Race, Gender and Social Networks in Higher Education

In this project, we investigate Black women’s precollege and college experiences in computing majors. The project is designed to investigate the relationship between students’ computing experiences in K-12 and higher education in three ways. 1) We use statewide education data to conduct a longitudinal analysis that tracks students and their computing experiences across years, from sixth grade to college. 2) We analyze college student surveys centered on current and K-12 computing and experiences. 3) We engage Black women in interviews and focus groups to better understand their unique experiences within the CS ecosystem. 

Related Publications

Lee, C., Warner, J., Garvin, M., McCann, C., Zarch, R., Brown, B., & Goldwasser, T. Gender and Racial Disparities in College Admissions and Computing Programs (2024, May) The Future of Black Women in Computing in the Face of Widespread Anti-DEI State Legislation. Conference for Research on Equitable and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT) 2024, Atlanta GA (forthcoming 2025) 

Brown, B., Zarch, R., Menier, A., Goldwasser, T., Garvin, M., Lee, C., Warner, J., & Pearson, T. (2024, March). Reaching Black Women Interested in Computing: The Importance of Organizational Ties. In Proceedings of the 55th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education V. 1 (pp. 151-157). 

Zarch, R., Menier, A., Garvin, M., Warner, J. Brown, B., & Palmer, P. (2023) Pre-College Computing Experiences: Lessons learned from expansive and inclusive options in surveys. In 2023 Conference on Research in Equitable and Sustained Participation in Engineering, Computing, and Technology (RESPECT). IEEE 

Grant Funding:

2022-2025 National Science Foundation: Education and Human Resources Grant 

Project: “Researching Early Access to Computing and Higher Education (REACH): Understanding CS pathways with a focus on Black women.”