EAGER: STEM Illinois: The Land-Grant Model of Outreach and Education to Nurture Future Underrepresented Computer Scientists

Computer and Information Science and Engineering - Despite decades of computer science pipeline programming, participation of students of color in computer science and information technology disciplines remains alarmingly low. STEM Illinois is a project deeply rooted in the historic mission of land-grant institutions, which is to democratize higher education and to address the world?s most pressing societal challenges. This project will specifically work with 50 to 100 students whose parents do not have a college degree and who are at risk for dropping out of school. Computer scientists from these backgrounds represent a small number of faculty and industry professionals. The STEM Illinois project seeks to evaluate and analyze the impact of COVID-19 on their educational outcomes and pursuits by using a radical model of intergenerational outreach and education. This model seeks to create a culture of innovation where all members of the community see, understand, and feel that they can support their youth in computer science innovation. It is importance to understand which aspects of the culturally engaging project foster a computer science identity and persistence among the youth.

The goal of the STEM Illinois project is to create a unique ecosystem that will nurture future computer scientists in industry and the academy. This project will provide underrepresented students with computer science activities that include using spatial analysis to map communities vulnerable to COVID-19, coding, big data analysis, artificial intelligence, data visualization, math, algorithms, and access to a recording studio to represent computer science concepts using art and music. Students will receive unprecedented access to mentors and professional experiences that include interviewing industry/academic computing scientists for podcasts, giving TEDxYouth talks about their experiences with computer science, questions and answer sessions with Nobel Prize Winners, etc. This project will increase the number of marginalized students majoring in Computer Science and Information Technology at the University of Illinois and around the country. The goal is also to increase the number of students in computer science internships and jobs at large companies such as State Farm, American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and Microsoft (workforce development). The project will be evaluated using pre- and post-tests surveys, interviews, and participant observation. The project will use the Computer Science Attitude and Identity Survey (or a similar instrument) that includes questions about how confident a person feels about their computer science skills and how much interest they have in computer science as a profession.

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.