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JULY 2015 | VOL. 58 | NO. 7 | COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM 35
Vviewpoints
IMAGE COURTESY OF INTEL
Broadening Participation
African Americans in
the U.S. Computing
Sciences Workforce
An exploration of the education-to-work pipeline.
sented in this column is from the Com-
puting Research Association (CRA)
Taulbee Survey (see http://www.cra.
org/resources/taulbee/)a and the NSF
Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED) Tab-
ulation Engine (http://ncses.norc.org).
African American Ph.D. and
Faculty Production Landscape
Table 1 contains data from 2003 to
2013 on computer sciences (CS) Ph.D.
production for African Americans from
the CRA Taulbee Survey and the NSF
Survey of Earned Doctorates that uses
data from the National Center for Sci-
ence and Engineering Statistics (NC-
SES). Taylor and Ladner7 first reported
differences in the CRA Taulbee Survey
data and the WebCASPAR data. There-
fore, this column will use data from
both sources with respect to Ph.D.
production to show the contrast. Both
datasets show an increase in the raw
number of African American CS Ph.D.’s
produced; however, the total percent-
age distribution among Ph.D.’s has not
a The CRA Taulbee Survey contains informa-
tion on the enrollment, production, and em-
ployment of Ph.D.’s in computer science and
computer engineering (CS and CE) and demo-
graphic data for faculty in CS and CE in North
America. It also includes data on gender and
ethnicity breakdowns. Known limitations of
Taulbee Survey data include: reporting univer-
sities can vary from year to year and reporting
universities are only a subset of all Ph.D.-grant-
ing institutions, but generally cover all the top
producing institutions.
BROADENING PARTICIPATION IN
computing has received a
great deal of media coverage
recently on diversity chal-
lenges in Silicon Valley.2,8
Major Silicon Valley technology com-
panies, including Dell and Intel, have
released employment data and the
lack of diversity has caused many to
question their commitment.2 For ex-
ample, Intel has committed $300 mil-
lion over the next five years to improve
the company’s workforce diversity.8 As
employment data is released for the
technology workforce in Silicon Valley
and other technology hubs, an impor-
tant question emerges: How are Ph.D.-
granting computing departments do-
ing regarding the representation of
African Americans? In this column, we
examine efforts to increase Ph.D. and
faculty production for African Ameri-
cans in computing sciences through
the work of a new project funded by
the National Science Foundation—In-
stitute for African-American Mentor-
ing in Computing Sciences (iAAMCS,
pronounced “i am c s”). The data pre-
DOI:10.1145/2770929 Juan E. Gilbert, Jerlando F.L. Jackson, Edward C. Dillon, Jr., and LaVar J. Charleston
A panel discussion at the 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show on the importance
of accelerating diversity in the technology industry.
36 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM | JULY 2015 | VOL. 58 | NO. 7
viewpoints
ing graduate school compared to their
White and Asian male counterparts.
The article also stated that scientists
from underrepresented backgrounds,
which included American Indian/
Alaska Native, Black/African American,
Hispanic/Latino, or Native Hawaiian/
Pacific Islander, earn 10% of life science
Ph.D.’s and that number had remained
unchanged since 1980, which is better
than CS Ph.D. production for African
Americans and all underrepresented
groups combined.
Considering these numbers, it
would appear there are many African
Americans and other underrepresent-
ed minorities pursuing science and
engineering Ph.D.’s; however, so few
chose CS. Data from many decades
ago suggests African Americans do not
pursue science, technology, engineer-
ing, and mathematics (STEM) degrees
because of cultural stigmas (including
sentiments such as it’s not cool to be a
scientist or scientists are nerds). Hager
and Elton3 surveyed college freshmen
and Sewell and Martin6 surveyed high
school juniors. In these two studies,
they found African American men
expressed a greater interest in social
service fields compared to White men,
who prefer STEM disciplines. In gener-
al, African American college students
are highly represented in disciplines
such as education, humanities, and so-
cial sciences.5 Hall and Post-Kammer4
reported African Americans choose
these disciplines because they have a
cultural orientation and expectation
to help others. Historically, STEM dis-
ciplines are generally not seen as disci-
plines that can be used to help others.
Do these cultural stigmas still apply
and are they the reason for the low rep-
resentation of African Americans in
CS Ph.D. programs? If so, one possible
solution could be to show examples
of how computing research can have
an impact on society. That is, demon-
strate how computing can change lives
and improve the human condition,
especially for African Americans. Con-
necting computing to solving human
conditions that will likely impact com-
munities of color is one of the primary
goals of the iAAMCS.
