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CSGrad4US logo with a trendline chart overlayed with silhouettes of three peopleCSGrad4US logo with a trendline chart overlayed with silhouettes of three people

Most NSF CISE CSGrad4US Fellowship Participants Enroll in a PhD Program


The NSF CISE CSGrad4US Graduate Fellowship is a program aimed at increasing the number of diverse domestic PhD students in computing fields. This two-year program helps guide students through the graduate school application process and the first year of graduate school to enable a smooth transition. The Fellowship also provides three years of funding for attending graduate school. CERP has provided evaluation of the CSGrad4US program for the first two cohorts starting in 2021. Evaluation reports for the first two cohorts can be found on the CERP website and are linked below. Among the many findings about the program, CERP has identified that top motivators for why individuals participate in this program are:

  • to make an impact on society with an advanced degree
  • a desire to continue their learning
  • interest in working on advanced research projects

This post provides an update on the current status of the three cohorts of program participants. Tracking data presented in the graphic below shows that the great majority of program participants (70-80%) end up attending a doctoral program while some of the participants opt out of the academic career path after showing initial interest in working towards a graduate program.

 

Stacked bar chart showing the current status of three cohorts of CSGrad4US program participants

 

It is important to note that, given the stage that each cohort of participants are at in the process, the information regarding each cohort’s current status is slightly varied. Specifically, while fall 2021 and fall 2022 cohorts are already enrolled in their doctoral programs, the participants of the fall 2023 cohort are currently in the admissions stage and will be starting their programs within the next year. Further, cohort 3 participants from the fall 2023 mentoring program who were not admitted/did not apply to a PhD program are eligible to apply in fall 2024.

 

References:

CRA-E/CRA-WP CSGrad4US Mentoring Program: Cohort One Year One Key Finding Report

CRA-E/CRA-WP CSGrad4US Mentoring Program: Cohort One Year One Immediate Impact Evaluation Report

CRA-E/CRA-WP CSGrad4US Mentoring Program: Cohort One Year Two Immediate Impact Evaluation Report

CRA-E/CRA-WP CSGrad4US Mentoring Program: Cohort Two Year One Key Findings Report

CRA-E/CRA-WP CSGrad4US Mentoring Program: Cohort Two Year One Immediate Impact Evaluation Report

CRN Infographic: First Cohort of CSGrad4US Fellowship Candidates Seek to Make an Impact on Society with an Advanced Degree

 


This post is brought to you by the CRA’s Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline (CERP). CERP provides social science research and comparative evaluation for the computing community. Subscribe to the CERP newsletter & bulletin by clicking here. The funding for the CSGrad4US program is provided by the National Science Foundation under grant numbers CNS-2123180, CNS-2231962, and CNS-2313998.  Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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General Feedback Form Release


The Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline (CERP) is excited to announce a new feedback form that will allow participating Data Buddies departments to leave us any general feedback they have on the project as a whole.

The form is a brief survey that prompts respondents to give their thoughts on a few different aspects of the entire survey process including existing survey measures, the department reports, and any additional measures that are recommended to be added to the survey.

All current Data Buddies departments are encouraged to leave feedback they have for us at any time through our website. We will take all feedback into consideration and look to incorporate it into our future processes with the project.

If you are interested in utilizing this new feedback form, please use this link. As always, thank you for your continued support of the CRA Data Buddies Project!

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Fall 2023 Data Buddies Department Reports Release


The Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline (CERP) is excited to announce the release of the Fall 2023 Data Buddies Department Reports to all participating departments!

This year, 138 academic departments across the United States and Canada were eligible to receive a department report. To be eligible to receive a report, departments must achieve at least 5 survey responses from students in their department.

Geographic Distribution of Data Buddies

In addition to the standard full report, departments received a characteristics report that delves into the student respondents’ academic background and demographics. New this year, participating departments were also provided with a key findings report. This was created in response to feedback from some departments for a desire for a more digestible version of the report that highlights some of the most important and interesting findings from the survey in a much-reduced format.

