Tag Archive: CERP

Articles relevant to the CRA Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline (CERP).

DiversityDiversity

Mentoring the Whole STEM Person: Advancing LGBTQ+ students and professionals

By: By Allison Mattheis, Rochelle Diamond, and Mary FernándezIn: /

January is National Mentoring Month, a great time to learn how mentoring can help support students and professionals in computing research, and in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) more generally. Mentoring is especially important for individuals in STEM from underrepresented groups in promoting persistence and success in education and professional settings. Effective mentoring programs help mentors and mentees consider various attributes of their identities and experience, like race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and educational background, which may influence their persistence and success. Although effective programs aim to support the whole person, gender identity and expression and sexuality orientation are often overlooked.

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CRAGuest Article

Racial/ethnic Minority Students Who are CDC/CRA-W REU Participants are Particularly Likely to Apply to a Graduate Program in Computing

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A sample of racial/ethnic minority undergraduate students graduating with a computing major (n = 201) reported whether they had applied to a graduate program in the fall. Students who had participated in a CDC/CRA-W REU program were significantly more likely to have applied to graduate program in computing than their peers with no undergraduate research experience (p < .05). Among students who had other research experiences and students with no research experience, there was no difference in graduate school application rates (p = .13). Importantly, this analysis controlled for students’ college GPA and parental education level, indicating that participating in a CDC/CRA-W REU program predicted applying to a computing graduate program over and above GPA and parental education level.

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CERP

Shining the Spotlight on Undergraduate LGBTQ Women

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CERP surveyed 101 undergraduate students majoring in a computing field who indicated that they had seriously considered changing to a non-computing major. Of those students, 7% identified as LGBTQ women, 7% identified as LGBTQ men, 27% identified as heterosexual women, and 59% identified as heterosexual men. When asked to indicate the reason they thought about changing their major. LGBTQ women were significantly more likely than their male LGBTQ and heterosexual peers to have considered leaving their major due to a low sense of belonging in computing, p < .05. These findings suggest the field of computing should take significant efforts to enhance LGBTQ women’s sense of belonging in computing.

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CERP
Gosha with StudentsGosha with Students

CRA-W/CDC REU Programs Encourage Minorities to Pursue Ph.D.s in Computing

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Part of CRA’s mission is to facilitate the development of strong, diverse talent in the field. CRA takes action to help increase and strengthen the computing workforce through programs such as the Collaborative Research Experiences for Undergraduates (CREU) and Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates (DREU) programs.

The 2014 Taulbee Survey reports 152 African-American students enrolled in computer science Ph.D. programs–only 1.3 percent of the total students enrolled. Despite these low numbers, there is not a shortage of success stories. Morehouse College, a historically black institution, produces 13 percent of the male African-American Ph.D. students. I recently caught up with Kinnis Gosha, assistant professor of computer science and director of the Culturally Relevant Computing Lab (CRCL) at Morehouse College. Gosha has a Ph.D. in Human-Centered Computing and started the CRCL in 2011. The lab investigates research problems centered on creating innovative computing technologies to solve cultural problems and issues.

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CRA-WP

BRAID/CRA Collaboration to Study and Evaluate Diversity Initiatives in Computing

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CRA’s Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline (CERP) will be working with Linda Sax, Professor of Education at UCLA, and a team of graduate students, on the research component of the Building Recruiting and Inclusion for Diversity (BRAID) initiative. The BRAID initiative was established in 2014 by Harvey Mudd College and the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, and currently involves 15 computing departments across the U.S. that are committed to recruiting and retaining women as well as underrepresented men in computing majors. To that end, BRAID departments implement changes to their introductory computer science courses, and pathways into the major, as well as improve departmental climate, and promote outreach efforts for students.

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CERP

Ph.D. recipients in computing fields are primarily non-U.S. residents in most states in the U.S.

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Overall, non-US residents received 1,210 (54%) of the 2,244 computing related Ph.D. degrees awarded in the U.S. in 2013. This map illustrates that while non-U.S. residents received more than 50% of the Ph.D.s awarded in the majority of states, there was considerable variation across the states. Interestingly, a Pearson correlation test indicates that the proportion of computing Ph.D. degrees awarded to non-residents in each state was not related to the number of Ph.D. programs available in each state, r = .03, p = .83.

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CERP

Where are they now?

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Overwhelmingly, Grad Cohort women are employed in industry/government positions. In 2015, CERP followed up with women who had attended a CRA-W Grad Cohort Workshop between 2004 and 2012. Survey respondents (n = 371) provided the following current employment information: 70% were employed, 26% were graduate students, and 4% who were unemployed. Of those who responded that they were employed (n = 258), 64% indicated they were employed in an industry/government setting, 32% were in academia, and 4% in other settings.

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CERP

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

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Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Graduate students contemplate leaving their program due to problems in the academic environment and economic stressors, but stay in their program thanks to support from family, friends, and advisors

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CERP
Headshot of Ama Nyame-MensahHeadshot of Ama Nyame-Mensah

Farewell to Ama Nyame-Mensah

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Ama Nyame-Mensah, former CERP Research Associate, has left the CRA to pursue a Ph.D. program in social welfare at the University of Pennsylvania. While working at CERP, Ama focused on understanding the benefits of research experiences for undergraduates (REUs) on academic and professional aspirations among students of racial/ethnic minority. Ama also helped streamline the department reporting initiative for the Data Buddies Project. The CRA will miss Ama’s attention to detail, and technical prowess. We wish her well as she continues along her career path.

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CERP
Burçin TamerBurçin Tamer

CRA and CERP Welcome New Staff Member

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In May, CRA welcomed a new staff member to the Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline, Burçin Tamer, Ph.D. At CERP, she will use her quantitative expertise to help evaluate programs aimed at promoting diversity in computing fields.

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CERP

Terminal M.S. Students Who Participate in the CRA-W’s Grad Cohort Show Increased Interest in Pursuing a Ph.D.

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During the spring of 2015, 63 Terminal Masters students who had participated in the CRA-W’s annual Grad Cohort mentoring event for women graduate students responded to the following: How interested are you in ultimately pursuing a PhD in a computing field? Respondents answer this question two weeks prior to and two weeks after Grad Cohort using the following scale: Not at all, A little, Somewhat, Quite a bit, Extremely.

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CERP