Alternate Pathways to Careers in Computing: Recruiting and Retaining Women Students
- Conference
- Location
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Atlanta, Georgia
- Publication Date
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June 23, 2013
- Start Date
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June 23, 2013
- End Date
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June 26, 2013
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Computing & Information Technology
- Page Count
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11
- Page Numbers
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23.144.1 - 23.144.11
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--19158
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/19158
- Download Count
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494
Paper Authors
Shaundra Bryant Daily
Clemson University
orcid.org/0000-0002-6612-2049
Shaundra Daily is an Assistant Professor in the School of Computing at Clemson University. She received her doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where her doctoral work involved designing and implementing technology-infused collaborative learning environments. Prior to her doctoral studies, she received a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University - Florida State University College of Engineering as well as a S.M. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research interests include affective computing and STEM education, and she has received funding from the NSF and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to support this research. Currently, her group is designing and implementing a system to support teachers in understanding classroom engagement from a physiological perspective. Dr. Daily has authored/co-authored articles in the field of Learning Sciences as well as Computer Science Education in venues such as American Education Research Association and Conference on Human Computer Interaction.
Juan E Gilbert Clemson University
Juan E. Gilbert is the Presidential Endowed Professor and Chair of the Human-Centered Computing Division within the School of Computing at Clemson University where he leads the HCC Lab. His research interests include human-computer interaction, spoken language systems, user experience, culturally-relevant computing and advanced learning technologies. Dr. Gilbert received his B.S. in Systems Analysis from Miami University in Ohio and his M.S. and Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Cincinnati.
Wanda Eugene University of North Carolina Charlotte
Wanda Eugene is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of North Carolina- Charlotte in the Computer Science department. She completed her doctoral studies in the Human-Centered-Computing Lab in the Computer Science and Software Engineering Department at Auburn University, Spring 2011. She is interested in how cultural, social, and personal surroundings affect the appropriation of computational artifacts and ideas and how they can serve as a resource for the design of new technologies. She holds a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering (2002) from Florida State University, a Master’s in Industrial Engineering (2003) from the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, and a Master’s in Interdisciplinary Studies specializing in Instructional Technology and African American Studies (2006) from George Mason University.
Christina Gardner-McCune Clemson University
Dr. Christina Gardner-McCune is an Assistant Professor in the School of Computing, Human-Centered Computing Division at Clemson University. Her research focuses on gaining a better understand of how students learn and apply STEM and computing content in their everyday lives. She is particularly interested in the iterative design, refinement, and sustainability of curriculum and program development to support computing and STEM learning in formal and informal learning environments.
She has designed and piloted a mobile application course for undergraduate non-CS majors through her participation last summer in the national pilot of the new AP CS Principles course. She is currently designing mobile application curriculum with MIT AP Inventor for 8th grade mathematics classes and middle and high school social studies classes.
Dr. Gardner-McCune recently completed a year and a half long Post-Doctoral Research position in computer science education at Georgia Institute of Technology’s College of Computing where she led the design of the I-3 Experience programs. She holds a B. S. degree in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University, and earned both her masters and doctorate in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology. She is also a board member of Y-STEM (Youth Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics organization), a non-profit foundation focused on enhancing the quality and accessibility of formal and informal STEM learning opportunities to African American and disadvantaged youth.
Kyla Alanna McMullen Clemson University
Dr. McMullen is an Assistant Professor in the School of Computing at Clemson University. Her research interests lie in using virtual spatial audio to enhance virtual environments and to sonify information sources. Her doctoral work in the Interactive Systems group at the University of Michigan involved assessing how listeners locate and remember sound sources as they “walk” through virtual spatial audio environments. In the past, she has collaborated with the Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory, to investigate using spatial audio in sonar applications.
Phillip Wendell Hall Jr Clemson University
Phillip Hall is a Human-Centered Computing Doctoral Student in the School of Computing at Clemson University. He received his bachelors from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Computer Science. His research interests include educational technology systems & database systems. Currently Phillip is a part of Human-Centered Computing lab at Clemson University where he is in his second year as a graduate student.
