Archive of articles published in the 2020 issue.

CCC Announces New Council Members


CRA, in consultation with the National Science Foundation, has appointed six new members to the Computing Community Consortium Council: Kathleen Fisher, William D. Gropp, Brian LaMacchia, Melanie Moses, Helen Nissenbaum, and Holly Yanco. Beginning July 1, the new members will each serve three-year terms.

Former CRA Board Member and CRA-W Co-Chair Leah H. Jamieson Receives the IEEE James H. Mulligan, Jr. Education Medal


The Computing Research Association extends a heartfelt congratulations to former board member and CRA-W Co-Chair Leah H. Jamieson for receiving the IEEE James H. Mulligan, Jr. Education Medal to honor her “contributions to the promotion, innovation, and inclusivity of engineering education.”

CRA-WP is humbled to receive a generous contribution from Jamieson’s award as she looks to highlight “organizations that played [a] significant role in enabling and shaping the contribution” she is recognized for today. This contribution to CRA-WP programs will be used to support the success and participation of women, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities in computing research and education at all levels.

Ellen ZeguraEllen Zegura

Message from the CRA Board Chair


To the computing research community –

From my calendar, March 4, 2020: Working on a Mobicom submission, meeting a faculty candidate one-on-one, meeting with two students for an ongoing research project, meeting with the undergraduate lead for the Bits of Good student organization, talking by phone to a department chair about a two-body opportunity. Anticipating my younger daughter coming home for spring break. Going to yoga.

4 weeks later: BlueJeans presentations by three project participants, BlueJeans faculty candidate talk, Skype research meeting with two students on same ongoing research project, Zoom call about CRA strategic planning, BlueJeans student presentation for Bits of Good organization, one more BlueJeans meeting. Daughter is home for good. Yoga by YouTube.

Much is the same. Surprisingly much is the same. But also everything is different.

SnowbirdSnowbird

CRA Conference at Snowbird


CRA continues to monitor the situation concerning COVID-19 and its potential impact on our upcoming Conference at Snowbird, July 21-23, 2020. At the moment, the circumstances still remain too uncertain for us to make any decisions about whether the conference will take place as planned.

We believe there is great value in bringing together the leadership of the computing research community in-person at Snowbird and will do all that we can to make that happen this July. A draft of the schedule can be found here. But, obviously, health and safety concerns are paramount and we plan to heed Federal, State and local guidance about travel and public gatherings.

While we are not yet sure when we will make the decision to go ahead with the conference as in the past or modify it in some form, our intention is to decide with sufficient time for those who plan to attend to make their arrangements. Until then, it may be worthwhile to hold off on making travel plans.

If you have any questions about the conference, please direct them to snowbird@cra.org.

2020 New Board Members2020 New Board Members

2020 Board Election Results and New Appointed Board Members


CRA members have elected three new members to its Board of Directors: Alex Aiken, Cindy Bethel and Fatma Özcan. Nancy Amato, Carla Brodley, Dan Grossman and Kim Hazelwood were re-elected to the CRA board. Mary Hall and Mark Hill, who held non-elected positions on the board, have also been elected. All of their terms run from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2023. CRA would like to thank everyone who agreed to run this year. There have also been changes to the appointed members to the board. Kathleen Fisher has been appointed the new ACM
representative, replacing Mary Hall and joining Alexander Wolf. Beginning July 1, Liz Bradley will replace Mark Hill as the CCC Chair and representative on the board.

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Expanding the Pipeline: CRA-WP Grad Cohort for URMD Workshop – An inclusive environment for diverse graduate students in computing


On March 5-7, 2020, CRA-WP hosted the 2020 Grad Cohort for Underrepresented Minorities and Persons with Disabilities (URMD) Workshop in Austin, TX.  Now in its third year, the workshop brought together approximately 200 graduate students from groups that are underrepresented in computing (including Alaska Native, Black/African American, Hispanic, Native American, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, and/or Persons with Disabilities). Collectively, they represented a diverse set of computing-related research areas and more than 90 institutions. By developing meaningful connections with a focus on mentoring and community building, the workshop aims to increase representation from these groups in computing research. Graduate students also learn research skills and career strategies from experienced researchers and professionals.

Arrows leading from a diploma to graduate educationArrows leading from a diploma to graduate education

The Many Pathways to Graduate Education in Computing


We analyzed students’ post bachelor’s degree plans and their intentions for the highest degree they plan to pursue. Our analysis found that not only are the pathways students expect to take not direct but also the shape of these pathways potentially differs for students of different racial/ethnic and gender identities.