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CERP Bulletin

The CERP Bulletin frequently shares news, timely information about CERP initiatives, and items of interest to the general community.
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Tag Archive: Diversity

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

April 18, 2022/In: Homepage, NoRSS /by Heather Wright

This 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.

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NSF Extends Application Deadline to April 27, 2021, for CSGrad4US: New NSF Fellowship Opportunity for CISE Bachelor’s Degree Holders to Return for PhD

April 14, 2021/In: Homepage /by Colin Karnes

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate has announced the new CSGrad4US Graduate Fellowship program that aims to increase the number of diverse, domestic graduate students pursuing research and innovation careers in the CISE fields. The new fellowship, 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 computer science (CS), 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 CS graduating has decreased from 69% in 1985 to 37% in 2018 [1].

Eligibility
CSGrad4US Fellowship applicants must meet the following eligibility criteria:

Be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident;
Intend to apply for full-time enrollment in a research-based doctoral degree program in a CISE field (computer science, computer engineering, or information science) no later than Fall 2023;
Have graduated with a bachelor’s degree in a CISE field between July 1, 2016, and June 31, 2019;
Not be enrolled in a master’s or doctoral degree-granting program for a CISE
discipline at the time of the application (other than a professional master’s degree
program); and
Have never previously accepted an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

Timeline
The Application deadline for the CSGrad4US Graduate Fellowship has been extended and is now due April 27, 2021, by 5:00 pm submitter local time. Please visit https://www.nsf.gov/cise/CSGrad4US/ for additional details and deadlines.

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

Racial Equity in STEM Education (EHR Racial Equity)

April 12, 2021/In: Homepage /by Colin Karnes

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) is soliciting proposals for projects addressing systemic racism in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce development through research and practice. Those who have been impacted by the inequities caused by system racism should be the primary focus for all proposals. Competitive proposals will be clear with respect to how the work will advance racial equity and address system racism.

Proposals should articulate a plan to generate knowledge through research and practice, such as:

building theory
developing methods
testing approaches and interventions
assessing the potential, efficacy, effectiveness, and scalability of approaches and interventions
establishing, cultivating, and assessing authentic partnerships
changing institutional, organizational, and structural practices and policies
focusing on affective, behavioral, cultural, social components, and implications

The first full proposal deadline date is July 13, 2021. For more information, please visit the program funding page here.

Prospective PIs are encouraged to send a one-page concept paper to EHRRacialequityPD@nsf.gov in advance of submitting a proposal.

Program Solicitation: Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC)

March 26, 2021/In: Homepage /by Colin Karnes

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) is currently accepting proposals from the computing community for Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) projects aimed at increasing the representation of historically underrepresented groups in the discipline. These groups may include women, persons with disabilities, Blacks and African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.

The BPC program supports three categories of awards:

Alliances: Alliances operate across multiple stages of the academic pipeline and address one or several intended groups that are underrepresented. Existing Alliances with documented impact on BPC may apply for additional funding.
Demonstration Projects (DPs): Typical DPs pilot innovative programs that, once fully developed, could be incorporated into the activities of an existing or new Alliance, or otherwise scaled up for widespread impact. Examples include projects proposed by a single institution or those that focus on a single underrepresented community, a single point in the academic pathway, or a single impediment to full participation in computing.
Supplements: Supplements to existing CISE research awards are intended to engage more members of the computing research community in significant BPC efforts as part of a project’s BPC plan.

The deadline for submitting proposals is June 14, 2021 by 5 PM submitter’s local time.

Proposals may only be submitted by institutions of higher education, non-profit or non-academic organizations, and state and local governments. For more information, please review the program solicitation in its entirety by clicking the link provided below.

