Scholarship Program to Support Underserved Computer Science Students

该项目每年为29名经济困难、学术有前途的本科生和研究生提供经济、学术和职业准备援助，为期四年。该大学位于芝加哥种族多元化的南区，其学生群体反映了地理位置的人口结构，目标是来自计算机科学学科中代表性不足的第一代大学生：非洲裔美国人、西班牙裔美国人、印第安人、女性和残疾学生。该奖学金项目旨在识别、吸引和招募合格的本科生和研究生。计算机科学学院正在芝加哥地区的高中和社区大学推广该项目，这些学校的人口结构与目标人群相匹配。奖学金可以颁发给以前获得cems支持的社区学院毕业生，也可以颁发给其他符合条件的SXU学生。它还吸引值得奖学金获得者进入专业研究生学位课程。通过设立这个奖学金和其他奖学金的经济援助计划，该项目使符合条件的本科生能够攻读传统计算机科学或基于应用的计算机研究课程的全日制专业；并为研究生攻读全日制两年制专业学位课程。为达到鼓励学生学业成功、留用至毕业、就业成为计算机专业人员或进入研究生院的目标，该项目正在扩展和加强现有的系级和全校范围的课程，并建立一个广泛的支持网络。奖学金获得者在与SXU的合作中都有教师和学生服务导师。奖学金获得者将获得一系列丰富的机会，包括每月一次的cems研讨会、全面的职业咨询计划、辅导、实习和服务学习职位、师生合作研究、参加计算机科学会议的支持、笔记本电脑租借计划和校友指导。三个主题贯穿整个支持活动：提高学生解决问题的能力；建立学生对自己能力的信心，使他们在具有挑战性的专业中取得成功；并让他们接触到计算机科学学科的广度，为他们提供的职业机会范围，以及当今高科技工作场所所需的各种技能和优势。该项目具有显著的智力价值和广泛的社会影响。在计算机科学领域和高科技领域，少数族裔和女性的稀缺是一个有理有据的问题。SXU在城市环境中的经验表明，学术机构必须积极吸引和吸引服务不足的学生。通过实施这些想法，反思并广泛传播结果，该项目可以为这一关键领域的知识体系做出重大贡献。增加学生群体的多样性丰富了所有教师、学生和工作人员的经验和观点；毕业后，奖学金获得者可以丰富整个计算机行业。

This project is providing financial, academic, and career-preparation assistance to twenty-nine economically disadvantaged, academically promising undergraduate and graduate students each year for four years. Located on Chicago's ethnically diverse south side, with a student body that reflects the demographics of the geographical location, the university targets first generation college students from populations that are under-represented in the computer science discipline: African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, women and students with disabilities. The scholarship program serves to identify, attract, and recruit qualified undergraduate and graduate students. Computer Science faculty are promoting the program at Chicago-area high schools and community colleges whose demographics match the targeted populations. Scholarship awards can be made to community college graduates who have received prior CSEMS support, and also to other eligible SXU students. It also attracts deserving scholarship recipients into the professional graduate degree program. By creating financial aid packages with this and other scholarships, the project makes it feasible for eligible undergraduate students to pursue full-time majors in traditional computer science or applications-based computer studies programs; and for graduate students to pursue full-time study in the two-year professional degree program. To meet the objectives of encouraging students' academic success, retaining them through graduation, and enabling them to find employment as computer professionals or placement in graduate schools, the project is extending and strengthening existing department-level and university-wide programs, and developing a broad network of support. Scholarship recipients have faculty and student service mentors throughout their affiliation with SXU. A rich array of opportunities are available to the scholarship recipients' cohort, including a monthly CSEMS seminar, a comprehensive career counseling plan, tutoring, internship and service learning positions, faculty-student collaborative research, support for attendance at computer science conferences, a laptop loaner program, and alumni mentoring. Three themes run throughout the support activities: sharpening students' problem-solving abilities; building students' confidence in their abilities to succeed in a challenging major; and exposing them to the breadth of the computer science discipline, the range of career opportunities that exist for them, and the variety of skills and strengths required in today's high tech workplace. The project has significant intellectual merit and broad impact to society. The scarcity of minorities and women in the computer science discipline and high tech workforce is a well-documented problem. SXU's experience in an urban setting has shown that academic institutions must proactively attract and engage underserved students. By implementing these ideas and reflecting on and widely disseminating the results, the project can contribute significantly to the body of knowledge in this crucial area. Increased diversity of the student body enriches the experiences and perspectives of all faculty, students, and staff; upon graduation, scholarship recipients can enrich the entire computer profession.