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In this paper, we describe efforts of an alliance to increase Pell-grant eligible and first-generation student access to active conference participation by systematically including considerations for student basic needs as well as developing professional science skills and knowledge that aligns with industry and graduate school pathways in computer science. We describe how an alliance creates the structure and flexibility for systematic care for student needs and local innovation to improve educational practice regarding conference participation. We describe our lessons learned for improving access to conferences as well as provide recommendations for increasing student access to professional conference benefits. 

In this paper, we describe efforts of an alliance to increase Pell-grant eligible and first-generation student access to active conference participation by systematically including considerations for student basic needs as well as developing professional science skills and knowledge that aligns with industry and graduate school pathways in computer science. We describe how an alliance creates the structure and flexibility for systematic care for student needs and local innovation to improve educational practice regarding conference participation. We describe our lessons learned for improving access to conferences as well as provide recommendations for increasing student access to professional conference benefits. 

In this paper, we describe efforts of an alliance to increase Pell-grant eligible and first-generation student access to active conference participation by systematically including considerations for student basic needs as well as developing professional science skills and knowledge that aligns with industry and graduate school pathways in computer science. We describe how an alliance creates the structure and flexibility for systematic care for student needs and local innovation to improve educational practice regarding conference participation. We describe our lessons learned for improving access to conferences as well as provide recommendations for increasing student access to professional conference benefits. 

In this paper, we describe efforts of an alliance to increase Pell-grant eligible and first-generation student access to active conference participation by systematically including considerations for student basic needs as well as developing professional science skills and knowledge that aligns with industry and graduate school pathways in computer science. We describe how an alliance creates the structure and flexibility for systematic care for student needs and local innovation to improve educational practice regarding conference participation. We describe our lessons learned for improving access to conferences as well as provide recommendations for increasing student access to professional conference benefits. 

This work-in-progress innovative practice paper describes an approach and presents preliminary results of an effort by the NSF-funded Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI) to build research capacity of faculty at HSIs and students from underserved populations. A key factor in our nation's ability to innovate solutions to grand challenges and compete in a technology-enhanced world that rapidly changes is the involvement of individuals with different perspectives, experiences, and disciplinary knowledge. Diversifying representation in research cannot be achieved without involvement of HSIs, which enroll significant numbers of minoritized students in U.S. higher education. This paper describes a CAHSI-Google Institutional Research Program (IRP) that builds research capacity through partnerships between computing doctoral-granting CAHSI institutions and computing non-doctoral granting CAHSI institutions. This paper describes the IRP and its well-defined process to support faculty as they develop and refine research ideas and submit competitive proposals for funding through the IRP that includes a collaboration plan outlining coordination mechanisms and student professional development efforts. 

This Innovative Practice paper describes the Local Research Experiences for Undergraduates (LREU) program that was established by the Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI) at Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) in 2021 to increase the number of students, particularly students from underrepresented populations, who enter graduate programs in computer science. Since its first offering in Spring 2022, the LREU program has involved 182 faculty and 253 students. The LREU program funds undergraduate research experiences at the students’ home institutions with an emphasis on first-generation students and those with financial needs. The motivation for the program is to address the low number of domestic students, particularly Hispanics and other minoritized populations, who seek and complete graduate degrees. Research shows that participation in research activities predicts college outcomes such as GPA, retention, and persistence. Even though these studies inform us of the importance of REU programs, many programmatic efforts are summer experiences and, while students may receive support, faculty mentors rarely receive coaching or professional development efforts. What distinguishes the LREU program is the focus on the deliberative development of students’ professional and research skills; faculty coaching on the Affinity Research Group model; and the learning community established to share experiences and practices and to learn from each other. Students, who are matched with faculty mentors based on their areas of interest, work with their mentor to co-create a research plan. Students keep a research journal in which they record what they have learned and identify areas for their growth and development as researchers. The LREU provides an opportunity for the LREU participants to cultivate a growth mindset through deliberate practice and reflection from personal, professional, social, and academic perspectives. The paper discusses the multi-institutional perspectives that help CAHSI understand the types of challenges faced in undergraduate research programs, how faculty mentors communicate and make decisions, and how mentors resolve challenges, allowing the research community to better understand students’ and faculty experiences. In addition, the paper reports on research and evaluation results that documented mentors’ growth in their knowledge of effective research mentoring practices and students’ learning gains in research and other skills. The paper also describes the impact of the learning community, e.g., how it supports developing strategies for interaction with and mentoring students from underrepresented populations. 

