US National Science Foundation increases emphasis on broadening participation in computing

The computing directorate at the US National Science Foundation (CISE) has increased its emphasis on broadening participation in computing (BPC).  (See quote below and FAQ here.) They had a pilot program where large research grants were required to include a plan to increase the participation of groups or populations underrepresented or under-served in computing. They are now expanding the program to include medium and large scale grants. The idea is to get more computing researchers nationwide focusing on BPC goals.

CISE recognizes that BPC requires an array of long-term, sustained efforts, and will require the participation of the entire community. Efforts to broaden participation must be action-oriented and must take advantage of multiple approaches to eliminate or overcome barriers. BPC depends on many factors, and involves changing culture throughout academia—within departments, classrooms, and research groups. This change begins with enhanced awareness of barriers to participation as well as remedies throughout the CISE community, including among principal investigators (PIs), students, and reviewers. BPC may therefore involve a wide range of activities, examples of which include participating in professional development opportunities aimed at providing more inclusive environments, joining various existing and future collective impact programs to helping develop and implement departmental BPC plans that build awareness, inclusion, and engagement, and conducting outreach to underrepresented groups at all levels (K-12, undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate).

In 2017, CISE commenced a pilot effort to increase the community’s involvement in BPC, by requiring BPC plans to be included in proposals for certain large awards [notably proposals to the Expeditions in Computing program, plus Frontier proposals to the Cyber-Physical Systems and Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) programs]. By expanding the pilot to require that Medium and Large projects in certain CISE programs [the core programs of the CISE Divisions of Computing and Communication Foundations (CCF), Computer and Network Systems (CNS), and Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS), plus the SaTC program] have approved plans in place at award time in 2019, CISE hopes to accomplish several things:

• Continue to signal the importance of and commitment to BPC;
• Stimulate the CISE community to take action; and
• Educate the CISE community about the many ways in which members of the community can contribute to BPC.

The long-term goal of this pilot is for all segments of the population to have clear paths and opportunities to contribute to computing and closely related disciplines.

Read more at https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2018/nsf18101/nsf18101.jsp