Distributed Research Experience for Undergraduates: Catching up with DREU Alumna Olivia Figueira


When did you participate in DREU and what was your project about?
I participated in a DREU program in the summer of 2019 at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. I worked with Dr. Jennifer Mankoff in her Make4All lab on a project aimed at finding the contribution of correlated stressors on mental health in college students.

How did DREU shape your research career?
DREU has shaped my research career in that it was my first official research experience and I really enjoyed it! I have had the goal of going to graduate school for a while, but I did not have any research experience off which I could base that goal. But after DREU, I feel even more excited and passionate to go to graduate school than ever before. It gave me a very unique view of the graduate school experience since I worked closely with a doctoral student in the lab, and I learned so much about conducting research at the graduate level. DREU allowed me to picture what graduate school could look like for me, and I am really excited about that prospect.

What advice would you have for DREU mentors and DREU student participants?
The best piece of advice I received during my DREU program was during a meet-and-greet lunch for undergraduate interns, graduate students, and visiting research interns in the computer science and engineering school that was held in my first week at UW. The graduate students were participating in a panel, and one of them, in response to the question “What do you wish you had known before you started your Ph.D.?”, said that they wished they knew that it was okay to not have all the answers and to ask questions, especially questions that they think are “dumb.” This really resonated with me as I felt somewhat unprepared having had no prior research experience, but I embraced that piece of advice and asked questions immediately when I had doubts, even if I felt like they were “dumb” questions, because clearly no one there is “dumb”! It really enhanced my experience since I was able to understand the project better and learn more from my mentor and the other students on my team. On the mentor side of things, I would advise them to tell their DREU students this advice! It helps the DREU student feel like they are in a safe environment and that learning (and making mistakes) is okay. This enhanced my DREU experience, and I hope other DREU students and mentors do the same!

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A Broader Case for Diversity and Inclusion: CRA-Women Transitioning to CRA-Widening Participation


By the CRA Committee on Widening Participation in Computing Research 

It is with great excitement that we share with our friends, colleagues, and broader computing community that CRA Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W) is now officially CRA Committee on Widening Participation in Computing Research (CRA-WP). CRA-W was established in 1991 with the mission of increasing the success and participation of women in Computing Research. Since that time, we have organized numerous programs at various levels to engage, encourage, and sustain women in computing. In 2004, CRA-W first partnered with the Coalition to Diversify Computing (CDC) to engage and increase the participation of individuals from additional underrepresented groups in computing. In 2008, this partnership became a BPC Alliance, further expanding and strengthening our outreach and programmatic efforts. Over the past decade, our programs have quite naturally shifted from being initially women-only or women-focused, to being increasingly co-ed, with a mission of serving a wide range of constituencies. This natural progression towards broadening our scope to address all forms of underrepresentation in computing continues to motivate and drive our extremely dedicated board of volunteers.

Balancing Workload and How to Say No


By Gail C. Murphy, Joanne M. Atlee Being a female professor in computing is a great career, full of opportunities to teach others the power of computation and conduct research into computational solutions that attack some of the world’s hardest problems and shape the world of the future. For female faculty members, additional opportunities abound […]

CRA-W Distinguished Lecturers, Margaret Burnett and Rebecca Wright, Inspire Students at NJWIC


CRA-W Distinguished Lecture Series sent two speakers to the NJ Women In Computing celebration. Dr. Margaret Burnett and Dr. Rebecca Wright were a tremendous asset to the NJ Women In Computing celebration and NCWIT award ceremony. They presented awards to female high school and college students who have demonstrated great potential in computing.  Their talks […]

CRA-W Distinguished Lecturers attend WiCyS 2018


Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) hosted their fifth annual Women in Cybersecurity event on March 23 through March 24 at the Hilton Downtown Chicago with pre-conference activities on March 22. WiCyS continues to innovatively expand its mission to bring together women in cybersecurity from academia, research and industry. WiCyS is designed to be a forum for […]

CRA-W’s Distinguished Lecture Series Sends ACM Distinguished Speaker Qi Han to TRIWiC


By Alisa Neeman, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Muskingum University 211 participants gathered February 9-10 in Cincinnati, Ohio, for the Tri-State Women in Computing Conference (TRIWiC 2018). The conference hosted three plenary speakers: Liz Mundy, the New York Times best selling author of Code Girls: The Untold Story of American Women Code Breakers of World War […]

Thank You 2017 CRA-W Virtuous Cycle of Giving Donors!


Thank you to the many generous donors who contributed to the 2017 CRA-W Virtuous Cycle of Giving: Supporters:  Sarita Adve, Stephanie E. August, Andrew Bernat, Hang Chen, Monika Ciecka, Lori Clarke, Anne Condon, Adina Crainiceanu, Dilma Da Silva, Siobahn C. Day, Marie DesJardins, Barbara Di Eugenio, Fei Fang, Gayatri Gadepalli, Leah Jamieson, I-Ting Angelina Lee, […]