This presentation was presented to students at University of Texas - Brownsville and Texas Southmost College. I talk about internships and networking opportunities available to Computer Science undergraduates, with an emphasis on programs for women and minorities.
1. How to Enhance
Your Undergraduate
Education
Valerie Juarez – Lamar University
for University of Texas - Brownsville 9/23/2011
2. About Me
• Studying Computer Science at Lamar University in
Beaumont, TX
• Graduate December 2011 with a B.S. in Computer Science and
Minor in Mathematics
• Applying to graduate schools
• Human Computer Interaction
4. NSF-REUs
• Site consists of a group of ten or so undergraduates who work
at the host institution.
• Each student is associated with a specific research project.
• Students are granted stipends and, in many cases, assistance
with housing and travel.
• http://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/
• Look by institution or topic
• Information may not be completely updated
5. CRA-W/CDC
• Computer Research Association’s Committee on the Status of
Women in Computing Research (CRA-W)
• “The goal of the CRA Committee on the Status of Women in
Computing Research (CRA-W) is to take positive action to
increase the number of women participating in Computer Science
and Engineering (CSE) research and education at all levels.”
• Coalition to Diversify Computing (CDC)
1. Recruitment of minority undergraduates to MS/PhD. programs
2. Retention of minority graduate students enrolled in MS/PhD.
programs
3. Transition of minority MS/PhD. graduates into academia and
industry
6. Distributed REU (DREU)
• Program matches accepted applicants with a faculty mentor
for a summer research experience at the faculty member's
home institution. Students are directly involved in a research
project and interact with graduate students and professors on
a daily basis.
• Funding for the student consists of a weekly stipend plus
relocation travel assistance when appropriate. A student's
funding is intended to cover 10 weeks of research during the
summer. Additional funds may be available to support student
conference travel, either during the summer or afterward, and
for outreach activities promoting DREU.
7. Collaborative REU (CREU)
• The program is designed to provide positive research
experiences for teams of undergraduates who will work during
the academic year and optionally the following summer at
their home institutions (provided they haven't graduated
before the summer)
• Student(s) and faculty mentor draft and submit a project
proposal.
• Projects must be either directly related to computing or, in the
case of multidisciplinary projects, contain a significant research
component in computer science or computing.
8. Comparison of DREU and
CREU
Source:
http://cra-w.org/undergrad-research-program-comparison
10. GNOME Internship
• For women
• Full time (40 hr/wk)
internship
• Programming,
graphic design,
documentation,
marketing
• Work with a mentor
• http://live.gnome.org/Gnome
Women/
11. Google Summer of Code
• Google Summer of Code offers students stipends to write
code for open source projects.
• Gain exposure to real-world software development
scenarios and the opportunity for employment in areas
related to their academic pursuits.
• Look at previous projects for ideas.
13. Discipline Specific Workshop
(CRA-W / CDC)
• Goal is to increase participation of members of underrepresented
groups within a specific research area by providing career mentoring
advice and discipline-specific overviews of past accomplishments
and future research directions.
• http://cra-w.org/discipline-specific-mentoring-workshops
• For past and future workshop dates
• Past topics include:
• Multicore Systems, Databases, Pervasive Computing and more
• Applications requirements vary
• Travel and lodging costs will be reimbursed after attendance
14. Grace Hopper Celebration -
Scholarship
• GHC scholarships cover a combination of conference
registration (which includes most meals), lodging, and fixed
amount of travel reimbursement funds.
• Deadline is usually around May 31
• Need one faculty reference
• Essay
• Resume
• In the past, successful applicants have received substantial
matching funds from their departments or sponsoring
companies.
• Recommendations for alternate funding are on the scholarship
page of the conference website.
15. GHC - Hopper
• Hoppers are volunteers who work at the Grace Hopper
Celebration in exchange for free conference registration.
• Hoppers are responsible for their own travel
expenses, including airfare and hotel.
• Most Hoppers work 2 shifts of 4 hours each, for a total of 8
hours.
• Assignments include monitoring sessions, staffing
registration, greeting attendees, selling shirts and posters, and
more
• May miss some conference sessions.
• Good way to meet other GHC attendees.
16. Richard Tapia Celebration of
Diversity in Computing
• Conference every two years, next one spring 2013.
• The scholarships cover travel, hotel, and conference
registration.
• Scholarship attendees can volunteer at the conference, but it
isn’t mandatory.
• Application due around January or February.
• One faculty reference
• Essay
• Resume
17. International Symposium on
Computer Architecture
• Technical Conference
• Next conference in Portland, Oregon during June 9-13th, 2012
• Travel Grant application due around the beginning of May
• Essay describing reasons for attending ISCA and your research
interests
• Resume
18. ACM-W Scholarships for
Attendance at Research
Conferences
• 10 scholarships of up to $600 will be awarded for intra-
continental conference travel, and 10 scholarships of up to
$1200 will be awarded for intercontinental conference travel.
• The student does not have to present a paper at the
conference she attends
• If the award is for attendance at one of several ACM special
interest group conferences
(SIGACCESS, SIGACT, SIGARCH, SIGCOMM, SIGCSE, SIGDA, SIG
ECOM, SIGGRAPH, SIGIR, SIGITE, SIGMOBILE, SIGOPS, SIGPLAN
, and SIGSOFT) the SIG will provide complementary
conference registration and a mentor during the conference.
19. Association for Computer
Educators in Texas
• State Conference
• Past conference site include: Austin, Corpus Christi, League City
(Houston area)
• Submit research in student poster competition
• Deadline usually mid August
• Cash prize: 1st $250, 2nd $150, 3rd $100
• No scholarship - $25 student registration fee
21. INSPIRED - Research
• Conducted research in Computer Systems under Dr. Jane Liu
• Implemented a compression technique in M5 simulator
22. INSPIRED - Outreach
• High School and
Middle School
Academies
• Robotics
• Animation
• Scratch
• Web Lab
• Road Shows
23. CREU – Java Gone Green
• Develop Adaptable
Teaching Materials
• 5 lessons
• Teach Basic
Computing Concepts
Through Game
Programming
• Uses Greenfoot
24. Conferences
• Grace Hopper Celebration, 2009 and 2010
• Resume Database open to everyone
• Tapia Diversity in Computing Conference, 2009
• International Symposium on Computer Architecture, 2009
• Association for Computer Educators in Texas Conference
2009, 2010, and 2011