Key Findings Report

There were also 16 participating departments that received additional special reports that departments specifically requested from the CERP team. Departments can request up to three specialized reports that present unique data either through selecting a specific subset of students to narrow down the sample and/or modifying their comparison group. For example, departments may request a report that splits out their data by just PhD or master’s students or Domestic and International Students. Data Buddies departments request these special reports by completing this Special Report Form.

All Data Buddies reports were made accessible for departments on the Data Buddies reporting portal created by the CERP team which currently allows departments to easily access and download all of their department’s reports going back to 2021. The CERP team plans to upload reports from previous years onto the portal for access in the near future as well.

Reporting Portal

The release of the department reports also marked the release of the 2023 Data Buddies Annual Report and the release of public datasets that incorporate all response data across all departments. Both of these releases are available on the CERP Website.

Read more about the Data Buddies report release in Computing Research News.

Are you on our list? Becoming a Data Buddy is free and easy! Click here to sign up today.

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CRA Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline Stipends and Student Participation in Undergraduate Research Prepared by Kristi Kelly


  1. Overview

How does the provision of stipends in REUs affect undergraduate students’ participation in research? This question has been examined in several ways, although there continues to be little systematic investigation of the extent to which stipends (and their size) affect participation. The research described in this summary generally examines stipends as part of a set of factors that may influence REU participation, and it is supplemented with unpublished data from the Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline’s (CERP) Data Buddies Survey. In addition, this review includes a broader discussion of how financial concerns may impact students’ decisions about their involvement in research.

 

  1. The role of stipends in promoting formal research participation

Two studies led by D.R. Economy (Economy et al., 2013; Economy et al., 2014) provide the most direct evidence of the relative importance of stipends in guiding students’ REU decision-making. In an initial study, the researchers surveyed 61 NSF REU Site participants in nine REUs throughout the United States. Respondents were presented with a list of ten items and were asked to indicate which ones were important to them when selecting research program(s) they had applied to and accepted. The most-cited factor in accepting their REU was the stipend, with 69% of respondents indicating this was an important factor. This was slightly higher than the second-most-cited response, which was the research project’s focus (64% of respondents).

In a follow-up study with a larger group of respondents and a modified survey, the researchers used a 6-point Likert scale (rather than a checklist) for measuring the degree of importance of different factors in students’ decisions to accept their REU. Results in this survey revealed that the most important factor was the research project focus (with a mean score of 5.16 out of 6, corresponding to a little above “important”), followed by the stipend (mean = 4.92, or a little below “important”) and the date of their REU offer (mean = 4.54). Across both studies, there were no differences among various student subgroups in their likelihood of indicating stipends were important for them or their ratings of how important they felt the stipend to be. Taken together, these studies underscore that the provision of a stipend may make research participation possible, as such stipends are important for students and rank highly in their decisions about participating in REUs.

In these studies, however, it is difficult to ascertain the extent to which varying stipend amounts affected students’ decisions, since the authors did not ask about this explicitly.[1] One data point that is relevant to this question looks at a comparison of the responses of students who had received one REU offer versus students with more than one offer. If those students with more than one offer rated the importance of the stipend more highly in their REU decision-making than students with only one offer, this might suggest that stipend size helped them decide between two (or more) REU sites. However, results showed that stipends were no more (or less) important for students considering multiple REU offers, relative to students with just one offer. However, other factors did appear to become more important to students when they were choosing between multiple REUs. In the first study, students with more than one REU offer were most likely to cite the date of the offer letter as an important factor in their decisions – unlike students with just one offer, and far more often than stipends. In the second study, students who were accepted into more than one NSF REU research program put greater emphasis than their peers on the importance of activities outside of the lab and on the sites being far from home when making their decisions (Economy et al., 2013; Economy et al., 2014).

An additional analysis was included in Economy and colleagues’ second study to examine those who chose an NSF REU over other research or non-research opportunities. These REU participants were asked in an open-ended format to describe why they chose the REU instead of other opportunities. Stipend-related responses were the fourth-most-named reason (cited by 23% of those respondents), after having a research experience, having a “new” experience, and the site location. The authors conclude that “the stipends that are offered need to be competitive with other academic undergraduate research programs” (Economy et al., 2014, p. 1,403). Thus, this suggests that stipends need to approximate the level of compensation offered by other experiences. Qualitative feedback from students from underrepresented backgrounds discussing their barriers to participation in undergraduate research (and engaged learning experiences more broadly) supports this as well (Finley & McNair, 2013). Notably, however, there is more theorizing than data on the impact of providing larger stipend amounts on REU selection, and this seems to focus more on inter-program competition for undergraduate participants than broadening overall access to research opportunities (e.g., Landis & Dagher, 2001; Mahmud & Xu, 2010).

