Spelman College proposes the ARTSI (Advancing Robotics Technology for Societal Impact) Alliance in collaboration with Florida A&M University, the University of the District of Columbia, Hampton University, Morgan State University, Norfolk State University, Winston-Salem State University, the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Carnegie Mellon University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Brown University, Duke University, the University of Alabama, the University of Washington, and the University of Pittsburgh. Seven of these partners are HBCUs and seven are Carnegie Research I institutions. Their collaboration joins the strengths of HBCUs in conducting outreach and education in a nurturing learning environment with those of the R1's for conducting world class research. The ARTSI Alliance will motivate students to pursue computer science careers by emphasizing the creativity and socially beneficial aspects robotics technology with hands-on projects, curriculum, and media. ARTSI activities will span the academic pipeline from K-12 through the faculty ranks. At the K-12 level, students will be recruited with community outreach using robotics and art, robotics road shows, and a robotics educational film online repository. At the undergraduate level, HBCU students will be exposed to new robotics curriculum, and they will be encouraged to pursue advanced training in graduate school through summer research experiences, collaborative, interdisciplinary robotics projects in the arts and health, instruction in technical film documentation, student virtual film festivals, annual robotics conferences, and instruction in entrepreneurship for computer science. At the faculty level, it will increase the number of HBCU faculty who educate students in robotics and involve students in robotics research by providing faculty mentoring, summer research experiences for underrepresented faculty at R1 robotics labs, robotics summer workshops, and development and dissemination of robotics educational material through a web-based portal. The Alliance will have industry partners, including Seagate, iRobot, Microsoft Research, and Juxtopia, as well as educational partners, including Florida-Georgia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation and Computer Science Teachers Association.
