Growing the Regional Computer Science Workforce

在国家科学基金会科学、技术、工程和数学奖学金(S-STEM)计划的资助下，“国家科学基金会S-STEM奖学金计划：计算机科学+(CS++)”正在为田纳西州立大学中部分校的低收入学生提供支持，这些学生有经济上的需求，并有在STEM学科上取得成功的学术前途。该项目将在5年内为正在攻读计算机科学学士学位的学生提供100个奖学金。CS++项目将采用一系列活动来招募和留住学业上有天赋的学生，提高学业成绩，激发对CS学科的探索，在早期阶段灌输CS职业知识，鼓励和帮助获得CS相关的实习机会，并聘请有专业经验的学生作为低级学生的导师。CS++项目将研究拟议的同辈指导计划的影响，该计划将利用在计算机领域工作的CS专业的学生作为低级CS专业的导师。研究将重点放在这种独特的指导体验的影响上，这种体验寻求让年轻学生参与网络和职业发展活动，主要是通过工作跟踪和实习，为年轻学生提供现实世界的洞察力，并为在职学生提供更强大的部门联系。奖学金获得者将获得一系列丰富的学术和非学术服务，以支持他们继续留在CS。此外，该项目将侧重于当地分析发现的两个问题：(1)女性和其他代表不足的少数民族(URM)CS专业的人数和比例较低，(2)较低水平的学生，特别是女性和其他UMR CS专业的学生留住不多。CS++计划的总体成功和影响将根据部门的注册和保留情况进行衡量。

With funding from the National Science Foundation's Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) program, the "NSF S-STEM Scholarship Program: Computer Science Plus, Plus (CS++)" is providing support to low-income students with demonstrated financial need and academic promise to succeed in STEM disciplines at Middle Tennessee State University. The project is funding 100 scholarships over 5 years for students who are pursuing bachelor's degrees in Computer Science. A pipeline of activities will be employed to recruit and retain academically talented students, improve academic performance, inspire exploration of the CS discipline, instill CS career knowledge at an early stage, encourage and provide help to land CS related internships, and hire students with professional experiences as mentors for lower level students.The CS++ project will study the impact of a proposed new peer-mentoring program, which will leverage the group of CS majors who work in the computing field as mentors for lower level CS majors. Research will focus on the impact of this unique mentoring experience, which seeks to engage younger students in networking and career building activities, primarily through job shadowing and internships, providing real-world insight for the younger students and stronger departmental connections for the working students. Scholarship recipients will be provided a rich set of academic and non-academic services to support their retention in CS. Additionally, the project will focus on two problems identified by local analytics: (1) the low number and percentage of female and other underrepresented minority (URM) CS majors, and (2) the poor retention of lower level students, especially female and other UMR CS majors. The overall success and impact of the CS++ program will be measured based on enrollment and retention in the department.