Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline (CERP): Director’s Welcome

By CRA Staff

Dr. Jane Stout joined CRA in March as the Director of the Center for the Evaluating the Research Pipeline (CERP).

In September 2012, the National Science Foundation awarded funding for CERP as part of a Broadening Participation in Computing grant to an Alliance of the Computing Research Association Committee on the Status of Women (CRA-W) and the Coalition to Diversify Computing (CDC). The goal of CERP is to be a national resource for programs that promote research careers and diversity in computing. The Center’sflagship project is the developmentof the Data Buddies project, which is a database measuring issues ofpersistence among students and facultyin computing departments nationwide.In addition to its immediate value for program evaluation and benchmarking, this rich source of data will be analyzed in depth for what it can tell the computing community about factors that help thicken the research pipeline and underrepresented minorities and women  (URM-Ws) in graduate programs and research careers.

On March 1, 2013, Dr. Jane Stout was hired to be the Director of CERP.  She will promote CERP’s unique evaluativecapabilities and lead formal evaluation of programs aimed at increasing URM-Ws in computing that are designed and run by the CRA-W and CDC, and funded by external grants and sponsors.

Goals for CERP

Dr. Stout’s immediate goal is to work with CRA’s senior statistician, Delicia Mapp, to analyze data that havealready been collected. There aremany exciting research questionsthat can be answered with currentand incoming data, such as: Are the CRA-W and CDC’s mentorship programs effective in retainingunderrepresented studentsin computing? If so, what are theunderlying mechanisms behind thebenefits of our programs?

In addition, Stout expressed long-term goals: “Our nation very much needs toincrease the number of talented and motivated workers in computing fields, and to make sure that workforce is diverse. With a diversity of experiences comes a diversity of perspectives, which fosters creativity and innovation. My team and I view our evaluation endeavors at CERP as well situated to promote a more diverse computing workforce. Through examining ‘whatworks’ in CRA-W and CDC’s programs, workshops and lecture series,we will be better able to advise on how best to structure current and future programs aimed at retaining women and individuals from underrepresented minority groups in computing.”

“Another long term goal is tomake clear to constituents in other science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) academic fields and organizations that the DataBuddies project can be a valuableresource in understanding the type of programs that best promote students’engagement and retention in their fields– particularly students from historically underrepresented groups.”

About the Director

Jane Stout obtained her Ph.D. in social psychology in 2011 at The Universityof Massachusetts Amherst with a concentration in quantitative methods.There, she focused on understandingthe many reasons why women pursue certain STEM fields less frequently than men. She continued this programof research as a Postdoctoral Research Associate fortwo years at The University of Colorado Boulder before becoming the Director of CERP at the CRA. She is eager toapply her methodological and statistical training to study the efficacy of the manyvaluable mentorship programs offered by the CRA-W and CDC and other intervention programs offered nationwide.