North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, together with collaborating institutions Clemson University, Prairie View A&M University, the University of Colorado, the University of Wisconsin, Auburn University, the University of Indiana, Norfolk State University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Fort Valley Sate University, and Jackson State University, proposes an extension of the successful Alliance for the Advancement of African-American Researchers in Computing (A4RC, pronounced "A-Force"). A4RC aims to increase the number of African-Americans obtaining advanced degrees in computing, particularly at the Ph.D. level. A4RC establishes and develops student pipelines from HBCUs to universities offering advanced degrees in Computing. A4RC has amassed a body of knowledge and experience with respect to what it takes to build effective HBCU/R1 faculty collaborations, develop productive HBCU/R1 research teams that include graduate and undergraduate students, and prepare undergraduate and master's students for research at the Ph.D. level. A4RC uses a "research pod" concept that is efficient, flexible, and effective in terms of HBCU/R1 research collaborations. With this extension, A4RC plans to expand the alliance to include a greater number of HBCU/R1 research collaborations, and to build new partnerships. A new category of partners -- Affiliate Partners -- will engage additional HBCUs and national labs and A4RC will become formal partners with the very effective BPC Demonstration Project, African-American Researchers in Computing Sciences (AARCS). A4RC will build collaborations with the BPC STARS and Empowering Leadership Alliances, and ADMI: The Symposium on Computing at Minority Institutions.
Norfolk State University Undergraduate Students Engaged in Research to Increase Underrepresented Population in Computing Science Norfolk State University (NSU) involves students in computer science research through the Alliance for the Advancement of African Americans in Computing Research (A4RC). The A4RC program at NSU, currently lead by Dr. Felicia Doswell, Assistant Professor in the Computer Science department, began in 2007 to encourage students to pursue graduate education in Computer Science. Students are immersed in research through various activities including a semester research methods course, seminars, attendance and presentation at workshops and conferences, and participation in internships and Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) opportunities. A4RC facilitates collaboration between faculty members from PhD granting institutions and primarily undergraduate institutions. Research Activities: Collaboration between NSU and Virginia Tech (VT) faculty resulted in three research groups of NSU students, called pods, working on research projects. These five-person research groups engage in a course during the spring semester that allowed them to gain hands-on experience conducting research. The students work in a university classroom laboratory on projects related to computer networking and interface design with guidance from the NSU faculty advisor. Project development involves background reading of technical literature, introduction to research techniques, enhancement of programming and presentation skills, group discussions and project team meetings. Individual responsibilities and deliverables include annotated bibliography of the literature, scientific posters, project reports, and presentation of the creative work. The work done in the A4RC research methods course is the foundation that prepared students for the REU at VT each summer. Course benefits include classroom exposure to research concepts, technical writing skills, poster creation techniques and preparation for applications to graduate school, REUs and industry. topics in computing ethics, novel research ideas, group work opportunities and hands-on experience with new technology and programming languages. experience videos and group discussions introducing students to persons, ideas, and career paths of various professionals. In addition, there is a series of professional development and social activities throughout the semester that also involve the entire Computer Science department. These talks and resources encourage them to pursue graduate school after completing their undergraduate degree. This especially enlightened them to the possibility of graduate education in spite of barriers they may encounter. Summary of Findings: REU activities are popular employment opportunities and are generally successful with undergraduates. Allowing the undergraduate students to participate in a summer REU gives them a preview of what occurs in research at graduate schools. The students benefited from exposure to research methods prior to joining the research intensive institutions for their summer REU. A4RC is especially appropriate for students have minimal research experience. The pod participants report that they were not only excited by their research experiences but developed an attitude that research is a positive career option. Beyond the research experience, a mentoring relationship is established between the students and the advisor that continues throughout the pods undergraduate education and potentially beyond it. Impact NSU findings include successful REU experiences, interesting exposure to research, production of posters and papers, presentations of research, conference attendance, and instruction on research methods and grant writing activities. Some observations include discussion of the positive change in the students' perspective on graduate education and research. All of the participants wholeheartedly understand the need and express the desire for continued education beyond the Bachelor's Degree. The impact of the research experience includes the following Fifteen undergraduate students attended the REU at VT over a three year period building a pipeline of students interested in research. All fifteen students did not consider graduate school prior to this experience. However, sixty percent have applied to graduate school since participating in the program. More undergraduate sophomore and junior students are participating in research. We estimate that ten to fifteen percent of sophomore and junior computer science majors are involved in research projects at NSU. All of the computer science seniors taking the two-semester capstone requirement are involved in research. Pre-REU contact with researchers at VT resulted in confidence in proceeding with the summer REU, understanding of the expectations, and comfortable transition from NSU to the VT summer REU program. Research publications resulted from their work. Graduate students functioned as a peer mentor to the undergraduate research pod. They attended conferences with the pod, and were privy to the seminars, course material and professional contacts that would lead them to pursue a PhD degree. More communication exchange occurred about graduate school entrance, conferences, and collaborative research opportunities due to A4RC participation. NSU faculty encouraged undergraduate students to pursue graduate education due to knowledge of these opportunities. For junior faculty members, the opportunities for interdisciplinary research collaboration between multiple universities and departments, and support for students and faculty to attend conferences increased opportunities for collaborative research artifacts and presentation of research results.
