Asha Goyal's story of triumph over adversity was first published in the conference issue of Women of Color magazine. She is the 2004 Technologist of the Year.

Attacked by poliomyelitis at age two, young Asha refused to be held back. After graduating from secondary school, she enrolled at the Indian Institute of Technology, where she became the highest-scoring female student on the engineering entrance examination.

Just getting around campus had its own share of problems, but she persevered, finishing with a Best Student Gold Medal and a bachelor's degree in electronics.

“If you can't do something, at least you can enjoy seeing others do it,” she told WOC. “Just like someone who can't sing can enjoy others singing well.”

That can-do attitude manifested in graduate school at the Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur, where she pursued a master's degree in electrical engineering followed by a Ph.D. in computer science.

Faced with the need to learn to swim, she mastered three strokes in 15 days, becoming skilled at diving too. Goyal was so good that she became an instructor, teaching others her techniques.

However, Campus mobility still presented challenges for Goyal. Undaunted, she developed her own wheeled transport, trying out a bicycle, rickshaws, and contraptions made out of hospital equipment, before finally settling on a moped she called Luna.

With an extra wheel for mobility, Goyal raced around campus and dragged it to her destination if engine trouble shut it down en route.

Two mechanics on call for emergencies fashioned a spark plug cleaner and an adapter that let her use campus compressors to inflate the tires.

Much later, in the United States, she fell in love with cars. Unable to take an American car to England on assignment, she got an older transmission from a Morris Mini and had it shipped to India.

Corporate assignments took Goyal to many countries and she vacationed in several others. Eighteen, all told. She's been up the Swiss Alps by cablecar and ridden the rides at Disneyland.

“Just go ahead and do what you want,” she said.

At Tata Consultancy, she served as a consultant from 1971 to 1994. She quickly established herself as a leader and innovator in software development. Among other projects, she led an initiative to design a counterpart to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations' criminal information center. It was the first of its kind in India.

In 1994 she moved to Fujitsu. Over two and a half years she set up a development facility at Software Technology Park in Noida. She also led the healthcare line of the business and engineered a legacy of healthcare information systems to run with a graphical user interface. From April 1994 to October 1996, she led the team that serviced healthcare clients in the U.K., New Zealand, and Australia.

In October 1996, Goyal joined HCL Perot Systems as executive vice president for software development, continuing her drive to put out the best possible software for clients.

In 1999, she moved to IBM and became active with the Institute of Informatics and Communication, Delhi University, and as a Fellow of the Institute of Electronics and Telecom Engineers. Goyal retired as vice president of quality from IBM Global Services India in 2006.

Months after signing on to lead the quality team at IBM's Global Services, Goyal propelled her division to become the first unit to achieve recognition as a Software Engineering Institute Capability Maturity Model Level 5 organization.

The institute developed the metric to assess the performance of organizations developing complex commercial software. The fifth level of the Capability Maturity Model is the highest rating.

Goyal's team also won a Level 5 rating under the People Capability Maturity Model and continuing that winning trend, pushed onto a Level 5 rating under the more involved Capability Maturity Model integrated standard. Dr. Goyal, a Six Sigma Blackbelt in quality control, led the team to reach that standard too.

“I would like to share a quotation,” Goyal told Women of Color magazine in 2007. “It's part of a Sanskrit shloka ( a form of Hindu prayer) from the Gita: 'Karmanyeva dhikaraste, ma faleshu kadachanam.' This means we have a right to our work and duty but do not have a total claim on the results and achievements.”

Goyal has served as president at Lioness Club in Roshni, which works alongside the International Association of Lions Clubs and is a part of Lioness Club India in social work and charity.

She was vice president for quality at the Nucleus Software Exports Ltd, between 2007 and 2010, and served the software company in its banking products in the international arena.