 

  1. Data Buddies Survey data

Available data from the Data Buddies Survey (DBS) do not suggest that concerns about stipend size play an important role in students’ decisions about engaging in formal research. Across several years of data, concerns about pay are the least frequently endorsed reason for non-participation in formal research (e.g., Stout, 2018). Moreover, the percentage of undergraduates citing pay as a reason they would not participate in formal research experiences may be decreasing over time (CERP, 2021).[2]

Although a relatively small percentage of undergraduate respondents overall see low pay as a barrier to research experiences, it is still possible that specific subgroups of students are more concerned about this issue. To test this, CERP separately examined the DBS responses of several groups of students who are underrepresented in computing or who may have more financial concerns that drive their decisions about participating in research. Results from these targeted analyses show that even among these subgroups, only 10% to 15% of students report that concerns about the pay contributed to their reasons for not engaging in research.

Source: Data Buddies Survey, 2020. Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline, Computing Research Association.

 

  1. Using a broader lens: Finances and decisions about extracurricular experiences

Research looking at internship decisions also supports the notion that pay issues exist but are much less of a factor than other issues when students are considering experiences outside of their regular coursework. For example, in a study asking students in an open-ended format about why they had chosen not to do internships, responses revealed that financial concerns were mentioned by only a few students, and that the most common issues were low self-efficacy and barriers related to applying and being accepted into positions (Kapoor & Gardner-McCune, 2020).

Importantly, the financial concerns described by respondents in this study – along with other research and theorizing – suggest a need for conceptions of students’ financial decision-making about research participation that go beyond considerations of the size or provision of compensation.  For example:

  • Low-income students may need to consider the fact that REU stipends are time-limited, whereas some students need to prioritize work that provides sustained, long-term earnings (Kapoor & Gardner-McCune, 2020, Russell & Dye, 2014).
  • Low-income and non-traditional students who are already working in other jobs and considering an REU may face the loss of benefits for themselves or any family members they are supporting if they choose research participation (Bangera & Brownell, 2014; Russell & Dye, 2014).
  • Students from underrepresented groups might not have the ability to relocate from their homes for a summer research position, due to family responsibilities (Bangera & Brownell, 2014).
  • For some students, acceptance of stipends for research many have implications for their financial aid packages (Hewlitt, 2018).

 

  1. Summary

In sum, studies suggest that students feel that the presence of a stipend is important; stipends rank higher than most other factors in selecting a research experience. At the same time, in the few studies found that investigate this issue, few students report concerns about stipends as a barrier to REU participation, a finding which is supported by CERP Data Buddies Survey results. A small amount of data and theorizing raise issues about broader financial considerations among underrepresented groups that may also play a role in students’ decisions about research participation.

 

  1. References

Bangera, G., & Brownell, S. E. (2014). Course-based undergraduate research experiences can make scientific research more inclusive. CBE—Life Sciences Education13(4), 602-606.

Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline, (2021). Data Buddies Survey, Unpublished data.

Economy, D. R., Martin, J. P., & Kennedy, M. S. (2013, October). Factors influencing participants’ selection of individual REU sites. In 2013 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) (pp. 1257-1259). IEEE.

Economy, D. R., Sharp, J. L., Martin, J. P., & Kennedy, M. S. (2014). Factors associated with student decision-making for participation in the research experiences for undergraduates program. The International journal of engineering education30(6), 1395-1404.

Finley A., McNair T. (2013). Assessing underserved students’ engagement in high-impact practices. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges & Universities.

Hewlett, J. A. (2018). Broadening participation in undergraduate research experiences (UREs): The expanding role of the community college. CBE—Life Sciences Education17(3), es9.

