For more information
Valerie Taylor, taylor@ece.nwu.edu
According to a report of the National Research Council, in 1996 only 2.9 percent of the doctorates in engineering and computer science went to Hispanics. Only 2.2 percent went to African-Americans, and a mere 0.4 percent were awarded to American Indians.
"One of the problems driving underrepresentation in computing," says Sandra Johnson Baylor of the Coalition to Diversify Computing (CDC), "is that there are so few of us, we don't even show up on the map!" Consequently, the CDC focuses its efforts on programs that increase the visibility of minorities, and on providing networking opportunities for minority researchers, faculty, and students.The CDC, founded in 1996, is a program of the Computer Research Association (CRA), the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and the Association of Computing Machinery.
Since underrepresented minorities are found in higher populations at schools that have traditionally served their community--such as at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs)--one program scheduled to begin in 1999 will focus on holding workshops at these institutions. The workshops will present information about graduate studies in computing, including eligibility requirements, financial aid, and research opportunities. The presenters will all be minorities and will spend time interacting with students who attend the workshops. The intention is to arm them with information about graduate school and provide them with role models.
The CDC also sponsors student and faculty attendance at major computing conferences, such as the annual CRA Snowbird Conference and the annual Association of Departments of Computer/Information Sciences and Engineering at Minority Institutions (ADMI) conference. Conferences are important networking opportunities, and bringing minorities to these events helps integrate and socialize them into the computing community. At the conference, students are paired with a mentor who helps them to reap the full benefit of the experience.
CDC supported two students' and four faculty members' attendance at the 1998 Snowbird Conference, where a panel of minority attendees discussed ways to improve underrepresentation. Panels such as these help raise awareness among researchers. The organization also funded 10 minority students' attendance at the 1998 ADMI conference.
The CDC has recently launched a database of minority researchers and graduate students in computer science and engineering. The database, which is accessible through the CDC Web site, provides an information infrastructure to initiate projects, inform people about CDC and PACI activities, and build a network of individuals with common goals and interest. The database will serve another purpose--to provide statistics on the numbers of minorities in computing around the country. Through word of mouth and other mechanisms, the CDC is encouraging all minority research and graduate students to visit the Web site, register with the database, and join their growing electronic community.
" --Rita Colwell, NSF Director
"...in some places, the educational approach is to sift-and-sort students early on. This tells some students..that they can't master science and math--that we do not expect them to succeed. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, damning to the student and destructice to the country."
Access and Inclusion | Touch the Future | EOT-PACI me places, the educational approach is to sift-and-sort students early on. This tells some students...that they can't master science and mth--that we do not expect them to succeed. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, damning to the student and destructive to the country."
--Rita Colwell, NSF Director