Computing Research Policy Blog


Posts categorized under: Diversity in Computing

“This Is a Moral Issue”: Hearing Calls Attention to Sexual Harassment in Science


On Wednesday, June 12 the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee convened a hearing, titled Combating Sexual Harassment in Science, to explore what the federal research agencies are, and are not, doing to confront sexual and gender harassment in the Federal research community. The committee received important insights regarding the measures that have been implemented across different Federal agencies and research fields. Though the committee agreed that the agencies need to do more to confront this issue, there was not a consensus on specific policies Congress wants to see.

Make Computer Science a Priority within the Department of Education, CRA and Computing Community Tell Administration


Yesterday, CRA joined with many other members of the computing community in submitting a public comment on the recently issued proposed grant funding priorities at the Department of Education. In the comment, we argued that computer science education should be made a higher priority in the grant making process at the department and that expanding access to CS to traditionally underserved students should be a priority in itself (it is listed as a sub-priority in the department’s list). CRA’s full comment is below.

CRA’s CRA-W Urges Continued Support for Diversity Efforts in Capitol Briefing


At a briefing of the congressional Diversity in Tech Caucus, hosted by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) in the Capitol yesterday, CRA-W board member Rebecca Wright explained why efforts to increase the participation of women and underrepresented minorities in STEM fields — particularly computing — were worthy of continued Federal support. Wright, a professor of computer science […]

Call for Applications for ACM/IEEE-CS George Michael Memorial HPC Fellowship Program


The Association for Computing Machinary (ACM) and the IEEE Computer Society, two of the premiere organizations for computer and computing scientists, and members of CRA, are looking for exceptional PhD students in the high-performance computing field to apply for the George Michael Memorial HPC Fellowship Program. The details of the program, including application requirements and […]

Intel Announces Major Effort to Improve Diversity in the Computing Community


While the Consumer Electronics Show (or CES) has a reputation for announcing hot new products, once and awhile other really important news gets announced too. On January 6th, Intel announced at CES 2015 that they were making a major investment to improve representation of women and under-represented minorities both within their own company and the […]

Two Computing Bills Marked Up Today


Today the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee marked up two computing bills for floor consideration. HR 756, the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2013, and HR 967, the Advancing America’s Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Act of 2013, both of which had passed in the House of Representatives in previous Congressional sessions but […]

Undergrad Computer Science Enrollments Rise for Fifth Straight Year — CRA Taulbee Report


The number of new undergraduate computing majors among U.S. computer science departments rose an astonishing 29.2 percent this year, according to new data released today by the Computing Research Association. The data appears in Computing Degrees and Enrollment Trends, a special report from the 2011-2012 CRA Taulbee Survey of the organization’s member departments. Among schools […]

IT Research Hearing Focuses on Security, Education


As noted in a previous post, the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee’s Subcommittee on Research held a hearing on Applications for Information Technology Research and Development. CCC Chair and former CRA Board Chair Ed Lazowska, CRA-W Chair and current CRA Board Member Kathryn McKinley, representing Microsoft, and Kelly Gaither of the University of Texas […]

IT Research Hearing


The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee’s Subcommittee on Research will hold a hearing this afternoon at 2:00pm on Applications for Information Technology Research and Development. CCC Chair Ed Lazowska, CRA-W Co-chair Kathryn McKinley, and Kelly Gaither of the University of Texas at Austin will make the case for computing research before the subcommittee. Written […]