Kapoor, A., & Gardner-McCune, C. (2019, February). Understanding CS undergraduate students’ professional development through the lens of internship experiences. In Proceedings of the 50th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (pp. 852-858).

Landis, E. N., & Dagher, H. J. (2001). Research Experiences for Undergraduates: Advanced Engineered Wood Composites.

Mahmud, S. M.  & Xu, C. Z. (2010). REU Program in Telematics and Cyber Physical Systems (TCPS): Sharing Strategies, Experience and Lessons Learned to Help Others. Retrieved from: http://webpages.eng.wayne.edu/~ad5781/PersonalData/PubPapers/ASEE_Jun10.pdf.

Russell, H., & Dye, H. (2014). Promoting REU participation from students in underrepresented groups. Involve, a Journal of Mathematics7(3), 403-411.

Stout, J. (2018). Understanding Why Many Undergraduate Students Don’t Participate in Research. Computing Research News, 30 (3).

[1] The survey item in both studies was listed as “stipend.” Thus, there is some ambiguity in how respondents might have been interpreting it.

[2] 21% in 2017 and 14% in 2020. However, it should be noted that the comparability of responses is somewhat limited due to a change in which respondents answered the question in 2017 versus 2020. In 2017, all respondents who had not participated in formal research were asked for their reasons why, whereas in 2020 only respondents who had not participated in formal research and did not plan to in the future were asked those questions.

Applications Are Open for the 2023 Departmental BPC Plan Workshop: March 19 Deadline


Applications are now open for the 2023 Departmental Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) Plan Workshop. This year’s workshop will be held in Atlanta, GA from May 30th– June 1st in collaboration with Morehouse College. In this workshop, departments will have the opportunity to learn more about BPC efforts from the National Science Foundation (NSF), how to create a Departmental BPC Plan, and how to best support faculty PIs submitting NSF proposals that require a BPC Plan. Consultants from BPCnet.org will be available to answer questions and provide real-time feedback about your department’s BPC Plan during the workshop.

 

Please check out the workshop website for more information about the workshop.

 

Eligibility

This workshop is open to all computing department faculty and administrators developing Departmental BPC Plans. We highly recommend (but do not require) that each department participates in the workshop in teams of 2-3. For each department, we ask that at least one participant represent the leadership (e.g., department heads, deans, etc.) at the workshop. We also encourage non-academic staff, research institute personnel, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) professionals, and leaders from other broadening participation-related organizations to attend. Registrants do not need to have prior experience developing Departmental BPC Plans. Each department may send up to three representatives to attend.

 

Funding

This workshop is funded by the NSF. Attendees will be reimbursed for their travel expenses in accordance with CRA’s Travel Policy

 

Application

Each department only needs to submit one application. The person who completes the application on behalf of the department will be asked to provide information on the other representatives (e.g., name, email). Click here to complete and submit your application by midnight Sunday, March 19th.

 

If you have any questions regarding the workshop, please reach out to bpcinfo@cra.org.

 

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CERP Research Associate Job Opening


To apply: Please send a cover letter, resume, a recent writing sample (e.g., technical report, article), and a list of 2-3 references to employment[at]cra.org. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

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The Computing Research Association (CRA) seeks a full-time employee to join our team as a Research Associate focusing on the program evaluation projects of the CRA Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline (CERP). As one of CRA’s committees, the mission of CERP is to increase diversity in the field of computing research through evaluation and research. The Center provides data resources and evaluation services to the computing community. CERP’s projects also include activities that support the computing community’s efforts to broaden participation in computing by providing resources and community building opportunities. CRA currently has 24 full-time employees with headquarters in Washington, DC. CERP has six team members focusing on its various projects and this advertised position is a new opening.

The Research Associate will be responsible for the complete evaluation cycle (i.e., planning to reporting) for a selection of programs primarily focused on broadening participation in computing at the higher education level. The Research Associate will also interact with members of the computing research community to further develop awareness of CERP and its work. Creativity, attention to detail, organization, and strong verbal and written communication skills are highly desired. The ideal candidate will be a quick learner and be able to take initiative to fulfill responsibilities with a significant level of autonomy. Collaboration and teamwork are integral to this position and CRA’s core values. A willingness to broaden one’s awareness of the Computer Science and Engineering field is a must.

