BPC-DP: Distributed REsearch Apprenticeships for Master’s (DREAM)

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People who identify as Female, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American, Hawaiian, Alaskan, Asian Pacific Islander, and people with disabilities have been traditionally marginalized in the computing and tech fields. To reverse this trend and attract more students from these populations to the field, the 13 universities in the MSCS Pathways to Computing Consortium created “bridge to an MS in Computer Science” programs for students with non-CS bachelor’s degrees. The primary goal of the Distributed REsearch Apprenticeships for Master’s (DREAM) project is to increase the number of students pursuing a Ph.D. in CS from the groups mentioned previously and, ultimately, increase the diversity of the computing professoriate. DREAM is modeled after the Computing Research Association’s Committee on Widening Participation’s (CRA-WP) Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates (DREU) program, which has been very successful at encouraging diverse undergraduate students to enroll in CS graduate programs. DREAM funds Consortium students from diverse backgrounds to participate in a research experience during their M.S. degree program. In this cohort model, students participate in a robust mentoring program, various community building and networking opportunities, guided research, professional development, and have opportunities to attend technical conferences. At the end of their research experience, students will begin to see themselves as researchers in computing and be inspired to pursue further research through a Ph.D. The diverse demographics of the Consortium programs provide a unique opportunity to recruit Ph.D. students from a previously untapped population of students. Beyond the immediate impact on the cohort of participating students, DREAM creates a pathway to a Ph.D. for students traditionally marginalized away from the computing field that can be scaled nationally. The project team is working in close collaboration with CRA-WP to ensure a smooth handoff of the program at the conclusion of the pilot implementation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.