Emerging National Resource for
Diversifying Computing Sciences
The iAAMCS is a NSF Broadening Par-
changed much. There is at least a 50%
increase in the raw number of Ph.D.’s
produced, but the total percentage dis-
tribution remains relatively flat. Clear-
ly, the overall CS Ph.D. production has
increased at a rate that limits increases
in the percentage. However, does this
increase in overall CS Ph.D. production
among African Americans result in an
increase in African American faculty?
Table 2 captures the African Ameri-
can CS tenure-track faculty from 2003
to 2013 from the CRA Taulbee Survey.
Table 2 only counts faculty in Ph.D.-
granting departments that participate
in the Taulbee survey. Broader surveys
of African American faculty and their
ranks do not seem to exist. This data
shows more improvement compared to
the Ph.D. production data. At all ranks,
there is more than a 100% increase for
African Americans in CS tenure-track
faculty positions from 2003 to 2013.
These numbers are promising, but
there is still much work to be done.
The fact that the highest concentra-
tion levels for assistant, associate, and
full professors has been respectively
3.50%, 1.80%, and 0.80% are very low.
There is opportunity for improvement
within the academy. So, why are these
numbers so low with respect to African
American CS tenure-track faculty and
Ph.D. production? How can these num-
bers be improved?
Gibbs et al.1 conducted a study of
1,500 recent American BMS (biomedi-
cal sciences) Ph.D. graduates (includ-
ing 276 underrepresented minorities)
that examined career preferences over
the course of their graduate training
experiences. Their findings showed a
disproportionately low interest among
underrepresented minorities and
women in pursuing an academic career
at a research university upon complet-
Table 2. African American CS faculty 2003–2013 CRA Taulbee Survey.
Year Full Percent Associate Percent Assistant Percent
2003 6 0.40% 10 0.90% 16 1.40%
2004 9 0.60% 8 0.70% 24 2.00%
2005 7 0.40% 12 1.10% 23 1.90%
2006 8 0.50% 11 0.90% 26 2.30%
2007 8 0.50% 11 0.90% 21 2.10%
2008 14 0.70% 20 1.40% 21 2.00%
2009 10 0.50% 16 1.20% 22 2.50%
2010 11 0.60% 17 1.20% 24 2.90%
2011 12 0.60% 21 1.40% 23 3.00%
2012 16 0.80% 25 1.60% 26 3.30%
2013 16 0.80% 25 1.80% 25 3.50%
Table 1. African American Ph.D. production 2003–2013 CRA Taulbee Survey and
2006–2012 NSF SED.
Taulbee Survey NSF SED NCSES
Year Reported Percent Year Reported Percent
2003 10 1.30%
2004 12 1.50%
2005 90.50%
2006 18 1.40% 2006 20 1.38%
2007 19 1.20% 2007 37 2.24%
2008 22 1.50% 2008 36 2.01%
2009 17 1.30% 2009 33 2.05%
2010 17 1.30% 2010 37 2.22%
2011 16 1.20% 2011 39 2.28%
2012 27 1.80% 2012 40 2.17%
2013 22 1.50%
JULY 2015 | VOL. 58 | NO. 7 | COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM 37
viewpoints
ticipation in Computing (BPC) Alli-
ance (see http://www.iaamcs.org). The
mission of iAAMCS is to: increase the
number of African Americans receiv-
ing Ph.D. degrees in computing sci-
ences; promote and engage students in
teaching and training opportunities;
and add more diverse researchers into
the advanced technology workforce.
iAAMCS provides various activities that
serve as interventions for increasing
interest in computing sciences among
underrepresented minorities with a
particular focus on African Americans,
as described here.
Faculty and student training. This
activity consists of face-to-face work-
shops and webinars for African Ameri-
can (and other underrepresented)
students and their advisors to provide
a shared context for the completion
of the research experience. The stu-
dents received training in time man-
agement, managing expectations, and
research processes (for example, lit-
erature review, source control, and so
forth). The advisor’s training is based
on documented differences between
mentoring by effective and non-effec-
tive teachers of African American (and
other underrepresented) students.
Academic year undergraduate re-
search (AYUR). The purpose of AYUR
is to increase the African American
Ph.D. pipeline by introducing second-
semester freshmen and sophomore
African American students in com-
puting to research. Specifically, the
objectives of AYUR are to: develop
undergraduate research competence
in a computing area such as robot-
ics, game programming, mobile ap-
plications, or other computing re-
search area; increase critical inquiry
and critical thinking associated with
conducting research; increase active
engagement through a research expe-
rience (presentations, competitions,
and so forth); develop a repository of
models of effective undergraduate
research mentoring; and ultimately,
increase the number of African Ameri-
can computing students with an inter-
est in pursuing graduate degrees in CS.
