Recent Activities in the U.S. to Reverse The Incredible Shrinking Pipeline

Tracy Camp

Colorado School of Mines

Fri May 19 15:10:00 NZST 2006 in Room 031, MSCS

Abstract

The number of Bachelor degrees awarded in Computer Science in the United States reached an all-time high in 2002-03 (57,439), and the trend of women earning a decreasing percentage of the Bachelor degrees awarded in CS appeared to have subsided. However, recent data suggests that in the near future the number of degrees that will be awarded in CS will plummet, and one alarming prediction is that U.S. universities will graduate less than half of the candidates needed for IT jobs in the U.S. by 2012.

What impact will this abrupt change in CS departments have on the participation of women? Will the incredible shrinking pipeline continue to exist? For that matter, what is the incredible shrinking pipeline, and why does it exist in CS and not other science/engineering fields? And, finally, does the incredible shrinking pipeline exist outside the United States?

I will answer these questions in this presentation. I will also discuss the recent activities of several organizations in the United States that exist to ensure women participate in IT, and I will detail one successful example of a university that dramatically reversed the incredible shrinking pipeline trend. Lastly, I will give suggestions on what you and your university might consider implementing to increase the participation of both men and women in computing.

Brief Biography

Tracy Camp is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the Colorado School of Mines. She is the Director of Toilers, an active research group in self-organizing networks (http://toilers.mines.edu), and she leads several funded Toilers research projects. Dr. Camp is also active in efforts to increase the participation of women in computing. She served as the co-chair of ACM's Committee on Women in Computing from 1998-2002, and continues to be a member today, she is a member of the Academic Alliance for the National Center for Women in Information Technology, and she has helped organize several Grace Hopper Celebrations of Women in Computing. Her research into the plight of women in computing has appeared in over 15 newspaper and magazine articles, including the N.Y. Times, the Chicago Tribune, USA Today, and Scientific American. Currently Dr. Camp is a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Canterbury, in Christchurch, New Zealand.