California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) is a partner campus on three National Science Foundation (NSF) grants totaling $2.5 million to continue their success in increasing the number of Hispanic and other underserved students studying computer science.
The lead grant is a five-year, $2 million Computing Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institutions (CAHSI) award. CAHSI is a grassroots effort to increase the number of Hispanic students who pursue degrees in the computer science and engineering. The alliance is composed of the member institutions: CSUDH; Florida International University; New Mexico State University; Texas A&M-Corpus Christi; University of Houston-Downtown; University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez; and the University of Texas at El Paso.
“We have developed several initiatives through CAHSI over the years, such as introductory computing courses, and peer-led team learning activities,” said Mohsen Beheshti, professor and chair of CSUDH’s Computer Science Department. “We have also developed an Affinity Research Group (ARG) program in which students get involved in research and other initiatives that benefit graduate students.”
We have developed several initiatives through CAHSI over the years, such as introductory computing courses, and peer-led team learning activities.
The alliance also received two NSF INCLUDES grants. The $300,000, “Building upon CAHSI’s Success to Establish a Networked Community for Broadening Participation of Hispanics in Graduate Studies” award targets and re-engages new transfer and graduate students at Hispanic serving institutions (HSIs) who have not continued on their initial educational paths in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM).
The $200,000, “Conference to Advance the Collective Impact of Retention and Continuation Strategies for Hispanics and Other Underrepresented Minorities in STEM Fields” grant enables the alliance to bring together researchers, educators, industry representatives, members of professional societies, and others for a series of conferences. The first conference will take place Jan. 11-12 in Palo Alto, CA.