Sekou L Remy Division of Human Centered Computing - School of Computing, Clemson University
Sekou L. Remy is a researcher focused on removing barriers to effective use of robots and other intelligent machines in our homes, schools, and training centers. Dr. Remy is currently an Assistant Professor in Human-Centered Computing, and comes to Clemson from the University of Notre Dame where he was a Moreau Postdoctoral Fellow. He also had the pleasure of serving as a part-time instructor in Computer Science at Spelman College. A graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology (ECE) and Morehouse College (CS), Remy leverages education in both engineering and liberal arts to enable change.
Damon Lamar Woodard Clemson University
Dr. Woodard received his Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, his M.E. in Computer Science and Engineering from Penn State University, and his B.S. in Computer Science and Computer Information Systems from Tulane University. He is currently an Associate Professor within the Human-Centered Computing (HCC) Division and serves as the Graduate Program Director. He also directs the Biometric and Pattern Recognition Lab (BPRL) which was established within Clemson University's School of Computing in 2006.
His research interests include biometrics, pattern recognition, computer vision, and identity sciences. Prior to joining Clemson University, Dr. Woodard was a Director of Central Intelligence postdoctoral fellow. His postdoctoral research focused on the development of advanced iris recognition systems using high resolution sensors. His current research projects include the development of periocular-based biometric systems, ear shape based biometrics, and soft biometric classification.
Tania Roy Clemson University
Tania Roy is a PhD student in the Human Centered Computing division of Clemson University. She received her B.Tech from West Bengal University of Technology, India in Computer Science & Engineering . Her research interests are in affective computing.
Abstract
Alternate Pathways to Careers in Computing: Recruiting and Retaining Women StudentsThe U.S. Department of Labor (2005) has predicted an increase in demand for computersystem analysts (29%), database administrators (37%), and software engineers (38%).Even with these increasing demands, there is a severe lack of representation of minoritywomen in the field. According to a recent National Center for Women in InformationTechnology (NCWIT), although 25% of the current computing workforce are women,Black and Hispanic women make up only 3% and 1% of this population respectively.Numerous reasons have been discussed in the literature for why women do not choosecareers in computing and information technology, including stereotypes of computing asa male field (Martin, 2004; Moorman & Johnson, 2003), lack of desire to sit in front of acomputer all day (Clarke & Teague, 1996), having little prior experience in the field(Buzzetto-More, Ukoha, & Rustagi, 2010), a dearth of role models (Margolis, 2008), anda desire to be in a more people-oriented field (Hall, E. R., & Post-Kammer, P., 1987).Human-Centered Computing (HCC) is a relatively new discipline which attempts tosolve real-world problems through the integration of computing with people, technology,information, policy and, sometimes, culture. Although there are only two other programssimilar to the one at Clemson University specifically, at the Georgia Institute ofTechnology and the University of Maryland at Baltimore County, the field is growingrapidly.In the HCC PhD degree program at Clemson University, students are required to have astrong computing or computation core with training in areas that emphasize people or thehuman condition and research methods for studying people, technology, policy andinformation. In this paper, we first discuss the curricular structure of the PhD program.Next, we will discuss evidence, that although many women choose fields other thancomputing, Human-Centered Computing is well positioned to support the recruitmentand retention of women into computing careers and information technology. In fact, ourHCC program already has the distinction of being the nation’s first, and only, computing(i.e., any computer-science related field) PhD program at a major research institution thathas a majority African-American and majority female enrollment.
Daily, S. B., & Gilbert, J. E., & Eugene, W., & Gardner-McCune, C., & McMullen, K. A., & Hall, P. W., & Remy, S. L., & Woodard, D. L., & Roy, T. (2013, June), Alternate Pathways to Careers in Computing: Recruiting and Retaining Women Students Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--19158
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