Applications Now Being Accepted to Host Distinguished Lecture Recruitment Events Designed to Attract Female and Minority Students to Graduate School

Contact: Nancy M. Amato and Dilma da Silva 
E-mail: dls[at]cra.org

Applications are accepted anytime.

Members of government, scientists, educators, and industry specialists recognize that there are serious problems with the current lack of diversity in the science and technology fields. Diversity encourages innovation. "Technology is going to change our political, economic, social, and personal lives," said Anita Borg, who was a long-time CRA-W member and a strong proponent of increasing the involvement of women in the technology design process. "Women need to be there saying, 'This is how we want things to change.'" Creating opportunities for diversity in the technological disciplines which are so vital to our future is a major goal of all our CRA-W programs. Encouraging women to aspire to be among the leaders in these fields, by earning graduate degrees, is the goal of this program.

The Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W) and the Coalition to Diversify Computing are sponsoring a Distinguished Lecture Series to encourage females and minorities to pursue graduate education in computer science and engineering. University sites are needed to host the series of individual events, which will feature Ph.D. faculty, industry researchers, and current graduate students

The Distinguished Lecture Series actively recruits members of underrepresented groups by sending faculty and industry researchers to college campuses to meet with undergraduate students and incite interest in graduate education. The previous graduate recruitment workshops held in conjunction with the Distinguished Lecture Series proved very successful. Each of the workshops featured a panel of current graduate students and two female Ph.D. researchers, one from academia and one from industry (at least one of whom delivered the Distinguished Lecture). The panelists discussed their reasons for choosing to attend graduate school and briefly explained their research before inviting questions from the audience. "Our aim is to express the excitement of research," said Carla Ellis, a founder of the program. "It seems to be working, as the panels were well received by the undergraduate students in attendance."

At the events, students will have the opportunity to discuss the graduate school process and experience with successful female and minority researchers, facilitating their ability to make an informed decision about pursuing graduate study. Each event will include the following:

• An evening panel discussion preceded by a dinner, open to all students
  
• An informal lunch for women and minorities in the host department with the visiting team
  
• A research lecture by one of the visiting team, possibly incorporated into the local colloquia series
  

The success of each event requires a collaborative effort. The DLS program is responsible for arranging all events, providing program content, participants, and funding. The host institution will schedule meeting rooms, attend to the advertising, tailor the event to the local culture, order food, and handle other local arrangements. An appropriate Distinguished Lecturer will be chosen collaboratively. Prospective host institutions should email the program directors with the following information:

• Scheduling constraints - unavailable dates, preferred dates, start and end of the Fall term, time and day of the week of any regular colloquium series.
  
  
• Means of advertising to interested parties, such as mailing lists of undergraduates, local women and minority organizations, and related departments whose members may be interested. Is there an active (formal or informal) women's or minority group in computer science and engineering at the institution? Are there viable opportunities to cooperate with nearby colleges for even greater impact?
  
  
• Contact people - a local host, which ideally will be a female or minority faculty member; the colloquia or seminar chair; and a student liaison. Please provide physical addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers.
  
  
• Information about the institution:- closest airport and distance to it, degrees offered in participating departments, size of program in terms of numbers of undergraduate students, number of graduate students, and number of faculty, plus percentage of women in each category.
  

The DLS welcomes all interested computer science and computer engineering departments to apply to participate in this event. Neighboring institutions are welcome and encouraged to propose a joint event.

Individuals interested in hosting such an event are invited to contact the program coordinators (listed above). For additional information, the program overview is available at the DLS Web site at http://www.cra.org/Activities/craw/projects/dist_lect.php.

The Distinguished Lecture Series was initially sponsored by a generous grant from Lucent Technologies to CRA-W. The joint CRA-W and CDC program is now supported in part by the NSF Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) program.