SIGCSE 2021 Panel Recap: How Student Surveys Drive Change: Using the Data Buddies Department Report from the Computing Research Association

March 17, 2021/In: Homepage /by Colin Karnes

On Monday, March 15, CRA’s Director of the Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline (CERP) Burçin Tamer was a panelist at the SIGCSE 2021 session, “How Student Surveys Drive Change: Using the Data Buddies Department Report from the Computing Research Association.” Tamer and other panelists discussed how departments have used their students’ responses to the Data Buddies Survey to make meaningful changes in their department. You can read more about the Data Buddies Survey here. To become a Data Buddies partner department, you can sign-up here.

You can find the session slides and a video overview of the panel by clicking the link provided below.

Computer and Information Science and Engineering Minority-Serving Institutions Research Expansion Program (CISE-MSI Program)

March 16, 2021/In: Homepage /by Colin Karnes

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) is launching a new program to support research expansion for Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). The goal of the program is to increase the number of CISE-funded research projects from MSIs. MSIs are vital to the broadening participation community and are encouraged to submit a proposal. NSF hosted a webinar on the program in December 2020. You can find the slides, audio and transcript from that webinar on the NSF website here.

The deadline for proposal submissions is April 15th, 2021.

The 2021 Academic Careers Workshop: Applications Now Open

March 15, 2021/In: Homepage /by Colin Karnes

The 2021 Academic Careers Workshop will be held virtually from June 13-19, 2021 and will consist of 2-3 hour sessions each day. The workshop will include panel sessions from faculty discussing the following topics:

Tenure and promotion process
Launching a research program
Effective teaching strategies
Promotion to full professor
Effective strategies for proposal writing
Affinity Research Group Model for effect research teams

Additionally, the workshop will feature a panel of representatives from various funding agencies and mock proposal review sessions, offering insight into real-world proposal writing and review.

Those interested in attending the workshop should submit an application by March 31, 2021.

For additional information, please visit the CMD-iT website by clicking here.

“Valuing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Our Computing Community” Panel on March 3rd

February 19, 2021/In: Homepage /by Colin Karnes

At this year’s co-located HPCA’21, PPoPP’21, CGO’21 and CC’21 virtual conferences, CRA Board Member Timothy M. Pinkston will moderate the panel titled “Valuing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Our Computing Community” on March 3^rd from 1:30 to 3 PM (EST).

Panel Abstract: There is a movement occurring broadly across many scientific and engineering fields, including widely within our computing community, toward making tangible progress through intentional actions and interventions for advancing and valuing diversity, equity, and inclusion. There is also a movement toward dismantling structural and/or systemic factors—especially but not limited to racial and gender biases—that may be standing in the way of making much needed progress in advancing and valuing diversity, equity, and inclusion fully. Similar to those in other technical fields, we as a computing community are faced with the persistent key question: What more can and should be done? At this panel (see full description here), which is broadly accessible to the larger computing community, this and other important questions will be discussed by a stellar set of world-renowned computing researchers who value diversity, equity, and inclusion. From this open and lively discussion, our hope is attendees will be better positioned to make measurable progress in bringing about continual, significant, and sustained change that shall enable gainful strides in further valuing diversity, equity and inclusion within our computing community.

The panel session is free and open to the public. Register here. Find out more by visiting the link provided below.

2020 State of Computer Science Education Report

January 1, 2021/In: Homepage /by Colin Karnes

The 2020 State of Computer Science Education Report on Illuminating Disparities was recently released by the Code.org Advocacy Coalition, Computer Science Teachers Association, and the Expanding Computing Education Pathways Alliance. The report contains trends and highlights of computer science education in the United States.

Included in the report are the 9 Policy Principles of Computer Science Education, which form the framework for the future of computer science across the country. A primary area of focus is centered around issues related to racial disparity in data and the growing momentum towards a more inclusive future for those historically excluded from computer science.

The report argues for a nation-wide effort to include computer science in classrooms across the United States. With the challenges of remote learning, lack of financial resources, and disparities in access to comprehensive computer science education, it is now more important than ever to understand the challenges and opportunities that computer science education faces in the United States.

You can find the full report by clicking on the link provided below.