Abstract
With the national need for computer science, computer engineering, and robotics professionals soaring, computer science depts. are struggling to attract, and graduate students from low-income groups. In particular, women, Native Americans, and other ethnic minorities who are highly represented among low-income students, are not entering computer science. Thus, they are not available to provide the variety of perspectives needed for effective problem solving in computer science domains. To respond to this need, we designed a Track 1 project, Networking and Computing (NAC), with the overall objective of enabling low-income academically talented Univ. of Minnesota Duluth computer science students to attain a 4-year baccalaureate degree and enter into a computer science job or graduate program within 1 year of graduation. Mechanisms to attain this goal are to increase students' sense of belonging, professional identity, and networking capabilities. Our Longer-Term Outcomes are to establish a model of student support that is effective and transferrable to other STEM programs, and substantially increase the number of low-income students who enter the computer science field.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Proceedings - 2022 International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence, CSCI 2022 |
| Publisher | Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. |
| Pages | 2122-2124 |
| Number of pages | 3 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9798350320282 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2022 |
| Event | 2022 International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence, CSCI 2022 - Las Vegas, United States Duration: Dec 14 2022 → Dec 16 2022 |
Publication series
| Name | Proceedings - 2022 International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence, CSCI 2022 |
|---|
Conference
| Conference | 2022 International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence, CSCI 2022 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United States |
| City | Las Vegas |
| Period | 12/14/22 → 12/16/22 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The Networking and Computing (NAC) program is based on enabling students to succeed academically, to develop networking, career development, research/project development, and academic skills, and to develop professional networks while still in college, in order to graduate in 4 years and place in a job aligned with their interests and abilities. To do this, we have adapted and enhanced three existing programs. These are the Undergraduate Research Workshop developed by Pl Dr. Khan under the Google eCSR grant, the Mentoring Training Program developed by Pl Dr. Khan under NSF Award #0965948, and the PeerUp Mentoring and Training Program, developed by Co-Pl Dr. Hinderliter under NSF Award #0845676. The NAC program is a tiered, developmentally keyed program that is designed and led by the Pl Team, and implemented by the Pl Team, and UMD's academic and student service professionals, UMD administration, peer mentors, faculty, and computer science industry professionals. The Undergraduate Research Workshop has been offered 4 times in the Computer Science Department with great success as evaluated by survey. The focus of this workshop has been for students to work with faculty and industry professionals to conduct research or engage in project development. Through this workshop, students have received hands-on training and guidance, and have been able to present the results of their work at on-campus research forums.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 IEEE.
Keywords
- Networking
- career opportunities
- computing
- low-income students
- mentoring