Tag Archive: CERP Infographics

These infographics are 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. To learn more about CERP, visit our website.

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number (CNS-1246649; DUE-1431112). 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.

Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science (DIMACS) REU program


As part of our comparative evaluation services, we compared critical outcomes of undergraduate computing students who had participated in the Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science (DIMACS) REU program to students who had other research experiences. Students who had participated in the DIMACS REU program reported greater gains in knowledge about graduate school, more interest in pursuing a research career, and more motivation to attain a PhD in computing or math compared to non-DIMACS students with other research experiences, ps < .05.

College graduates talk about why they weren’t involved in more activities while earning their B.S. in computing


We asked 161 college graduates who had earned a B.S. in computing to think about activities they wished they had participated in during their undergraduate career, but had not. Then, we asked “what prevented you from participating in those activities?” As seen from the graphic above, the most prominent hindrance to participating in activities was Time. This finding highlights the time-constraining nature of the undergraduate experience, particularly among computing students.

Where are They Now? REU Participants


We administered a post-graduation survey to students 1-2 years after they had earned their B.S. in computing to assess their current career status. Survey respondents were more likely to be enrolled in a PhD computing graduate program if they had participated in a CRA-W/CDC-sponsored Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) than if they had participated in Other REUs or No REUs, p < .05.

Among women, U.S. citizens indicated that dependable employment was less important in their decision to pursue a PhD in computing than non-citizens


First year graduate students enrolled in a Ph.D. program in computing (N = 129) were asked How important was each of the following factors in your decision to pursue your current graduate degree in computing? Salary potential; Dependable employment; Career opportunities/advancement outside of academia. Responses ranged from (1) Not at all to (5) Extremely.

CRA-W/CDC Summer REU Programs Report More Experience With Publication Process


Undergraduate students who had participated in summer REUs were asked about the degree to which they obtained experience with the publication process while engaged in those REUs. Participants in CRA-W/CDC summer REU programs indicated that they had obtained significantly more experience with the publication process than students who had taken part in other summer REUs, p ≤ .05. Click here for full details.