CAHSI-Great Minds in STEM Conference Travel Support

The Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions, a national alliance composed of academic institutions, nonprofits, industry leaders, and government entities, has a mission to grow and sustain a networked community committed to recruiting, retaining, and accelerating the progress of Hispanics in computing. One of CAHSI’s strongest partnerships has been with the Great Minds in STEM (GMiS) organization that has worked for decades to highlight the breadth of talent in STEM among minoritized groups.

For the last 6-years, CAHSI has partnered with GMiS to incorporate the CAHSI Summit within the GMiS annual conference. The CAHSI Summit and GMiS conference is a central component of student development and support. The funding will support student and faculty travel to the CAHSI Summit - Great Minds in STEM Conference.

The programming at the CAHSI Summit and GMiS conference includes (i) student professional development in the areas of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and data analytics through workshops, hackathons, and challenges, which involve industry partners in collaboration with CAHSI faculty; (ii) Latina leadership sessions involving industry leaders and faculty; and (iii) networking opportunities with industry partners and researchers. Students who attend the conference build a network of contacts that include students from other STEM disciplines who will learn about the offerings in computing.

The funding will also allow CAHSI to increase the number of female students who attend the summit and conference, which will allow CAHSI to extend the programming needed to support women of color in tech and attract them to graduate studies.

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.