Increasing Participation of Females and Underrepresented Minorities in Computing

The demand for computer scientists is growing, but production of CS degrees in the US has been declining and we may face a shortage in the computing workforce in the next decade. In recent years, women earned fewer than 20 percent of computing degrees in the US, and African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans combined earned fewer than 8 percent of computer science and engineering degrees. The low participation of women and underrepresented minorities not only contributes to the shortage of computer scientists but also hampers creativity within the discipline by reducing the richness in perspectives that would accompany diversity. Therefore, recruiting and retaining women and underrepresented minorities in computing is an important issue for computing educators.