Highlights of broadening participation research at RESPECT'15

Abstract

RESPECT'15, the first international conference of the IEEE Computer Society Special Technical Community on Broadening Participation, was held this August in conjunction with the STARS Celebration in Charlotte, NC. Themes from the conference provide research-based evidence of what's working and what's left to be done to support broadening participation (BP) in computing. The percentage of women in undergraduate programs in computing continues to decline, but there are bright spots, such as the rise of women in interdisciplinary computing programs and the increase in the number of Hispanic/Latina women in computing. BP programs that build community, competence, and identity are effective, and have a higher impact on people from underrepresented groups, as highlighted in RESPECT'15 papers on the STARS Computing Corps, Georgia Tech's Project Rise Up for CS, NCWIT's Aspirations in Computing, and undergraduate research. Many effective BP interventions intentionally engage people from underrepresented groups in designing and implementing the change. The RESPECT'15 proceedings will be available soon in IEEE Xplore and the ACM Digital Library.