Specific responsibilities include (but are not limited to):

  • Conducting program evaluation at various levels (e.g., developing evaluation plans, logic models, etc.)
  • Survey management (e.g., creation, distribution, etc.)
  • Supporting data management processes
  • Analyzing data (both quantitative and qualitative)
  • Preparing technical reports and infographics
  • Communicating with CERP collaborators and affiliates (e.g., via email, at meetings, etc.)
  • Promoting CERP’s work through blog posts and presentations
  • Supporting CRA on other projects and awards as needed

Basic Qualifications:

  • Bachelor’s degree in a social science or directly related field
  • At least 4-5 years of relevant work experience
  • Proficient knowledge of statistics and social science research methods
  • Experience supporting or conducting program evaluation
  • Strong organizational skills and attention to detail
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills
  • Familiarity with statistical software programs (i.e., SPSS and/or R)
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite (specifically Word and Excel) and G Suite (Google Sheets, Google Docs)

Desired qualifications:

  • Master’s or PhD in a social science or directly related field
  • Experience with Qualtrics survey platform
  • Familiarity with database systems
  • Data visualization skills

Position details:

  • CRA headquarters is located in Washington, DC. This position can be onsite or remote.
  • This position will involve some travel to attend meetings, conferences, and workshops.
  • This position does not require heavy lifting, but occasionally may include lifting small boxes, such as travel materials or paper (e.g., no more than 10-20 lbs).
  • This position includes sitting for long periods of time in front of a computer screen.
  • Must be eligible to work in the United States.
  • CRA offers an excellent benefits package.
  • CRA is an equal-opportunity employer.

You can also view this position on LinkedIn.

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CSGrad4US: Second Year Call for NSF Fellowship Opportunity for CS Bachelor’s/Master’s Degree Holders to Return for PhD


NSFThis post was originally published in CRA Bulletin on April 4, 2022 here.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate has announced the second year of the CSGrad4US Graduate Fellowship program.

Goal and Motivation To increase the number of diverse, domestic graduate students pursuing research and innovation careers in the CISE fields. The fellowship program, which will provide 3-year fellowship opportunities for new Ph.D. students in the computing disciplines, was released in response to the increased demand for people with a Ph.D. in CISE fields, the continued decrease of domestic students pursuing research and completing a Ph.D., and the overall small number of bachelor’s degree recipients in CS pursuing graduate school. In particular, the percentage of domestic Ph.D. students in Computer Science graduating has decreased from 69% in 1985 to 37% in 2018 [1].

NSF seeks candidates from a broad array of backgrounds and strongly encourages women, African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, Native Pacific Islanders, and persons with disabilities to apply.

Benefits

  • A year-long preparation program, organized by CRA-E and CRA-WP, in which individuals selected for the Fellowship will receive mentoring support in identifying a graduate program, finding a research mentor, and applying to graduate programs; during this year, the individuals will also have opportunities to form a network with one another and with faculty advisors;
  • For those who enroll in an accredited doctoral degree-granting program at an institution of higher education having a campus located in the United States, its territories or possessions, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an annual stipend of $34,000 for three years out of five; and
  • Cost-of-education allowance of $12,000 per year for the three years noted above to the institution of higher education.

Timeline and Eligibility
The 2022 solicitation has expanded the eligibility rules. In particular, applicants must have graduated with a bachelor’s degree in a CISE field before June 30, 2021, and can have received an MS degree.  Applications for the CSGrad4US Graduate Fellowship are due June 30, 2022.

Please visit https://www.nsf.gov/cise/CSGrad4US/ for all eligibility criteria and additional details and deadlines.

[1] Addressing the National Need for Increasing the Domestic Ph.D. Yield in Computer Science. Susanne Hambrusch, Lori Pollock, Ran Libeskind-Hadas, and Christine Alvarado, Quadrennial Paper, CRA, November 2020.

Help us publicize this unique opportunity by…

  • Forwarding this email to your faculty and alums
  • Posting on your Social Media
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NSF Supplemental Funding Available for US-India Collaborative Research


The following announcement is provided by the National Science Foundation.

