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Ann Redelfs, redelfs@sdsc.edu
A look at the numbers of women who earned degrees in computer and information sciences between 1994 and 1995 reveals a disturbing trend. According to statistics prepared by the U.S. Department of Education, as they rose through the ranks of graduate study, more and more women left the discipline. While 28 percent of bachelor's degrees in computer science were awarded to women, only 26 percent of the master's degrees were conferred upon females, and only 18 percent of the doctoral degrees went to a woman.
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Women in Computer Science provides inspirational stories for women interested in computing.
This scenario--which has persisted for decades with only moderate change in statistics--sets up a cyclical problem wherein there are few role models at the top to provide inspiration and encouragement to young women considering entering the computer science and engineering field. Based on historical statistics and recognizing that this problem negatively impacts the whole environment of computer science and engineering, in 1991 the Computing Research Association (CRA) Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W) was founded with support from the National Science Foundation. The goal of CRA-W is to take positive action to increase the number of women participating in computing research and education at all levels, as well as to provide activities and programs that help women who are already in the field address issues that are of particular relevance to them.
With a broad mandate to effect change in computing, the CRA-W has established numerous programs for women in all stages of their careers and education, including the projects highlighted below.
Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing
Attending and participating in conferences is an important part of computing professionals' careers. They serve as an important forum for networking, socializing, and learning about new ideas emerging from the field. As such, the CRA-W Conference Experiences for Women program was conceived to provide assistance for female undergraduates and new graduate students to attend research conferences across the country. Of particular importance to the program is the presence of conference mentors--established researchers, male or female, who guide undergraduate and graduate student attendees through the conference. "We've emphasized having female researchers as conference mentors because of the role modeling this enables," says Nancy Leveson of CRA-W, who is a coordinator for the project. "However, we're also enthusiastic at the number of men who've applied to be conference mentors. This demonstrates that the full composition of the computing community is behind the initiative to make women more comfortable in the field." As young women learn what they can expect from a career in computing and meet other professionals in the field, it is hoped that they will be motivated to persist in their studies and assume their places in the computing community.
A lingering perception about computing is that of the researcher as a loaner, toiling away in a cubicle with little human contact. The image has been emphasized through popular media, wherein scientists and researchers are characterized as nerds with few interpersonal skills. "This can be a deterrent to women," remarks Jan Cuny, co-chair of CRA-W. "Women tend to be more motivated by interaction, and so may be rebuffed by the isolation assumed to be associated with research."
The Collaborative Research Environment for Women (CREW) program of CRA-W creates research teams of two or three female undergraduates who work with a sponsoring faculty member at their home institution for a school year. The students receive a monetary stipend for their participation, as well as funding for special equipment, travel, and supporting materials. At the end of the year, the teams' work is shared with the wider computing community through the CRA-W Web site. Guided by their sponsoring faculty member, the students are also encouraged to submit papers and to present their work in appropriate journals and at conferences.
It isn't uncommon for undergraduates in computing to spend their summers working on research. Building from this, CRA-W created the Distributed Mentor Project, which matches female undergraduates with female professors for a summer of research and mentoring at the mentor's home institution. "This provides the undergraduate not only an opportunity to do research, but also to form a relationship with a successful female academic," explains Mary Jean Harrold, program director of the project. By placing the student at the mentor's home institution, the project may also expose young women to the wider world of computing. As in the CREW project, the Mentor Project also decreases isolation by combining the undergraduates into research teams led by the professor. At the end of the summer, the teams' work is shared with the wider computing community through the CRA-W Web site.
Especially in the early years of a computer scientists' career, acquiring the time and resources necessary to attend professional conferences may be difficult. It may be nearly impossible for young researchers to attend workshops that are dedicated to issues specific to women in computing, like the CRA-sponsored Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, held every three years. Since CRA-W committee members often appear as speakers at such conferences, the organization's Web site features a section of workshop transcripts that summarize presentations on career development, time management, funding resources for research, and other areas of relevance to young researchers. "The delivery mechanism isn't the same, but the message is," says Cuny.