UIC, other Hispanic Serving Institutions to increase support for Hispanic graduate students
UIC, other Hispanic Serving Institutions to increase support for Hispanic graduate students Heading link
Professor and Department Head Robert Sloan and Professor Barbara Di Eugenio received National Science Foundation (NSF) funding to expand participation in computing.
NSF’s Broadening Participation in Computing program aims to significantly increase the number of U.S. citizens and permanent residents receiving degrees in computing disciplines and encourage the participation of underrepresented groups in computing. These groups include women, persons with disabilities, Blacks and African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.
According to the grant, the goal of this project is to advance a research-based framework for attracting, preparing, and supporting female students and others from underrepresented groups, in particular Hispanic students who are citizens and permanent residents, in their trajectory toward the completion of graduate degrees in computing areas.
A large alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) including UIC will be working together to increase the number of Hispanic students who pursue and complete graduate degrees in computing areas nationwide. Nine Carnegie-classified R1 (very high research activity) HSIs will be added to the Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions network, increasing the number of doctoral-granting CAHSI institutions to 13.
The objectives of the project include expanding students’ research knowledge at participating CAHSI institutions through exposure to research as a career pathway; involving upper-division students in research experiences that prepare them for graduate-level research; and building graduate program infrastructure that leads to Hispanic students’ success in their graduate studies.
The three-year grant, Broadening Participation in Computing-AE: An Extended CAHSI Alliance to Broaden Participation in Graduate Studies, is led by the University of Texas at El Paso. UIC’s share of the $2.89 million project is $115,625.