer program to recognize mean, rude or insulting e- mail called flames and kick them back to sender. When Kozmo.com sent her spam even though she checked the box rejecting unsolicited e-mail, she sued in small claims court and won $50. The company went belly up and she never got the money, but it was a victory nonetheless.

And just for good measure, she told judges that she didn't learn to be a geek, she was born one. At 11, she ran electricity through her braces to attract the attention of a he-nerd.

"It worked," she said. "He looked at me."

Judging the contenders were fellow geeks such as Mikki Halpin, author of "The Geek Handbook," who was looking for the self-aware techie who embodies the idea that geeks can be chic. The contest was sponsored by a hightech trade show company, Imark Communications, and the online magazine, Geek & Guru, and hosted by Chase Masterson, who plays Leeta on the TV show "Star Trek -- Deep Space Nine."

All Spertus' college students voted for her, and many were at the contest when the real Miss America, Jennifer Glover, crowned her Sexiest Geek Alive.

"I remember in kindergarten everyone got invited to a party but me and one other boy, and I just want to tell all the geeks that it does get better," Spertus said.

Spertus won a geek cruise to the Caribbean, the kind that includes a conference with high tech speakers to entertain guests. She's taking her husband, a rocket scientist she met at an artificial intelligence group at the University of Washington.

Although the media attention has been a bit overwhelming, Spertus said she's glad she entered because it could inspire more women to get into the computer world.

She's passionate about the subject, and volunteers at the Chabot Space and Science Center where she teaches young Oakland girls about computers through a federally funded program called Tech Bridge.

If it takes being a hot mama to get her message across, so be it.

"Sex is very important, it's about reproduction, and as a computer science professor," she said, "I have taught girls how to build things out of electronics and reproduced geeks many times."

-- Anonymous, June 22, 2001


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