This work-in-progress paper describes a Student Success Knowledge Graph (SSKG) that provides the foundation for documenting a shared understanding of student success and effective practices and discovering sources and experts of such efforts. The initiative contributes to a larger effort to create a culture of equity-minded, knowledge-driven decision-making. Using a participatory process that involves faculty, researchers, and administrators across campus, the research team documents information and knowledge centered on high-impact practices, student resources, student opportunities, identity and belonging in STEM, and components of inclusive excellence. Such a process involves diverse stakeholders in co-creating and validating the content of the SSKG and identifying relevant data sources. Through navigation of the SSKG using the custom-built interface, faculty, and administrators can discover practices used by departments and experts, adopters and experts associated with those practices, and supporting literature that informs the practices. This work aims to assist in knowledge-driven decision-making as chairs, faculty, and administrators seek to improve student retention and advancement in academic programs. This paper describes the creation of the SSKG and the implementation process, including the graphical interface and the question-answering that supports knowledge discovery. 

Involving diverse individuals who bring different perspectives, experiences, and disciplinary knowledge in solving problems is critical to our nation's ability to innovate and compete in a global economy. Unfortunately, the trends in the number of graduates with advanced degrees, particularly ethnically and racially diverse citizens and permanent residents, are insufficient to meet current and future national needs. This is exacerbated in computing, which is one of the least diverse fields. Despite the growth in numbers of Hispanics nationally and their representation in undergraduate studies, the number of Hispanic citizens and permanent residents who enter and complete graduate computing studies is disturbingly low. Studies report that Hispanic graduate students across all fields of study feel isolated and alienated, face a lack of support, experience low expectations from faculty, and a negative racial/ethnic climate. Students often encounter a STEM culture centered on competition and selectivity, and this must be addressed to increase pathways to the doctorate to support our nation's economic and national security goals. This paper describes a collective effort of institutions with high enrollments of Hispanic students that have built partnerships among non-doctoral-granting and doctoral-granting institutions to increase the representation of Hispanics in graduate studies. Led by NSF's Eddie Bernice Johnson Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI), the collective employs evidence-based practices grounded in the Hispanic-servingness literature to address the root causes. 

Despite the success of exemplary public minority-serving institutions (MSIs) in broadening representation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) over the last 30 years, change at the national level has been disappointing. A recent National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) consensus study report on advancing antiracism in STEM points to systemic barriers and racial bias as deeply entrenched impediments to bringing talented people from minoritized groups into STEM and enhancing their social mobility. In 2018, to accelerate systemic change, the National Science Foundation (NSF) initiated the Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (INCLUDES) initiative, now named the Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Initiative. Challenging the United States to look beyond isolated programs to create change on a nationwide scale, this initiative aims to catalyze collaboration and build infrastructure to accelerate STEM participation and professional advancement of historically underrepresented groups such as African Americans, Hispanics, Native Alaskans, Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, persons with disabilities, women and girls, and persons from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. While the initiative has offered valuable lessons in this process, it is essential that higher education and industry leaders, government and private funders, and other decisionmakers tackle inefficiencies and take on reforms if INCLUDES is to reach its full potential. This paper examines some of the exemplary practices of MSIs, as well as the theoretical underpinnings of the INCLUDE model, and provides concrete actions to maximize the impact of this initiative and others like it. The paper argues that revisiting theories of change, understanding the way STEM academic ecosystems work, and fully accounting for the role that leadership plays in driving change and accountability are all necessary to transform a system built upon historical inequities.