Committee on Widening Participation in Computing Research
The Computer Research Association's Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W) is an action oriented organization dedicated to increasing the number of women participating in Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) research and education at all levels.
In addition to increasing the number of women involved, we also seek to increase the degree of success they experience and to provide a forum for addressing problems that often fall disproportionately within women's domain. We are hopeful that the committee activities will also have a positive impact for other underrepresented groups in CSE and we are committed to improving the working environment for Computer Scientists and Engineers of both genders.
Since its founding in 1991, CRA-W has led efforts at the national level to increase the representation of women in computing research, running programs that have involved thousands of participants!
Programs
- Evaluating Our Programs: Data Buddies
This project is designed to inform the computing community about patterns of entry, experience, and progress through academic programs and research careers, and to evaluate the effectiveness our intervention and support programs for women and under represented minorities are at attracting them and helping them persist in research careers.
- Borg Early Career Award (BECA)
This award recognizes women working in industrial/government research labs who have had a positive and significant impact on advancing women in the computing research community.
- Distinguished Lecture Series Resources (DLS)
The Distinguished Lecture Series (DLS) sends faculty and industry researchers to campuses to encourage women and minorities to attend graduate school and pursue research careers.
Advanced Career Mentoring Workshop (CAPP)
- CAPP-L
The workshop targets mid-career lab researchers. We define "mid-career" to mean someone roughly equivalent to an Associate Professor in academia, i.e., well established at her institution and in her research community, but looking to advance further. In the world of research labs, the corresponding job titles vary from institution to institution. For example, at Sun the appropriate title might be staff engineer to senior staff engineer. At AT&T or Sandia National Labs, it would be Senior or Principal Member of the Technical Staff. If you are unsure whether you qualify for the program, please inquire.
- CAPP-R
The goal of the CAPP-R workshop is to help and advise associate professors at research colleges and universities get promoted to full professors. In addition, the workshop aims to build a cohort of senior women in academia and industry who can provide each other with an information network and mutual support.
- Travel Support for Women in Research Labs
Grants for travel to workshops and conferences for women in industry and government labs.
- Graduate Cohort Workshop
The Grad Cohort Workshop brings together women graduate students in their first three years of graduate school for a series of presentations and panels with successful senior women researchers from academic, industrial, and government laboratories about how to succeed in graduate school and in a research career.
- Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates (DREU)
Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates (DREU) was known as the Distributed Mentor Project (DMP) prior to 2009. The objective of the DREU is to increase the number of women and underrepresented groups entering graduate studies in the fields of computer science and engineering.
- Discipline-specific Mentoring Workshops
These workshops provide career mentoring advice and discipline-specific overviews of a particular field. Workshops help young researchers in industry and government labs develop interest and knowledge about the discipline. Some speakers are drawn from research labs.
- Collaborative Research Experience for Undergraduates (CREU)
The Computing Research Association's Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W) and the Coalition to Diversify Computing (CDC), are pleased to announce a program that encourages and supports undergraduate student research.
- Career Mentoring Workshop (CMW)
The labs track of the CMW workshop (CMW-L) provides mentoring and information for junior professionals in government and industry research labs, as well as PhD students interested in pursuing careers in those labs.
- Collaborative Research Experiences for Undergraduates - Canada (CREUC)
The Collaborative Research Experiences for Undergraduates - Canada program provides undergraduate women in computer science and computer engineering the opportunity to gain research experience with a female faculty member for a summer internship.
- CRA-W Award Nominations
CRA-W has taken an active role in encouraging the nomination of deserving senior women for prestigious awards.
- Best Practices in Recruiting and Retaining Women in Computer Science and Engineering
This highly focused workshop brings together individuals with experience in retaining women students in CSE.
- Careers Booklet
Initially published in 1996, "Women in Computer Science" has been one of CRA-W’s more popular publications. Written for high school and early undergraduate students, this publication profiles the life stories of 18 successful women in CSE.
- "Expanding the Pipeline" Column
"Expanding the Pipeline" is a regular column in Computing Research News (CRN), a publication of the Computing Research Association that reaches more than 6,500 researchers.
- Publications
Information guides and booklets.
Current Board Members
- Tracy Camp (co-chair)
- Kathryn McKinley (co-chair)
- Deb Agarwal
- Nancy Amato
- Carla Brodley
- A.J. Bernheim Brush
- Sheila Castaneda
- Lori Clarke
- Joanne Cohoon
- Andrea Danyluk
- Dilma Da Silva
- Sandhya Dwarkadas
- Carla Ellis
- Maria Gini
- Julia Hirschberg
- Anna R. Karlin
- Tessa Lau
- Patty Lopez
- Margaret Martonosi
- Gail Murphy
- Lori Pollock
- Susan Rodger
- Holly Rushmeier
- Mary Lou Soffa
- Manuela Veloso