Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research

By Joan Francioni

We have all heard about the relatively low percentage of women and minorities in computer science and engineering (CS&E) at all stages of the educational pipeline. As far as CRA is concerned, this is and has been an undesirable situation.

In 1991, CRA took direct action to try to change this by establishing the Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W). This committee was charged with taking positive action to directly increase the number of women participating in computer science and engineering research and education at all levels. In addition to this mission, the committee also works to increase the degree of success women experience and to provide a forum for addressing problems that often fall disproportionately within women's domain. It is hoped that the committee activities will have a positive impact on other underrepresented groups in CS&E. Moreover, there is a commitment to improving the working environment for computer scientists and engineers of both genders.

In this article, we present an overview of CRA-W's activities. Anyone interested in participating in any of these activities should contact the lead member of the project. Further details about the projects can be found on the committee's webpage: http://www.cra.org/Activities/craw/. Activities for High School and Undergraduate Students

A "Women in Computer Science" careers booklet has been designed to motivate young women at the undergraduate and high school levels to consider a career in the field of computer science. The booklet contains biographies of eighteen successful women who have chosen interesting and rewarding computer-related careers. The biographies represent a variety of occupations, ethnic backgrounds, achievement levels, and geographic locations. They also include family and/or outside activities of the women, in addition to employment responsibilities and interests. The booklet is available online at http://www.sdsc.edu/CRAW/careers/.

In the first printing, funded by NSF, 15,000 booklets were distributed. ACM supported the printing of 35,000 additional copies, allowing the booklet to be distributed to each high school in the United States. [Lead member: Dian Rae Lopez, lopezdr@cda.mrs.umn.edu]

Activities Targeted to Undergraduate Students

The Distributed Mentor Project was one of the committee's first large projects. The program matches female undergraduate students with female professors for a summer of research and mentoring at the mentor's home institution. The program seeks to provide the students with a model not only for research, but also with a model of a successful female academic. Separate funding was obtained from NSF to provide research funding for the students.

In 1994, the first group of 25 students spent the summer doing research with female faculty mentors. Since then, 20 to 28 students each summer have participated in this program with mentors all across the country. In addition to arranging the mentor-student matches, the committee works with the LEAD (Learning through Evaluation, Adaptation, and Dissemination) Center at the University of Wisconsin, Madison to provide follow-up and ensure that the project has broad impact. [Lead member: Mary Jean Harrold, harrold@cis.ohio-state.edu]

The Collaborative Research Experience for Women in Undergraduate Computer Science and Engineering (CREW) program is a relatively new program. It is designed to provide research experiences for groups of two to three undergraduate women, who will each work together at the students' home institution. By increasing the opportunity to do research and by decreasing the isolation that may be experienced in doing independent research, women scientists and engineers will hopefully be encouraged to pursue similar work in graduate school. The students each receive a stipend of $1,000 and up to $500 per project may be used to request special equipment, travel, or supporting materials. At the end of the project, students will be required to submit a one-page summary of their work. These summaries will be posted on the CRA-W website and students will be encouraged to submit papers and present their work to other appropriate journals and conferences. [Lead member: Sheila Castaneda, cast@keller.clarke.edu]

The first Computing Research Association Outstanding Undergraduate Award competition was held in 1994-1995 (sponsored by Microsoft and CRA). The competition, held annually, recognizes exceptional female and male undergraduates in CS&E. Nominations are submitted by CS&E departments for Outstanding Female Undergraduate and Outstanding Male Undergraduate Awards. The winners are presented with a prize at a major computing research conference. Superior nominees in each category are also recognized with honorable mention certificates. [Lead member: Ruzena Bajcsy, bajcsy@central.cis.upenn.edu]

Activities for Undergraduate and Graduate Students

The experience of attending a research conference has been found to be very motivating for young students. In addition to the excitement of the conference itself, interaction with faculty (particularly female faculty who can act as role models) is important in the decision of women to pursue a research career. The Conference Experiences for Women Project increases the number of female students who can have these opportunities by promoting and funding female-undergraduate and new graduate student attendance at research conferences. The Education, Outreach, and Training group of the Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (EOT-PACI) of the NSF fund this project. [Lead member: Nancy Leveson, leveson@mit.edu]

