Building the Future of Computing

Maria M. KlaweHarvey Mudd College

Outline

• Computing educators are world changers• The power of diversity• The power of mentoring• The power of access• Q&A

Computing educator = world changer

• Leveraging the power of computing is changing society: disciplines, industries, culture, education– Computing educators open the doors of leverage

• Learning computing changes individuals’ worlds– Luke and Starfish Enterprises– Sarah and MNE Creations

The power of diversity

• Why recruiting more diverse kinds of people to computing matters– Diverse teams produce better solutions– Intense demand for more graduates with computing knowledge– Everyone deserves access to amazing careers– Supports leveraging of computing in other areas

– Improves computing education for everyone

Getting from 10% to 40% at HMC

• Female students at HMC over all:– 22% in 1997– 32% in 2006– 42% in 2010– 45% in 2012– Entering class in 2012 is 48% female

• Female faculty at HMC over all:– About 20% in 1997– 33% in 2006– 40% in 2010– 4 of 5 who got tenure in 2011, 4 of 5 recruited in 2011

What the CS department did…

• Changed the intro course• Eliminated student macho behavior• Took first year females to Hopper• Provided summer research experiences

between first and second year

Changing the intro course

• Old course: learning to program in Java• New course: computational approaches to

problem-solving using Python• Grouping by prior experience– CS 5 gold, CS 5 black, CS 42– Elimination of macho behavior for CS 5 and CS 60

• Outcomes: everyone loves it, more majors, more non-majors in higher level CS classes

Other examples

• Threads at Georgia Tech– Devices, Information Networks, Intelligence,

Media, Modeling and Simulation, People, Systems and Architecture, Theory

• Mini-streams at UBC– Social and Human Centred Computing, Scientific

Computing, Software Development• 20 month second B.Sc. in CS at UBC

The power of mentoring

• Encouragement to succeed in challenging situations

• Role models• WitsOn• Impostor Panel

WitsOn (Women in Tech Share Online)A massive online mentoring project

Brought to you by Harvey Mudd College and Piazza

What WitsOn is

• Six weeks (Oct. 1 to Nov. 11) of online discussions between female undergrads in science and engineering and mentors

• About 3,500 students and 600 mentors participating from over 100 institutions (15,000 students enrolled)

• Hosted by Piazza (online study and discussion forum)

• Mentors and students recruited by HMC

Original goals for WitsOn

• Provide advice and encouragement to female undergrad students in science and engineering

• Raise the visibility of HMC and Piazza• Media coverage:– NYT, Huffington Post, Chronicle of Higher Ed, USA Today,

Businessweek, NewYork Newsday, Daily Nebraskan, RedOrbit

– College newpapers at Berkeley, Dartmouth, U. Washington, U. Rochester, Pomona, Wisconsin

What actually happened

• Most student engagement in “Name your fears”• Mentors contributed most of the posts and

responses• Mentors and students expressed great appreciation

for the discussions

Sample topics from students

• Should I go to grad school?• How do I get research opportunities, internships?• Dealing with sexism in STEM• I’m struggling and not sure I belong in this field;

everyone else seems smarter• Career in X vs motherhood• My undergrad major is in A but I think I’m more

interested in B for grad school.• My family wants me to go to med school but I don’t

want to. What else can I do with a chem degree?

Sample dialogue between S and M’s

S: Chem major, family wants med school, what else can I do?M: What else do you like to do?S: I really like CS and programming but I only have a minorM: You can go to grad school in CS with only a minorM: Take more CS courses, work on a hobby programming projectS: I go to a tiny college, only one CS prof, but have been programming since middle schoolM: Can you cross-register at other larger colleges in your area?S: Yes, I can do that! I will. Thank you so much for letting me know about all these other opportunities. I had no idea!

Sample mentor topics

• Sexism: to intervene or not to intervene• Burn-out: a story of coming out the other side• Why we shouldn’t hate our obstacles• Academia vs industry careers• Integrating career and life• My path to a satisfying career and happy family

What comes next?

• BitsOn (Blacks in Tech Share Online)?• GritsOn (Grads in Tech Share Online)?• LitsOn (Latino/a/s in Tech Share Online)?

Impostor Panel (Kori Inkpen)

Maria Klawe

Presidential ImpostorHarvey Mudd College

An Impostor’s Career• Corporate Director, Broadcom, 2011 - present• Corporate Director, Microsoft, 2009 - present• President, Harvey Mudd College, 2006 - present• Dean of Engineering, Princeton 2003-06• Dean of Science, U. British Columbia 1998-2002• VP Student & Acad. Services, UBC 1995-1998• Head, Dept. Computer Science, UBC 1988-1995• Research manager, IBM Almaden 1984-1988• Researcher, IBM Almaden 1980-1984• Asst. Professor, CS, U. Toronto 1979-1980• Grad studies, CS, U Toronto 1978-1979• Asst. Professor, Math, Oakland U. 1977-1978• Ph.D. Math, U. Alberta, 1977

I feel like an impostor when I…

• Start doing something new that is– Something successful people do– Something women don’t often do

I have felt like an impostor…

• 1975: eating in a restaurant, attending a math conference

• 1980: taking a taxi, staying in a nice hotel, renting a car, giving a talk at Stanford

• 1990: attending SIGGRAPH, giving a keynote address, doing a press conference

• 2000: meeting CEOs, Nobel Laureates• 2008: meeting billionaires• 2009: joining the Microsoft board

Tips for success with impostoritis

• Practice, practice, practice• Accept self-doubt as part of who I am• Surround with support• Look back as well as ahead

The power of access

• MOOCs• A possible HMC approach to a MOOC for high

school students• codewar.windward.net on January 26

Let’s change the world!

• Educate everyone• Mentor everyone

Questions and Comments