BPC-AE: STARS Computing Corps: Extending a National Community of Practice for Developing BPC Change Leaders

The New Jersey Institute of Technology will extend STARS Computing Corps BPC Alliance. STARS aims to address the challenge of increasing the number and representation of Black, Hispanic, and women students who graduate with computing degrees and who remain in the field of computing after graduation. STARS serves as a national resource for transforming computer science and artificial intelligence education.

Through this extension, STARS will continue its national community of practice and associated resource center to build capacity in college computing departments for developing more inclusive computing and AI educational experiences. This work builds upon a multi-year study, which provided evidence that the STARS Computing Corps approach is effective for broadening participation in computing goals, and indicates the value of a community of practice that engages college computing and AI faculty and students with a shared commitment.

Ultimately, the work of STARS has the potential to increase student persistence in computing and AI research, degree programs, and careers.

STARS creates significant knowledge, institutional, and human resources that can increase the reach of BPC research to a larger audience of researchers, educators, and K-20 students, and builds capacity to dramatically increase the number of people taking action in efforts to broaden participation in computing. STARS conferences, programs, and networks propagate evidence-based BPC approaches and advance peer-reviewed BPC scholarship.

The key indicator for STARS impact is increased persistence for Black, Hispanic, and women students (and intersections thereof) in computing degree programs in institutions of higher education.This extension will 1) include new members and partnerships that expand the reach of STARS and that emphasize participation of Black and Hispanic students and faculty; 2) build capacity for evidence-based BPC practices for K12-university partnerships; 3) establish connections to STARS Alumni in industry to support professional networking and mentoring for current STARS students and to promote the persistence of STARS Alumni in the computing workforce. The project will also research: 4) how the STARS system of BPC interventions have longitudinal impacts on persistence in computing degree programs and the computing workforce with sample sizes that uniquely enable analyses of differential impacts at intersections of race, ethnicity, and gender, 5) how to adapt interventions to consider the changing landscape of needs for BPC, including changing university demographics, legislation that impacts BPC initiatives in higher education, the impacts of COVID on college student and faculty engagement, and the need to advance AI education, and 6) how to provide inclusive computing education experiences in the context of HBCUs, eHSIs, and community colleges.

Finally, this extension will enable further research on broadening participation in computing, by providing early research opportunities for undergraduate students from underrepresented groups in computing and advancing dissemination of BPC research through the RESPECT and STARS Celebration conferences.

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.