Scholarships for the computing sciences: panel discussion

The discipline of computing sciences has evolved over the last fifty or so years from several directions - with some influences coming from the workplace and others from research and development in corporations and universities. Today, with accepted curriculum models, knowledgeable faculty, and students interested in learning, the science has achieved some maturity as a discipline. Now seems to be a good time to concern ourselves with enrolling and retaining good students, studying the demographics of our workforce, and helping faculty to understand the impact of scholarships on CS students.Scholarships for computing sciences students are not keeping pace with program enrollment in comparison to other more mature disciplines. For instance, at one institution where there were almost 800 students and about fifty graduates in one semester, there were only two internal scholarships for computing sciences majors. In some of the other more mature disciplines, scholarships are much more evident.This panel will bring five participants from four institutions together to discuss the scholarships they have available for students, and others they hope to obtain. Each of the five participants will give the audience the benefit of their experience in working toward the creation of scholarships for computing sciences students.One type of scholarship offered by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Computer Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Scholarships (CSEMS) program, is for economically disadvantaged full-time students in the qualifying fields who are U.S. citizens, permanent residents, or aliens admitted as a refugee. This scholarship was established by the U.S. Congress, in conjunction with the granting of the H-1B visa by corporations to workers hired from other countries. Dr. Little, Dr. Sabin, Ms. Morrell, and Ms. Sorkin will describe their CSEMS grant programs.Another type of NSF program that can provide scholarships is the STEM Talent Expansion Program (STEP) program. NSF STEM programs include science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Ms. Morrell and Ms. Sorkin will describe the scholarships and other initiatives in their partnership STEP grant.Corporations also provide funding support in areas where they are experiencing workforce shortages. Ms. Morrell will describe a scholars program for information technology majors, most of whom are women. Funding is intended to encourage women to consider and enter the computer science field, where women are in short supply. Ms Callaghan will describe other corporate scholarship programs.Scholarships also arise quite often from very personal reasons - from a faculty member's bequest or will, or from a memorial fund for a student, for example. Ms. Callaghan will describe how some of these scholarships have been established, when funding is allowed to be used from them, and how such scholarship policies are established and managed.