AYUR also encourages students to ex-
tend their research beyond this activity
and pursue other research opportuni-
ties (for example, REUs).
Distributed research experiences
for undergraduates (DREU). Similar
to AYUR, DREU is an activity that pro-
vides research opportunities to Afri-
can American (and other underrep-
resented) students in preparation for
graduate school. This activity accepts
applications from students and men-
tors who are then matched based on
interests and backgrounds. During
DREU, students complete a 10-week
research experience that consists of
several checkpoints in the process to
ensure uniform expectations and out-
comes. The DREU program is a collab-
oration between the CRA-W (Comput-
ing Research Association’s Committee
on the Status of Women in Computing
Research) and the CDC (Coalition to
Diversity Computing).
Technical webinars and distin-
guished lecture series (DLS). DLS is
an activity that provides targeted pre-
sentation interventions for African
American students (and other under-
represented groups) in computing sci-
ences. Topics include: computing re-
search, academic faculty employment,
research scientist positions, and other
topics related to the benefits of getting
a Ph.D. in computing sciences. Each
presentation is an hour long with a pe-
riod dedicated for the mentor leading
the session to answer questions from
attendees. These lectures are held on-
site at the host institution that places
the request for the lecture.
Distinguished fellows writing work-
shop (DFWW). DFWW serves as a plat-
form for African American undergrad-
uate and graduate students (and other
underrepresented groups) to learn the
process of writing a competitive appli-
cation for summer internships, gradu-
ate school, and/or external funding.
The targeted audience for this activity
is junior and senior-level undergradu-
ates and first- and second-year stu-
dents as well as faculty that advise or
mentor these students.
These numbers
are promising, but
there is still much
work to be done.
Calendar
of Events
July 4–8
Sponsored: Innovation
and Technology in
Computer Science
Education Conference 2015,
Vilnius, Lithuania,
Sponsored: ACM/SIG,
Contact: Valentina Dagiene
Email: valentina.dagiene@mii.
vu.lt
July 6–9
ISSAC’15: International
Symposium on Symbolic and
Algebraic Computation,
Bath, UK,
Sponsored: ACM/SIG,
Contact: Stephen Alexander Linton
Email: steve.linton@st-andrews.
ac.uk
July 6–July 10
LICS ‘15: 2015 ACM/IEEE
Symposium on Logic in
Computer Science,
Kyoto, Japan
Co-Sponsored: Other Societies,
Contact: Masahito Hasegawa
Email: hassei@kurims.kyoto-u.
ac.jp
July 14–17
e-Energy’15: The Sixth
International Conference on
Future Energy Systems,
Bangalore, India,
Sponsored: ACM/SIG,
Contact: Deva P. Seetharam,
Email: deva.seetharam@gmail.
com
July 16–17
SIGDOC ‘15: The 33rd ACM
International Conference on the
Design of Communication,
Limerick Ireland,
Sponsored: ACM/SIG,
Contact: Kathie Gossett,
Email: kgossett@iastate.edu
July 20–24
ISSTA ‘15: International
Symposium on Software Testing
and Analysis,
Baltimore, MD,
Sponsored: ACM/SIG,
Contact: Michal T. Young,
Email: michal@cs.uoregon.edu
July 21–23
PODC ‘15: ACM Symposium
on Principles of Distributed
Computing,
Donostia-San Sebastián Spain
Co-Sponsored: ACM/SIG,
Contact: Chryssis Georgiou,
Email: chryssis@cs.ucy.ac.cy
38 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM | JULY 2015 | VOL. 58 | NO. 7
viewpoints
needs. iAAMCS participants also join
a network of individuals across the
country, building a virtual (and some-
times in-person) network. This allows
for any individual student, faculty
member, or computing professional
across the U.S. to become connected
to others as a part of iAAMCS, includ-
ing (in fact targeting) those that are
not a member of any partnering in-
stitution. If iAAMCS meets its objec-
tives, there should be shifts in the
numbers of African Americans pursu-
ing and receiving Ph.D.’s in CS. There
should also be a continued increase
in their representation in CS tenure-
track faculty positions at all ranks.
The iAAMCS projects are designed to
provide mentoring, support, and a dif-
ferent perspective of computing for
all underrepresented minorities with
a focus on African Americans.
