Tag Archive: CRA-WP

Articles relevant to the CRA Committee on Widening Participation in Computing Research (CRA-WP).

2016 BECA Winners – Martha Kim and Hanna Wallach

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CRA-Women (CRA-W) announced that Martha Kim and Hanna Wallach are the recipients of this year’s 2016 Borg Early Career Award (BECA). The award honors the late Anita Borg, who was an early member of CRA-W and an inspiration for her commitment in increasing the participation of women in computing research. The annual award is given to a woman in computer science and/or engineering who has made significant research contributions and who has contributed to her profession, especially in the outreach to women.

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TECHNOLOchicas: Raising Awareness of Technological Opportunities for Latinas

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In the U.S., both the Hispanic population and the number of computing and STEM-related jobs are exponentially on the rise. By 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor expects 1.1 million computing-related job openings, making it one of the fastest-growing sectors of the economy. The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics reports that currently one in five women in the U.S. are Hispanic, and by 2060, nearly one in three women will be Hispanic.

Yet, in 2015, only one percent of the jobs in the computing workforce were occupied by Latinas. Furthermore, in 2014, Hispanic women received 2 percent of doctoral degrees in computer and information sciences.

Our country’s global economic power and influence greatly depend on our innovation competitiveness, but we’re not taking advantage of our diverse population. Latinas represent a vastly untapped talent pool, and the current representation of Latina girls and women in tech is dismal, both in the workforce and in education. Developing Latinas as qualified, technical job candidates is vital in not only increasing the bottom line of the U.S. economy and creating diversity in the computing workforce, but also for improving the economic outlook of the Hispanic community.

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CRA-WPExpanding the Pipeline
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2016 Grad Cohort: Strengthening the Community of Women in Computing

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CRA-W recently hosted its latest Graduate Cohort Workshop (Grad Cohort) on April 14-15, in San Diego, Calif. Thanks to support from various sponsors, more than 550 female graduate students in computer science attended the event, up from 365 in 2015. Despite its significant growth, the program remains selective; more than 1,000 students applied for this year’s workshop. At the gathering, 31 speakers from industry, academia, and government shared their advice and strategies for success in graduate school.

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Expanding the Pipeline – Building Recruiting and Inclusion for Diversity (BRAID): Emerging Research on Diversifying the CS Major

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In August 2014, Maria Klawe, President of Harvey Mudd College (HMC), and Telle Whitney, President of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology (ABI), jointly established Building Recruiting and Inclusion for Diversity (BRAID). The BRAID initiative, with support from Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Intel, involves 15 computer science departments across the U.S. that are committed to implementing changes to their introductory computer science courses, pathways into the major, departmental climate, and outreach efforts in hopes of increasing the recruitment and retention of women and underrepresented minority (URM) students in the computer science major.

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CRA-WPExpanding the Pipeline

Expanding the Pipeline: On-Ramping to Academia: Returning to Academic From Industry or Research Laboratories

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Pursuing scientific or engineering careers in industry, government, or private research after getting a Ph.D. once was considered a one-way ticket out of academia. However, in 2008, the University of Washington’s ADVANCE program received a National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE called “On-Ramps into Academia” to counter this belief. The goal of On-Ramps was to increase the pool of female faculty in STEM available to all universities by providing professional development to Ph.D.-level women in industry or research laboratories who wanted to transition into faculty positions. A popular strategy for increasing women faculty in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) departments is to hire from other universities, but this strategy fails to increase the number of women faculty nationally.

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CRA-WPExpanding the Pipeline
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CRA-W Mentoring at the 2015 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing

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The 2015 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC) was the largest-ever gathering of women technologists. GHC 2015 was held at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas, from October 14 -16, 2015. Following the trend of recent years, the size of the conference dramatically increased once again: from 3,600 in 2012 to 4,700 in 2013 (~31% increase) to 7,800 in 2014 (~66% increase) to more than 12,000 in 2015 (~54% increase).

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CRA-WPExpanding the Pipeline
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Expanding the Pipeline: The Movement to Change the Face of CS Education is Growing

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Code.org began almost three years ago with a mission to change the face of computer science (CS) education. In 2013, we started with a short film that went viral. Since then we’ve been building a start-up nonprofit organization working to give every student in every school the opportunity to learn foundational computer science skills. We’ve seen phenomenal results and impact from this mission.

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CRA-WPExpanding the Pipeline
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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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Exploring Computer Science: Active Learning for Broadening Participation in Computing

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An opinion piece published in The New York Times entitled “Are College Lectures Unfair?” provides a clue to the persistent gender and race gaps in computer science [1]. The author, Annie Murphy Paul, poses several provocative questions: “Does the college lecture discriminate? Is it biased against undergraduates who are not white, male, and affluent?” She proceeds to explain how a growing body of research shows that “the lecture is not generic or neutral, but a specific cultural form that favors some people while discriminates against others, including women, minorities, and low-income first generation college students.” Paul then contrasts the lecture with active learning, where students construct knowledge through hands-on problem solving, engaging with the material through group work, collaborative thinking, and where students anchor their learning in knowledge they possess and cultural references with which they are familiar. For educators of computer science, a field that has been largely taught through lecture and direct instruction, research supporting active inquiry-based learning should give everyone pause to reflect and discuss.

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CRA-WPExpanding the Pipeline
Black/African-American Representation: Major Tech CompaniesBlack/African-American Representation: Major Tech Companies

The State of African-Americans in Computer Science – The Need to Increase Representation

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In the field of computer science, African-Americans are considered one of many groups who are underrepresented. Even though African-Americans comprise 13.2% of the U.S. population [8], their current representation in computer science is not proportional. This underrepresentation is especially visible in the industry and academic employment sectors of computer science.

This reality has caused many to question why diversity is scarce among employees at major technology companies in the United States [3]. Within the academy, the issue of underrepresentation, along with concerns regarding the recruitment, retention, and production of African-American computer scientists, has been brought to the forefront.

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CRA-WPExpanding the Pipeline

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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