“Computing research and graduate school used to seem intimidating to me, but the DMP has eased my worries about the unknown. Thanks to the DMP, I can actually see myself in graduate school now!”

-Monica Noring, 2008 DMP Alum

After a decade of operation, CRA-W continued to gain strength and support, partnering with other like-minded institutions to achieve its vision of a better, more inclusive field of study and research.

New Projects

In 2001, CRA-W was awarded an NSF grant to support its investigation into the issues related to the retention and recruitment of women in graduate programs using empirical methods.

In 2004, CRA-W created the Anita Borg Early Career Award. The award acknowledges work in academia and industrial research labs that has had a positive and significant impact on the advancement of women in the computing research community.

In 2006, CRA-W published the first CRA-W Newsletter, the bi-annual publication’s purpose is to help create and maintain connections among CRA-W alums, and continue to support and inspire each other. It also serves as a source to share news on new and ongoing CRA-W programs.

In 2006, CRA-W’s proposal, “Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC): Widening the Research Pipeline” was funded by the NSF. This grant provided 1.5 million dollars in support for DMP, CREU and DLS.

In 2007, CRA-W created the Travel Grant Program as a way to support the attendance of women in research labs at conferences.

New Programs

In 2001, CRA-W, with sponsorship from Lucent Technologies, hosted the first Distinguished Lecture Series and Graduate School Recruiting Program. The campus lecture series was intended to encourage women and minorities to pursue graduate school in Computer Science and Engineering by introducing them to prominent researchers in academia and industry.

In 2003, the Career Mentoring Workshops introduced a new mentoring track dedicated to mentoring women in government and industry laboratories.

In 2004, CRA-W initiated the Cohort for Associate Professors Project (CAPP). The project’s intent was to gather together newly tenured professors and distinguished full professors to participate in mentoring workshops to discuss career development and leadership roles.

In 2005, the Coalition for the Diversity of Computing (CDC) joined in partnership with CRA-W to extend the CREW program to include all underrepresented groups, not just women. The program was renamed Collaborative Research Experience for Undergraduates (CREU).

In 2006, CRA-W’s proposal, “Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC): Widening the Research Pipeline,” was funded by the NSF. This grant supported the CRA-CDC Alliance’s development of week long discipline specific summer sessions that targeted research areas where the participation of women and other underrepresented groups were unsatisfactory. These sessions were the precursor to current Discipline Specific Workshop Series.

In 2007, the CDC-CRA-W alliance piloted a new CREU program called Multidisciplinary Research Opportunities for Women that supports research experiences for undergraduates that cut across computer science and other disciplines.

In 2009, the CRA-W, in partnership with the CDC, expanded the DMP project to include underrepresented minorities as well as women. The Distributed Mentor Project was renamed the Distributed Research Experience for Undergraduates, or DREU.

In 2009, the Cohort for Advanced Professors Project (CAPP) became the Cohort for Advanced Professionals Project after expanding to include mentoring workshops for mid-level career women in industrial and government labs.

Conferences

In 2004, the CRA-W hosted its first Graduate School Cohort in Seattle, Washington. The two-day conference focuses on mentoring and supporting female graduate students and helping them build a community.

Awards

In 2004, CRA-W received the the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.

In 2005, CRA-W received the National Science’s Public Service Award.