The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) proposes to support student attendance at and development of the Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing. Tapia Conference series highlights the technical achievements of diverse researchers in computing. It provides a unique forum to support diverse students (undergraduates and graduate students) and professionals. The conference programs include invited speakers, workshops, birds-of-a-feather sessions, panels, a student poster competition and a doctorial consortium. The programs allow leadership development activities for the students as well as young professionals. Moreover, they include significant time for networking about research collaborations and professional development. This proposal will support student scholarships for the conference and the doctoral consortium in 2011 and 2013, and partial salary for a staff person to manage the conference planning and fund raising during that period. The staff person will provide stability and consistency in correspondence with Tapia supporters, oversight for the social networking that will support communities formed at the conference, and logistical support.