A serious problem for women students is a lack of information about programs and opportunities that already exist. The Graduate Information Kit for Women in CS&E contains information about how to select and apply to a graduate program. It includes an appendix with information on graduate fellowships in CS&E targeted for applicants from underrepresented groups. Although targeted primarily to women, much of the information is valuable to all students interested in graduate study in this field. The booklet is currently being updated. The revised version will be posted on the committee's webpage in the near future. [Lead member: Ann Redelfs, redelfs@sdsc.edu]

Activities for Ph.D. Graduate Students and Faculty

Since 1993, CRA-W has sponsored a series of Workshops on Academic Careers for Women in Computer Science. Knowing that women are almost always a minority in their own departments (and frequently the only female in the department), the CRA-W workshops were designed to bring new women faculty together with women already established in their fields. These workshops also targeted Ph.D. graduate students in order to give them information for deciding whether to go into industry or academics upon graduation.

Within the forum of the workshop, a group of established professionals provides practical information, advice, and support to their younger colleagues. Each of the workshops is associated with a major professional meeting, providing many attendees with the opportunity to attend technical talks and make contacts in their research areas. In an effort to serve as a resource for a wider group of men and women than are able to attend the workshops, the sessions have been transcribed and developed into summaries (see the CRA-W website). In addition, a more complete publication is currently being prepared. [Lead member: Fran Berman, berman@cs.ucsd.edu]

CRA-W has taken an active role in encouraging the nomination of deserving senior women for prestigious awards (such as ACM and IEEE Fellows, ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award, etc.). The goal of the Awards Project is to disseminate information about such awards and to identify and nominate qualified female candidates. [Lead member: Mary Jean Irwin, mji@cse.psu.edu]

The Systers-Academia electronic network is modeled after the Systers network and is targeted toward graduate students and faculty women in CS&E. Over 500 women are part of this moderated mailing list. Electronic discussions on the list focus on topics pertinent to academia and provide an additional venue for mentoring young women faculty and graduate students. [Lead member: Nancy Leveson, leveson@mit.edu]

General Activities

Women's Database Project supports a database of over 700 Ph.D.-level women in CS&E who are working in North America. "Ph.D.-level" means that the women have a Ph.D. degree in CS or CE, that they have a Ph.D. degree in a related field but identify themselves as computer scientists or engineers, or that they are currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program in Computer Science or Computer Engineering. The CRA database has been used extensively since 1992 for statistical studies and for diverse recruiting purposes. The database has been queried for appropriately qualified women job candidates, program committee members, editorial board members, and invited speakers for conferences. Women of all career levels are listed in the database and searches can be tailored to career level, technical area, or other parameters. [Lead member: Joann Ordille, joann@bell-labs.com]

And, of course, there is the "Expanding the Pipeline Column," where issues related to women and minorities are brought to your attention every issue of CRN. If you would like to submit an article for this column, please contact Joan Francioni (joanf@wind.winona. msus.edu).

CRA-W is supported by the National Science Foundation, which assists in travel to meetings and seed money for the committee's projects, and by the EOT-PACI. Administered by the NPACI in San Diego, EOT-PACI provides general support for CRA-W, including support for new CRA-W programs, maintaining the committee's webpage and handling publicity for CRA-W. Larger projects, such as the Mentoring Workshops, have successfully acquired separate funding to support their efforts. The current co-chairs of the CRA-W committee are Jan Cuny, University of Oregon (cuny@cs.uoregon.edu), and Leah Jamieson, Purdue University (lhj@ecn.purdue.edu).

Joan Francioni is a professor at Winona State University in Minnesota. She is a member of CRA-W and the publication committee of CRN. Her current research focuses on computer technology for persons with disabilities. She can be reached for comments or article ideas at joanf@wind.winona .msus.edu.