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The goal of this program, funded by the National Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education (NSF ATE) program, is to provide additional professional and technical skills to cohorts of high school students through a five-week Saturday Program. The curriculum is continuously reviewed and modified to address current skills needed by the technician workforce. While this program was originally proposed and planned as in-person, the leadership team decided to shift to a virtual environment as the pandemic caused the closure of community college campuses where the program was to be held. Program modalities and curriculum were modified to shift to an online experience. In Fall 2022, the program was able to return to an in-person format. The program’s leadership team disseminates best practices through presentations, social media, publications, and workshops at national conferences. The four-day Summer Teachers’ Workshop brings high school and community college educators from throughout the United States to experience the same program that is used for the high school students. The Program’s outreach efforts and the national dissemination of best practices for engaging underrepresented populations in technology careers has a national impact that will potentially increase the diversity of the technician workforce. The program has inspired participants to have confidence in their own abilities. Principals from participating high schools have commented that students who attended the Program have demonstrated an improvement in their academics and behavior due to the knowledge of professional and technical skills that they have gleaned from the program. The program has provided inner-city students from four high schools with out-of-school, hands-on educational programs focusing on professional skills, technical writing and engineering technology competencies. Participant demographics will be discussed in this paper as diversity is a key objective of the program. The program utilizes industry-driven, project-based learning (PBL) and lessons in career and college readiness to prepare students for the workforce. Each student session consists of five consecutive Saturdays and is taught by a team of high school teachers, community college faculty, and instructors with expertise in professional skills, teambuilding, leadership, technical writing, coding, and STEM disciplines.
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This content will become publicly available on February 12, 2026
Engaging Students from Under-Represented Groups to Pursue Graduate School in Computer Science and Engineering
The persistent under-representation of students from groups historically underrepresented in Computer Science and Engineering (CS&E) programs presents a significant challenge to achieving diversity within the field. A workforce with diverse experiences and perspectives is essential for creating innovations that serve all mem- bers of society. Existing documented eorts to broaden diversity in CS&E are time-intensive (multi-week programs) and do not quan- tify attraction to graduate studies. This paper aims to bridge that gap by presenting and evaluating a detailed design for a one-day workshop that includes presentations from research professors, hands-on cybersecurity demos, a panel discussion with current and recent graduate students in CS&E, and a participation survey. By engaging students historically under- represented in CS&E in the topic of graduate school, we aim to increase the diversity of students who apply to and attend graduate school, and ultimately enter the workforce through industry or through the professoriate, thus making the field more diverse and representative of varied perspectives. We held the aforementioned workshop at a Hispanic-Serving Institution in April 2024. The event successfully attracted members of historically under-represented groups. Our survey results show that 78% of the participants agreed or strongly agreed that the event increased their interest in graduate school, 72% were more likely to seek further information about attending graduate school, and 67% of the participants had an increased interest in CS&E research. Our experience shows that one-day events focused on engaging students in the topic of graduate school in CS&E can positively impact attendee’s interest in graduate school and provide valuable information about the application process and graduate school experience.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1955805
- PAR ID:
- 10618334
- Publisher / Repository:
- ACM
- Date Published:
- ISBN:
- 9798400705311
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 742 to 748
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Pittsburgh PA USA
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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