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SCS DEI Update 10

Mar. 5, 2021

March is National Women’s History Month. Accordingly, many of the events and announcements we're including in this week's update will reflect this. Women have long been drastically underrepresented in computer science — an imbalance we’ve sought to address in a number of ways over the last several years, not the least of which has been maintaining equal numbers of men and women in our incoming first-year classes. We recognize and celebrate National Women’s History Month. Simultaneously, we realize the need to continue adapting our attitudes and practices to reflect more than cisgender men and women.

Upcoming Events / Deadlines

• The SCS DEI Seminar Series has scheduled its first talk on April 1 at 4:30 p.m. EDT with Kelauni Cook, Founder and CEO of Black Tech Nation.

• Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion: LGBTQ+ Career Panel, March 11, 6:30 – 8 p.m. EST
  Join CMQ+ and PRISM for their LGBTQ+ Career Panel as they host six alumni who will talk about their experiences in the workforce as members of the LGBTQ+ community. Join the discussion to ask questions and learn from fellow Tartans. Register to attend.
  
  

• Kicking Butt in Computer Science: Women in Computing @Carnegie Mellon and Around the World, March 25, 7 p.m. EDT
  Join Carol Frieze of SCS and Jeria Quesenberry of Dietrich College as they discuss the obstacles and catalysts that help determine women’s participation in the rapidly growing fields of computing. Presented by Women in History of Science and Technology. Registration is required.

• HCII Seminar: Understanding and Mitigating Bias and Human Overtrust in Robotics and AI
  In this talk, Ayanna Howard, dean of the College of Engineering at The Ohio State University, discussed the phenomenon of integrated trust and bias through the lens of intelligent systems that interact with people in scenarios that are realizable in the near-term. A recording of this seminar will be posted on the talk page.

Live Closed Captioning on Zoom

Closed captioning is an important tool for those who are deaf or hearing impaired, especially at a time when almost all of our learning and work is being conducted virtually. Zoom has recently made live closed captioning available to all paid accounts, and it is easy to enable:

• Log into cmu.zoom.us using your Andrew ID and password, then follow the instructions on this helpful guide, drafted by the HCII’s Franklin Mingzhe Li, Franchesca Spektor, Nikolas Martelaro, Patrick Carrington and Sarah Fox.
  
  
• Live closed captioning is and will continue to be available to participants during all SCS faculty candidate talks, and we are working toward making it available during all SCS-hosted seminars, classes and meetings hosted on Zoom. If you host any meetings on Zoom, we encourage you to enable this feature on your account today.
  
  
• The Office of Disability Resources offers additional captioning resources for classroom learning – learn more on their Classroom Resources page.

Recruitment / Conferences

• NSF FLIP Alliance has changed its name to the LEAP Alliance
  Previously known as Diversifying Future Leadership in the Professoriate (FLIP) Alliance, the Center for Minorities and People with Disabilities in IT (CMD-IT) in collaboration with the faculty and staff advocates, replaced the name of this signature program to one that is more inclusive. The FLIP Alliance will now be called the LEAP Alliance to embody the vision of diversifying LEAdership in the Professoriate. The program will continue to focus on increasing the diversity of faculty in computing by increasing the diversity of the doctoral student graduates at the institutions that are the top producers of computing faculty. As an additional tool in recruitment efforts, LEAP invites our newly admitted URM students to join a community of students admitted across the alliance institutions to help build a cohort that is broader and deeper than at any individual institution.

• Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC) - September 26 - 29, 2021 — Call for Participation
  GHC 21 will once again be held virtually this year to keep all constituents safe as we navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. The Call for Participation (CFP) opened March 3 and will close on April 14, 2021 at 5 p.m. PDT. Important information you may share across your organization is included below:
  
  
  • Becoming a Speaker
  • Session Formats and Requirements
  • GHC 21 Tracks
  • What You Need to Know to Speak at GHC '21: GHC will host a training at 12 p.m. PDT on March 10 on how to successfully submit a CFP. This event is open only to members of the AnitaB.org Community, both free and premium levels. Use this link to become a member and register for this event.
    Questions? Email ghcprograms@anitab.org
    
    
• CMD-IT/ACM Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference - September 14 - 17, 2021
  The CMD-IT/ACM Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing conference is the premier venue to acknowledge, promote and celebrate diversity in computing. The Tapia Conference aims to bring together undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, researchers, and professionals in computing from our target communities. It targets the following communities: African Americans/Blacks, Native Americans, Hispanics/Latinx and People with Disabilities. Submission guidelines are available on the Tapia website.
  
  
  • Deadlines
    • Submissions - March 31, 2021
    • Academic, Technical, Industry, Birds of a Feather
    • Doctoral Consortium, Posters and Scholarships
  • Recommendations - 4/14/21
    • Doctoral Consortium and Scholarships 

Virtual Support Groups

• Overcoming Racial and Ethnic Discrimination Support Group, Mondays, 4:30 - 6 p.m. EST
  
  Racism, discrimination, and systemic oppression play significant roles in how you feel about yourself, your community and the world around you. Being directly impacted by any or all of them can add extra pressure to navigate on top of the stress of being a student. If you are feeling that way, know you are not alone. Join our Overcoming Racial and Ethnic Discrimination Support Group to understand how racial and ethnic discrimination affects your mind, body and feelings and find ways to work through them in a supportive and healing space. Contact Dareen Basma to schedule a screening appointment.
  
  
• Black Women’s Support Group - Fridays, 3:15-4:30 p.m. ET
  
  A supportive space for students who identify as Black women. This group provides a space to discuss the complexities of navigating spaces within and outside of CMU. Students can discuss and explore feelings and experiences related to campus climate, stress and coping, racial/ethnic identity, racism/internalized racism, oppression and privilege, microaggressions, intersectionality, self-esteem, relationships, family and other topics of interest. Contact Kym Jordan Simmons for more information.
  
  
• Women’s Support Group - Wednesdays, 6:30-7:30 p.m. ET
  
  This group for women offers a supportive and interactive environment to explore personal experiences related to relationships, academics and stress. The group provides a safe and confidential space to receive multiple perspectives, feedback and support from other women. The group will work towards further developing self-esteem, self-awareness and relationship skills. Contact Allie Jedinak for more information.
  

From the SCS Ph.D. Student Advisory Committee Anti-racism Working Group

• The GRE has been shown to predict race, gender, and socioeconomic status more than graduate school performance (see this article in Nature). SCS has made the GRE optional across departments this year and will be studying the effects of that change on the diversity of applicants. The Ph.D. Advisory Committee calls on SCS to keep on track to eliminating it. Making it optional is not enough; the incentives for students to take it and admissions committees to consider it will still exist.
  
  
• In the words of one CMU alum, “‘elite’ shouldn't mean inaccessible — CMU can and should lead on dismantling the systemic barriers to entry that lead to the woefully low percentage of URM master's and Ph.D. students in SCS.” Submit your story about DEI-related challenges at SCS.
  
  
• The committee is maintaining an SCS DEI progress tracker to map progress relative to the Towards Anti-Racist Change letter, where we outline steps toward a more inclusive SCS. To date, four items have been completed, five are on track, 40 have been acknowledged and one has been refused.
  
  

Visit our DEI website for a complete record of these updates and to discover ways to connect and collaborate with the efforts of SCS.

Martial Hebert
Dean, School of Computer Science