Applications are now open for the 2019 CRA-W Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC) Research Scholars Program. This program provides guidance to undergraduate women on how to navigate the vast offerings at the GHC conference and opportunities to meet and interact with students and mentors with similar interests in small-group settings. The program will include gatherings on the first and last days of the conference, as well as research-focused activities that all Research Scholars will be required to attend. To learn more, visit the CRA-W GHC Research Scholars Program webpage.

The application deadline is April 5, 2019. Click here to submit an application.

Find out what participants thought about the 2018 CRA-W Grad Cohort for Women in this recently released video. In testimonials collected at the end of the workshop, a resounding theme was the participants’ renewed motivation to complete their Ph.D.

Congratulations to the recipients of the 2019 Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award. This year’s nominees are a very impressive group. A number of them were commended for making significant contributions to more than one research project, several are authors or coauthors on multiple papers, others have made presentations at major conferences, and some have produced software artifacts that are in widespread use.

CRA gratefully acknowledges the support of Microsoft Research and Mitsubishi Electric Research Labs which sponsor the Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award program in alternate years. Microsoft Research is the sponsor of this year’s award.

By Mary Hall, Richard Ladner, Diane Levitt, and Manuel Pérez-Quiñones

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) recently introduced new requirements for the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate programs, whereby some funded projects must include a Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) Plan. To facilitate this transition, the Computing Research Association (CRA) is launching a resource portal called BPCnet which is being funded by NSF to connect organizations that provide BPC programs with computing departments and NSF grant proposers. These changes reflect a recognition that any significant impact on the diversity of the field will benefit greatly from engaging the entire academic computing research community. Many universities will respond by expanding their broadening participation efforts to include students from groups who are underrepresented in computing, including women, underrepresented minorities, and students with disabilities (URMD). This article lists 10 small steps that departments can do toward this goal.   

Ayanna Howard and Maria Klawe were recently recognized on Forbes America’s Top 50 Women in Tech List. The Top 50 Women In Tech is an unranked assessment of technologists in five categories: Moguls, Founders, Innovators, Engineers and Warriors. The list showcases the breadth and depth of entrepreneurial women who are changing the world.

Ayanna Howard is a CRA and CRA-W Board Member from Georgia Tech. Maria Klawe is a former CRA Board Member and a CRA-W Founder from Harvey Mudd College.

View the full list at: https://www.forbes.com/top-tech-women-america/list/.