AlterConf Atlanta 2015 - Low MISC: Why encouraging Minority Involvement...
Channel: Confreaks
Date: 2015-06-19

Low MISC: Why encouraging Minority Involvement in Scientific Computing is a Good Idea by Marvin K. Turner

The need for increased participation from under-represented minorities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields has been extensively documented. For example, The National Academies of Science report “Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing America for a Brighter Economic Future“ tells of the the importance of increasing the workforce of science and engineering professionals. However, with the United States minority population growing, it is becoming a challenge to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in science and engineering fields, including computing. Analysis of data from the yearly Taulbee Survey – which documents enrollment statistics from CS departments across the nation – shows a trend of decreasing enrollment in Computer Science for African-Americans from the Baccalaureate to the Masters and Doctoral level. This talk will further discuss the phenomenon and why it should even be a concern.