National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) and Directorate for Engineering (ENG) is accepting applications for their virtual March 15th and March 22nd Building Collaborations: U.S.- India Workshop.

The joint funding opportunity, in collaboration with six Indian Technological Innovation Hubs (TIHs), aims to provide supplemental funding for collaborative projects in research areas such as AI, computer vision, controls, data science, embedded systems, edge computing, and IoT and application areas such as agriculture, climate, future manufacturing, health, and robotics. U.S. PIs with active NSF awards can apply for supplemental funding.

Please review the information about TIHs before submitting your application.

Workshop Date and Time: March 15th and March 22nd from 10:30 AM- 12:30 PM EST.

Eligible NSF Programs:

  • Computer Systems Research
  • Cyber-Physical Systems
  • Human-Centered Computing
  • Information Integration and Informatics
  • Robust Intelligence
  • Foundational Research in Robotics
  • Smart and Connected Communities
  • Energy, Power, Control, and Networks
  • Communications, Circuits, and Sensing-Systems

Application Deadline: Applications are accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis until March 1st, 2022.

How to apply? When submitting your application, please be prepared to answer questions about your active NSF grant, research expertise, the top three TIHs you would like to interact with during the workshop, and a brief description of potential areas of collaboration. If you already have an Indian research partner in mind, please encourage them to explore the TIHs for proposal and coordinate your submissions.

You can review further details about the application process here.

 


This community update is brought to you by the CRA’s Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline (CERP). CERP provides social science research and comparative evaluation for the computing community. Subscribe to the CERP newsletter & bulletin by clicking here. Volunteer for Data Buddies by signing up here.

Headshot of Tracy CampHeadshot of Tracy Camp

Tracy Camp Named Computing Research Association Executive Director


Tracy Camp

Dr. Tracy Camp

Nationally Known Computer Scientist and Diversity Advocate to Lead CRA’s Next Chapter

The Computing Research Association (CRA) today announced Dr. Tracy Camp will become the organization’s fourth Executive Director in its 50 year history. Camp, currently the Department Head of Computer Science at Colorado School of Mines (Mines), brings to the role strong experience as a leader in the computing research community at the national level, a history spearheading diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in computing, and a detailed vision for leading the organization into the future. She will assume the role on July 1, 2022.

As Executive Director, Camp will seek to build upon CRA’s existing leadership role in the computing research community and work to help the community pursue bold research visions, practice and advocate for socially responsible computing research, encourage the participation of diverse populations in research, and continue to make the case for strong federal support of science and technology.

“We are excited to bring on board someone of Tracy’s exceptional caliber,” said CRA Board Chair Nancy Amato. “She is a proven leader with an impressive breadth and depth of experience and accomplishment, both nationally and at her institution. As the Founding CS Department Head at Mines, she oversaw a major expansion of the faculty and student enrollments, while simultaneously increasing diversity.”

“Tracy possesses a broad and inclusive view of computing, a deep understanding of the funding mechanisms and reward structures that affect computing research, and excellent management capabilities and experience,” Amato continued. “She is the ideal leader for CRA’s next phase and I could not be more thrilled she said ‘yes’ to this role.”

Camp has previous experience with CRA having served for many years in various volunteer capacities. She is a current board member of the CRA Committee on Widening Participation in Computing Research, where she served as co-chair from 2011 to 2014. Camp was also an influential member of the CRA Board of Directors from 2012 to 2016. She led the committee that produced the 2017 report Generation CS: CS Undergraduate Enrollments Surge Since 2006.

“I’m extremely excited to become the next CRA Executive Director, following in the footsteps of three impressive former CRA leaders,” said Camp. “Several major issues exist in the computing research world today, which has created many opportunities for positive transformative change. I look forward to working with CRA’s exceptional staff, board members, and broader community for the benefit of computing research and society at large.”

“CRA has been instrumental in my career advancement and can and should be instrumental in the career advancement of everyone involved in computing research.”

In her new role, Camp will lead an organization with strong ties to other leading organizations in computing. Leaders in those organizations today expressed support for her appointment.

