Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 5, 2003
CONTACT: Portia M. Eley, Boston's Community Medical Group, Pme89@hotmail.com

PANELS ANNOUNCED FOR THE RICHARD TAPIA CELEBRATION OF DIVERSITY IN COMPUTING CONFERENCE 2003
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Conferences/Tapia2003/

The organizing committee for the Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing Conference 2003 today announced the topics for the panel discussions during this year's conference. The conference will take place October 15-18, 2003, in Atlanta, Georgia, and will feature panels, plenary speakers, a poster session, and a new Doctoral Consortium, geared to provide insights into graduate school. The panels are geared to be interesting and beneficial for all participants from diverse fields, and feature experts in their respective fields, including:

Alice Allen, Alpha Data Services, Inc
Jamika Burge, Virginia Tech
Robert Crockett, University of California, Berkeley
John Davis, IBM Yorktown
Deidre Williams Evans, Florida A & M University
Peter Freeman, National Science Foundation
Juan Gilbert, Auburn University
Roscoe Giles, Boston University
Raquel Hill, Georgia Institute of Technology
Sheila M. Humphreys, University of California, Berkeley
Fred Johnson, Department of Energy
Andrea Lawrence, Spelman College
Gregory D. Lawrence, University of California, Berkeley
Monica Martinez-Canales, Sandia National Laboratories
Osni Marques, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Gary S. May, Georgia Institute of Technology
Rebecca Mercuri, Bryn Mawr College
Loretta Moore, Jackson State University
Jose Munoz, Department of Energy
Nitin Naik, NASA
Radha Nandkumar, National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Dan Reed, National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Armando Rodriguez, Arizona State University
Barbara Simons, IBM, retired
Tiki Suarez, Florida A&M University
Richard Tapia, Rice University
Valerie E. Taylor, Texas A&M University
John Trimble, Howard University
Caroline Wardle, National Science Foundation
Ken Washington, Sandia National Laboratories
Warren Washington, National Center for Atmospheric Research and National Science Board
Hakim Weatherspoon, University of California, Berkeley
Pamela Williams, Sandia National Laboratories
Tiffani L. Williams, University of New Mexico
Margaret Wright, New York University
Bryant York, Portland State University

The panels include the following topics:

"Advice to Early Career Professionals from the Trenches"
In graduate school, the rules for advancement are usually well documented. You took the required classes, passed qualifying exams, found a research topic and advisor, proposed your thesis topic, engaged in research at the frontiers of science, defended your world-changing ideas, and were deemed Ph.D. worthy. As professionals beginning careers in academia, industry, or a national laboratory, we find ourselves wading through systems with numerous unwritten rules, mechanisms for promotion, and social as well as professional networks. Which meetings are required and which are highly encouraged? Is asking for a mentor a sign of maturity or weakness? Will giving my employer exposure through outreach involvement benefit me or diminish my professional credibility? How do I achieve balance in my family and work life? How do I know I am making the right career decisions? Because oftentimes the questions we ask and the decisions we face are similar, three experienced panelists from academia, industry, and a national laboratory will discuss the most important issues faced by young professionals in their arena, interwoven with advice on handling those issues. These panelists will give advice from the trenches--they've lived it, experienced it, and overcome it.

"Defining and Sustaining Quality Mentoring"
The topic is the crucial concept and practice of varied forms of mentoring, from undergraduate research, to graduate research, and beyond the university. Speakers will include both experienced faculty from the university, an industry researcher, and a senior graduate student in computer science. The difference between mentoring and supervision will be explored. We will examine the mentoring needs of undergraduate researchers, using our National Science Foundation (NSF) Research Experience for Undergraduates SUPERB project as a model. At the undergraduate level, we will analyze the components of successful undergraduate research mentoring as a conduit to graduate school. At the graduate level, panelists will address the mentoring needs of graduate students, sensitivity to issues faced by underrepresented students in majority universities, challenges in finding a good mentor, defining a good research problem, determining the level of guidance, mentoring for the job search, and sustaining mentoring relationships beyond the university. Panelists will discuss the critical role of peer mentoring provided through active minority student organizations, using Berkeley's BGESS (Black Graduate Engineering and Science Students Association) as a model.

"Diversifying the Computing Pipeline"
It is well known that African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans and other racial minorities are inadequately represented in both academic and professional computing. What are the reasons behind such dismal numbers? How do we increase the number of underrepresented minorities in undergraduate and graduate programs in addition to supporting those already in the pipeline? A full understanding of the experiences that limit the participation of racial minorities in computing must be addressed. Only then will the computing sciences benefit from an increased participation from these groups. This panel will address the above questions and other issues facing minorities in the computing sciences. Strategies will be presented that encourage underrepresented minorities to study computing; strategies to retain minority students currently in undergraduate and graduate programs will also be discussed.

