Auburn University proposes African-American Researchers in Computing Sciences (AARCS), a program that aims to broaden the participation of African-Americans at the levels of tenure track faculty and research scientist in the computing sciences. African-American students across the Southeast will be exposed to role models, research, and graduate school opportunities, as well as mentoring. All activities will be specifically designed to address the barriers and disbeliefs, concerns, and misunderstandings about computing sciences faculty and research. The activities will include a series of targeted presentations by African-American computing sciences faulty and graduate students at HBCUs, a Future Faculty Mentoring Program, and an annual AARCS mini-conference hosted at Auburn University. The presentations at HBCUs will provide undergraduates with mentoring, and information on research careers. The Future Faculty Mentoring Program will provide advanced graduate students with e-mentoring on academic careers, and the AARCS mini-conference will be a research and skill building conference for undergraduates and graduate students.
Although African-Americans are the target group for this program, the AARCS program will also serve as a model that can be used to target other underrepresented groups.