References
1. Gibbs, K.D., Jr., McGready, J., Bennett, J.C., Griffin, K.
Biomedical science Ph.D. career interest patterns by
race/ethnicity and gender. PLoS ONE 9, 12 (Dec. 2014),
e114736: DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0114736.
2. Guynn, J. Intel pledges diversity by 2020, invests $300
million. USA Today (2015); http://www.usatoday.com.
3. Hager, P.C. and Elton, C.F. The vocational interests of
Black males. Journal of Vocational Behavior 1 (1971),
153–158.
4. Hall, E.R. and Post-Kammer, P. Black mathematics
and science majors: Why so few? Career Development
Quarterly 35 (1987), 206–219.
5. Powell, L. Factors associated with the underrepresenta-
tion of African-Americans in mathematics and science.
The Journal of Negro Education 59, 3 (1990), 292–298.
6. Sewell, T.E. and Martin, R.P. Racial differences in
patterns of occupational choice in adolescents.
Psychology in the Schools 13, (1976), 326–333.
7. Taylor, V. and Ladner, R. Data trends on minorities and
people with disabilities in computing. Commun. ACM
54, 12 (Dec. 2011), 34–37.
8. Vara, V. Can Intel make silicon valley more diverse?
The New Yorker (2015); http://www.newyorker.com.
Juan E. Gilbert (juan@juangilbert.com) holds the
Andrew Banks Family Preeminence Endowed Chair and
is the associate chair of research in the Computer and
Information Science and Engineering Department at
the University of Florida where he leads the Human-
Experience Research Lab.
Jerlando F.L. Jackson (jjackson@education.wisc.edu) is
the Vilas Distinguished Professor of Higher Education and
the director and chief research scientist of Wisconsin’s
Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB) at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Edward C. Dillon, Jr. (ecdillon@cise.ufl.edu) the iAAMCS
project manager and a postdoctoral associate in the
Computer and Information Science and Engineering
Department at the University of Florida.
LaVar J. Charleston (charleston@wisc.edu) is the
assistant director and a senior research associate at
Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB)
within the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison.
This material is based in part upon work supported by
the National Science Foundation under Grant Number
CNS-1457855. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or
recommendations expressed in this material are those of
the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
National Science Foundation.
Copyright held by authors.
K–12 outreach. This activity pro-
vides opportunities for African Ameri-
can undergraduate and graduate stu-
dents (and other underrepresented
groups) to work with middle and high
school students through computing
awareness and exposure events, after-
school programs, and summer camps.
The goal of these programs is to pro-
vide opportunities for low-income
and middle-class African American,
Latino, and female students to ex-
plore computer science and develop
programming and computational
thinking skills. Through graduate and
undergraduate participation in these
programs, we aim to provide middle
school and high school students with
role models with similar racial and
gender backgrounds to help them de-
velop identities as computer scientists.
For the graduate and undergraduate
facilitators we aim to provide oppor-
tunities for them to give back to com-
munities with similar demographics
as the ones they came from and to help
bolster their skills and identities as
computer scientists.
ARTSI robotics competition.
iAAMCS is the sponsor of (and provides
some funding for) the ARTSI robotics
competition. The objective of this com-
petition is to develop an active robotics
community for African American (and
other underrepresented) students and
recruit them to pursue graduate train-
ing and careers in research. This com-
petition is held annually at the ACM
Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity
in Computing Conference.
Tapia Celebration of Computing in
Diversity Conference. iAAMCS spon-
sors students to attend this event.
The premise of this activity is that
there are professionals across the
U.S. who are interested in supporting
African American (and other diverse)
students. Members of iAAMCS are
both highly visible and deeply aware
of who many of those individuals are.
Underrepresented minority and fe-
male students are much less aware of
those individuals. So the vision is that
identifying and engaging this group
of individuals could serve as a strong
resource, both as role models and
mentors for these students. When a
broad group of diverse students inter-
act with each other, there are benefits
given their common bond of being un-
derrepresented.
Conclusion
Currently, iAAMCS is in its second year
as an organization. It is developing a
model to engage, support, and sus-
tain students via a national network.
Building upon the prior relationships
and networks developed by related or-
ganizations such as ELA and XSEDE,
iAAMCS participants are connected
to a larger network of peers, faculty,
and computing professionals to meet
the student’s individual interests and
Troy Hill, from Winston Salem State University, won first place in the Robotics Simulation
Competition at ARTSI Robotics Competition at the 2014 Tapia Conference.
IMAGE COURTESY OF IAAMCS