"Grant Proposal Development Tips from the Experts"
Why is a particular grant proposal funded? Is it the exceptional content? Is it the dazzling presentation? Or is it based on who you have as friends or ... enemies? Is it the people, place, or thing - or one too many nouns? Three panelists from DOE, NASA, and NSF will present the "Dos" and "Don'ts" of developing and writing grant proposals based on their experience as program managers. In addition, each panelist will provide a "top ten" list of the characteristics of outstanding proposals. What separates the top scores from the rest of the group? This panel will help participants improve their chances of developing a successful grant proposal.

"High-performance Grid Computing Panel"
This panel will provide a glimpse of high-performance Grid computing environment and applications that are made possible by decades of research, development, deployment and investment in the national computational hardware and software infrastructure. Three panelists, luminaries in the world of high-performance computing, will highlight current accomplishments, advances in science and engineering that it has enabled, the opportunities and challenges in using this infrastructure to understand and solve large-scale problems, efforts in education and outreach, and some of the lessons learned, especially in broadening participation.

"The Hows and Whys of Graduate School: A Graduate Education"
Increasing the numbers of students from underrepresented minority populations attending graduate school will help to build a more diversified scientific workforce. Information about opportunities and processes involving graduate school can help these students make informed choices. The panel will address several topics, providing an overview of MS and Ph. D. programs, the logistics of the admissions process, and a discussion of graduate school life. The panel will include presentations from faculty members from a variety of institutions and underrepresented minority students who are currently enrolled in graduate programs.

"Navigating the Tenure Process: A Diverse Prospective"
This panel will highlight the requirements for successfully navigating the tenure process from diverse perspectives, with a special focus on minorities. Nationally, there has been a small and recent increase in the number of minority doctoral graduates entering academia. This is partially motivated by the current economic climate of a decrease in research positions at major companies and the increase of intellectual freedom in the academic environment. It is critical that minorities who have successfully navigated the tenure and promotion process to the level of full professor make known the strategies used to achieve a positive outcome.

"Politically Incorrect, Fast Pitch, Hardball or Asking the Hard Questions about Diversity in Computing: An Inquisition of Richard Tapia"
Richard Tapia has given a number of presentations in various fora on a variety of topics related to diversity in computing. Some of these presentations have been followed by a question-and-answer session during which members of the audience have been allowed to directly question Dr. Tapia on points that he has made during the talk. Subsequent to some of these talks some have heard the following characterizations voiced: 1) Few questions were asked because Dr. Tapia is "preaching to the choir" - i.e. people who already believe strongly in his point of view, or the questions that were asked were of such a nature as to allow further elaboration of his view. 2) Few questions were asked because some potential questioners felt intimidated by fear of public opinion-that is, afraid that by asking a tough question they would be branded as "insensitive" or "racist. In the true spirit of science we propose a full and open inquiry into the myriad questions surrounding diversity in computing.

"Where are all the Leaders? Closing the Leadership Gap"
What does it take to be a leader? Are leaders born or can leadership be taught? While we have made great strides in terms of diversity in the computing sciences there are still too few leaders from underrepresented groups. This is particularly troubling at the national level where many strategic technical decisions are made. Richard Tapia has stated, "Despite a generation of intense efforts, the nation continues to face the dilemma of perilously low minority representation in science and engineering. Even more troubling and threatening to future success is the lack of the next generation's minority national leadership." This panel has convened several of the most respected leaders in their fields to share their thoughts on what is required to become a leader. Speaking from their own experiences, the panelists will discuss the qualities that they consider important to developing good leadership skills. Following this discussion, the audience will be invited to suggest and discuss strategies for developing the next-generation's leaders.

All of the panels, facilitated by professionals in the computer science industry, address real issues faced by graduate students in today's economy. "After attending a panel session of the participant's choice, they should be more informed and better prepared to deal with the respective issues when they return to their everyday environments. The panel sessions during the Tapia Symposium in 2001 were such a success, and we expect this year's panels to be even more so," said Tapia 2003 Co-chair Juan Meza of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

For more information on the conference, including registration and hotel information, please visit: http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Conferences/Tapia2003
The conference early registration deadline is September 12, 2003.

The Richard Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing 2003 conference is being planned by the Coalition to Diversify Computing (CDC) - http://www.cdc-computing.org - whose mission is to increase the visibility of people of color in computing research. CDC is a joint organization of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the Computing Research Association (CRA), and the IEEE Computer Society (IEEE-CS). Tapia 2003 is sponsored by the ACM and CRA in cooperation with IEEE-CS. It is supported by Platinum Supporter the National Science Foundation; Silver Supporters ACM, AGEP Program at Rice University, Hewlett-Packard Company, Microsoft, Inc., National Center for Supercomputing Applications, National Computational Science Alliance, Sandia National Laboratories, HPCWire, DSstar, and GridToday; and Bronze Supporters AAAI, Argonne National Laboratory - Mathematics and Computer Science Division, EOT-PACI, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, San Diego Supercomputer Center, Texas A&M University Computer Science Department, University of Kentucky Center for Computational Sciences; and Contributors Georgia Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, Portland State University, Purdue University, and the Ohio Supercomputer Center.