My congratulations go out to Tracy on her new role as CRA Executive Director. I look forward to collaborating with her to further extend the work of both of our organizations in bringing an ever more diverse community together in the computing professions. – Melissa Russell, Executive Director, IEEE-Computer Society

On behalf of USENIX, we are thrilled to learn of Tracy Camp’s appointment as CRA’s Executive Director. Dr. Camp is an incredibly distinguished leader in our field with an exceptional record of service and innovation–often in combination with one another. Her particular dedication to increasing representation in computing will serve CRA particularly well in its next chapter. – Casey Henderson, Executive Director, USENIX

I’m very excited to hear that Dr. Tracy Camp is joining the CRA as the new Executive Director. AAAI and CRA have worked well together on our many shared interests. We look forward to further collaborations in these exciting times for AI and computing in general.  – Bart Selman, President, AAAI

We at ACM are delighted that Tracy Camp will be joining CRA as Executive Director. Through the years, Tracy has shown her commitment to the research community, serving in leadership roles for many of the leading conferences and journals in her field. She has also worked tirelessly to broaden the participation of women in computing through her involvement with CRA-W, ACM-W and NCWIT. Tracy’s appointment is certainly in keeping with the tenor of the times, and we look forward to working with her in her new role. – Vicki Hanson, CEO and Executive Director, ACM

SIAM is excited to welcome Dr. Camp as the new executive director of CRA!  We look forward to her leadership as we work together to advance computing research and make positive impacts on our society. – Suzanne L. Weekes, Executive Director, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics

As Canada’s voice of Computer Science, CS-Can|Info-Can looks forward to working with Tracy Camp in her new role as Executive Director of CRA. Dr. Camp’s success in increasing the participation of women and students from under-represented groups majoring in Computer Science and her impressive and influential research track record will serve CRA well in its mission to represent the computing research community and to effect change that benefits both computing research and society at large. – Adele Newton, Executive Director, CSCan-InfoCan

Camp joins CRA from Colorado School of Mines, where she has been a member of the faculty since 1998, and department head of Computer Science at Mines since 2016. Camp’s research interests are in wireless networking. She is most known for improving the credibility of wireless networking simulation studies. More than 4,000 researchers in 88 countries/regions have downloaded at least one of the twelve software packages developed by her research group (as of June 2021) and her research articles have been cited 14,794 times (per Google Scholar, as of June 2021).

Camp has received over 20 grants from the National Science Foundation, including a prestigious CAREER award. In total, her projects have received over $20 million dollars in external funding.

Camp is an ACM Fellow, an IEEE Fellow, and an ACM Distinguished Lecturer. She was a Fulbright Scholar in New Zealand in 2006, and a Distinguished Visitor at the University of Bonn in Germany in 2010. She earned her B.A. in mathematics at Kalamazoo College, M.S. in computer science from Michigan State University, and Ph.D. in computer science from the College of William and Mary.

Camp will be the first woman to serve as Executive Director at CRA. She succeeds Andrew Bernat, who served CRA for nearly 20 years before retiring in September, 2021. Peter Harsha, CRA’s Director of Government Affairs, will continue to serve as CRA’s Interim Executive Director until July 1, 2022.

About CRA
CRA represents more than 200 North American organizations active in computing research: academic departments of computer science and computer engineering; laboratories and centers in industry, government and academia; and affiliated professional societies. Its mission is to catalyze computing research by joining with industry, government and academia – a role it plays by leading the computing research community; informing policymakers and the public, and championing a diverse, welcoming, equitable, and socially responsible computing research community. For more information, see cra.org.

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NSF STEM Career Pathways for Veterans


The following information was first published on November 9, 2021, by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

NSF is expanding its STEM career and education pathways to support the nearly 200,000 veterans returning to civilian life yearly. The agency is committed to encouraging veterans to pursue careers in STEM and Computer Science. Their programs range from providing professional development resources to prepare veterans for careers in computing to training the next generation of cybersecurity experts.

You can view the range of NSF programs here.


BPCnet.org Resource Portal is an initiative of the Computing Research Association (CRA) with support from the National Science Foundation (CNS-1830364, CNS-2032231, and CNS-1940460). Subscribe to the BPCnet.org newsletter & bulletin by clicking here.