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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

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

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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.
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[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

BPCnet.org is Hiring BPC Plan Consultants

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About BPCnet.org: BPCnet.org, housed within the Computing Research Association (CRA), is a resource for the computing community to learn about Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) efforts and engage with ongoing initiatives to diversify computing. In that effort, BPCnet.org supports PIs and departments to create BPC Plans that define how they will contribute to broadening participation in computing (BPC) in a meaningful way.

Description: BPCnet.org seeks consultants to support academic institutions to craft BPC Plans for their respective departments. The consultants will primarily work with PIs and departments to help draft and revise meaningful Departmental and Project “Connected and Standalone” BPC Plans (Connected and Standalone) under the NSF CISE guidelines, and with the support of rubrics and sample plans. The consultation process includes virtual meetings with departments,  providing feedback on drafts, and using a pre-established checklist and criteria for verifying Departmental BPC Plans.

Types of Consultants:

  • Provides consultations about Departmental and Project BPC Plans only (virtually meets with departments)
  • Reviews and verifies Departmental BPC Plans only
  • Provides consultations about Departmental and Project BPC Plans, and reviews and verifies Departmental BPC Plans

Time Commitment: Max. 10 hours/ month. BPC Plan consultants have flexible schedules; however, consultants will need to provide their availability for each semester. Consultants will also participate in BPC Plan Workshops and virtual Working Sessions as their schedules permit.

Compensation: Hourly

Experience and Training: BPC Plan consultants are expected to have a prior engagement with BPC through BPC activities in their respective organizations and/or research experience. BPCnet.org staff and Steering Committee will also provide consultants with the appropriate training and continuous guidance needed to review and verify Plans.

Application Process: Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. If you’re interested in becoming a BPC Plan Consultant, please fill out this form. You can expect to hear from BPCnet.org staff about the next steps within a few weeks of submitting your application.

CRA is an equal opportunity employer. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about the BPC Plan Consultancy, please contact us at bpcinfo@cra.org.

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NSF Supplemental Funding Available for US-India Collaborative Research

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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.

Attend Upcoming Departmental BPC Plan Working Sessions from BPCnet.org

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate of Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering (CISE) announced an updated Core Programs solicitation (NSF 21-616) with new guidelines for submitting Project Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) Plans. BPCnet.org has a full announcement about these changes published here.

All Medium project proposals to the Core Programs solicitation (NSF 21-616) are due December 1, 2021 – December 22, 2021. In preparation for the proposal due date, BPCnet.org is hosting two working sessions on October 22nd (2:00 PM – 4:00 PM ET) and November 18th (3:00 PM – 5:00 PM ET).

These working sessions will be tailored toward departments that are seeking to update an existing Departmental BPC Plan or create a new one.

More details, along with an agenda and registration, can be found here on BPCnet.org.

Questions about these Departmental BPC Plan Working Sessions should be directed to bpcinfo@cra.org or through our contact form 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.

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ADVANCE: Organizational Change for Gender Equity in STEM Academic Professions

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) is soliciting proposals for it’s ADVANCE program. The program is seeking proposals that build on prior NSF ADVANCE work and other research and literature concerning gender, racial and ethnic equity.

The solicitation includes four funding tracks:

  • The Institutional Transformation (IT) track
  • The Adaptation track
  • The Partnership track
  • The Catalyst track

Please note that NSF ADVANCE does not provide fellowships, research, or travel grants to individual students, postdoctoral researchers, or faculty to pursue STEM degrees or research.

For more information on the ADVANCE proposals, please visit the NSF funding page here.

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CISE Research Initiation Initiative (CRII)

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The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) is seeking proposals to support research independence among early-career academics specifically lacking access to adequate resources for its CISE Research Initiation Initiative (CRII) program. The CRII program seeks to provide essential resources to enable early-career PIs to launch their research careers. 

Funds obtained through this program will be used to support untenured faculty or research scientists in their first three years in a primary academic position after their PhD, but not more than six years after completion of their PhD for proposals submitted in 2021, and not more than five years after completion of their PhD for proposals submitted after 2021. Proposals may be submitted by two- and four-year Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) located in the US and non-profit, non-academic organizations. Applicants for this program may not yet have received any other grants or contracts in the PI role from any department, agency, or institution of the federal government, including from the CAREER program or any other program, post-PhD, regardless of the size of the grant or contract, with certain exceptions as noted below. 

The deadline for full proposals is September 20, 2021. For more information, click the link provided below.

Read More

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Call for BPC Reviewers

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The National Science Foundation is now preparing for proposal submissions for the Broadening Participation in Computing  (NSF 21-571) program.  The BPC program seeks to engage the computing community to develop and implement innovative methods, frameworks, and strategies to improve recruitment and retention of these students through undergraduate and graduate degrees.  The quality of the awards selected for support by the National Science Foundation depends greatly on the critical judgments of expert reviewers from diverse backgrounds. If you are willing to serve as a reviewer, please follow the link below to provide some information about your background.  Responses submitted by June 20 will be most helpful.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2021EWF

We realize that now is still a severely disruptive time. Please do not take this request as a lack of recognition of what you are going through at the moment. Yet, many researchers are relying on NSF funding, so we are trying to maintain a steady stream of proposal evaluations and awards. We really appreciate any help you could provide in this endeavor.

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Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) Program Solicitation Webinar

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) is hosting a webinar on the Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) program solicitation (NSF 21-571) on May 4, 2021 starting at 2:00 pm Eastern Time. 

The webinar will take place via Zoom. It will include a briefing on the 2021 BPC program and key solicitation requirements, followed by a question-and-answer session. Prior to the webinar, you can submit questions to cise-bpc@nsf.gov.

Click here to register in advance for this webinar.

After registering, a confirmation email will be sent containing information about how to join the webinar. Participants will be able to join in listen-only mode and interact through the Q&A function.

For more information about the webinar, please go to https://www.nsf.gov/events/event_summ.jsp?cntn_id=302618

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CRA Receives NSF Award to Develop a Mentoring Program for NSF’s CSGrad4US Graduate Fellowship

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In response to the National Science Foundation (NSF) Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate’s recently announced CSGrad4US Fellowship program, the Computing Research Association’s Education (CRA-E) and Widening Participation (CRA-WP) committees are working to develop a CSGrad4US Mentoring Program for recipients of the CSGrad4US Fellowship. 

Funded by the National Science Foundation (award #2123180), the goals of the CS Grad4US Mentoring Program are (1) to guide returning students through the application process towards a successful CS Ph.D. admission and school selection and (2) to mentor them through the transition to Ph.D. graduate study during the first year. The program will include both a group mentoring component addressing general aspects of the graduate application process and an individual coaching component. Specific topics include the admissions process, preparation of all components of a strong graduate application, differences between graduate programs at different institutions, and how to compare programs with respect to the Fellow’s goals and background, and general guidelines on making a selection among admission acceptances.

The CSGrad4US Mentoring Program will provide not only general graduate application advice and guidance, but also provide missing larger context and network to students returning from the workforce. These goals are achieved through group mentoring sessions followed by individual coaching during the application and decision making process and the first year in graduate school.

With an understanding of the myriad pathways into computing research, the mentoring program aims to support students with varying levels of research experience, including those with no prior research experience. The mentoring program will be led by Erik Russell (Computing Research Association), and co-PIs: Susanne Hambrusch (Purdue University), Lori Pollock (University of Delaware), Maria Gini (University of Minnesota), and Russ Joseph (Northwestern University).

Are you interested in serving as a mentor or coach? 

The mentor and coach application is now available on the CS Grad4US Mentoring Program webpage.