Tag Archive: CERP
Articles relevant to the CRA Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline (CERP).
CERP evaluated the CCC Early Career Researcher Symposium held in Washington, D.C. during August 2018. Evaluation findings showed that participants of the symposium gained potential collaborators for future work. These findings highlight a key feature of the symposium, which was to encourage networking and discussions among peers and leaders from the field.
In 2018, CRA launched the Grad Cohort for Underrepresented Minorities + Persons with Disabilities (Grad Cohort URMD) workshop. CERP found that compared to before the workshop, participants reported stronger knowledge about a number of professional skills after attending Grad Cohort URMD. Applications for the 2019 workshop will open October 2018.
Diversity-focused conferences such as the Grace Hopper Celebration and Richard Tapia Conference provide an opportunity for students who are underrepresented in computing to meet other students and professionals who have similar experiences. Data Buddies Survey data show that students who participated in these conferences feel more confident in their ability to complete their degree in computing than the students who did not participate.
Enrollments in master’s CS degree programs continue to rise. Compared to master’s students in traditional degree programs, online master’s students report lower levels of mentorship support. Departments should consider ways to increase accessibility and visibility of mentorship resources to online students. Examples discussed in main text.
CRA’s Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline (CERP) recently underwent staffing changes when former Director Jane Stout left CRA. Burçin Tamer, Ph.D., is now the Director of CERP and Heather Wright is the Associate Director. Under their leadership, CERP will extend its reach as a resource for the computing community through its Data Buddies Project, evaluation services, and other activities. Heather and Burçin are both excited to make contributions to the computing community and drive the broader mission of CRA to facilitate the development of strong, diverse talent in the field.
Compared to White and Asian students, who are considered the racial and ethnic majority in computing fields, students who are members of underrepresented racial and ethnic groups and students with disabilities (URMD) were 1.5 times more likely to report having seriously considered leaving their graduate program.
CERP data indicate most undergraduate students have not participated in formal research during their college career to date. When asked whether those students plan to pursue formal research before they graduate, many indicate they are unsure or do not plan to do so. This infographic presents students’ reasons for uncertainty or lack of interest.
After serving for more than five years as CERP director, Jane Stout has left CRA to pursue a senior project director position with YOUGOV. During Jane’s tenure at CRA, she oversaw the Data Buddies Project; led CERP in evaluation work for the CRA-W, CCC, and CRA-E; and obtained an NSF award to conduct computing education research focusing on diversity. Jane also gave numerous talks and interviews on the importance of diversity in computing and shared CERP’s research findings with the computing community.
While she will be missed by her colleagues at CRA, CERP, and the CRA-W community, we wish all the best for her as she embarks on this next stage of her career.
CERP data indicate, among Ph.D. students, women feel more like an outsider, more like their ideas or opinions were minimized or ignored by others in their department, and are less confident in their ability to discuss theory with senior members in their field compared to men.
CERP found that nearly half of graduate students in computing degree programs surveyed in 2016 indicated they were not very knowledgeable about how to obtain research funding. Of note, this trend occurred among Ph.D. students as well as Terminal Master’s students: 45 percent of Ph.D. students and 52 percent of Terminal Master’s students indicated below average knowledge in this area. This finding suggests advisors and departments should spend more time working with students on this professional development skill.
The CRA wishes to thank the computing departments who distributed CERP’s Data Buddies survey during the fall of 2017. These departments’ collective effort provided vital data for CERP’s research and evaluation assessing students’ varied experiences in computing degree programs.
