10:50am | In addition to the grant the College of Education recently received, California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) has yet again proven its educational worth by having received yet another prestigious grant. A three-year, $525,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a collaborative research project that will focus on increasing women’s interest and retention in computer science and engineering fields and careers has been awarded to the university, along with fellow CSU Fullerton.
Awarded through the NSF’s Research on Gender in Science and Engineering directorate, the study will look at the impact of the interdisciplinary, collaborative research model (ICRM) on the academic and career trajectories of undergraduate computer science and engineering (CSE) students at six pre-selected case study institutions located on the West Coast.
The research is qualitative in nature and involves extensive observations and interviews with the same individuals at each of the six case study campuses over a three-year period.
Co-principal investigators for the project are Laura Portnoi, CSULB associate professor of advanced studies in education and counseling, and Karen Kim, co-director of the Center for Research on Educational Access and Leadership and a lecturer in educational leadership at CSUF. With regards to gender imbalance, the arena of computer science is one of the least developed and research has shown that the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics — commonly called STEM fields — are not conducive in retaining women.
The central objective of the study is to investigate how ICRM experiences in CSE departments shape undergraduate women’s educational and vocational trajectories (persistence in major, graduation, intention to pursue graduate degrees and/or careers in computing) to generate data relevant for improving CSE curricula/programs. Prior research suggests that undergraduate women in computer science and engineering would benefit from involvement in curricular and extra-curricular activities associated with ICRM. Findings from this study could have the potential to strongly impact the reformulation of the undergraduate CSE curriculum.
The study, which began in early October, involves 90 students, divided equally among the six schools, with the actual research portion of the project commencing in spring 2012.