The 2015 CAHSI Summit:  Preparing a diverse and innovative computing workforce

By Multiple Authors

Authors: Ann Q. Gates, University of Texas at El Paso, Nestor Rodriguez, University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez, Malek Adjouadi, Florida International University, Mohsen Beheshti, California State University-Dominguez Hills, Ahmed Mahdy, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Enrico Pontelli, New Mexico State University, Nayda Santiago, University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez

The Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI) announces the launch of the CAHSI Summit to be held in San Juan, Puerto Rico on September 10-13, 2015. The CAHSI Summit is an extension of the CAHSI annual meeting that has provided professional development to students and faculty and served as a forum to disseminate undergraduate and graduate research efforts, CAHSI effective practices, and emerging practices that target recruitment, retention, and advancement. The CAHSI Summit will extend the focus of the annual meeting to include involvement of industry professionals in workshops that expose students to cutting-edge technologies. The new format will also provide sessions on innovation and opportunities to engage academic administrators and industry leaders in provocative discussions about industry needs and the status of Hispanics in computing informed by data and the literature. The overarching goal is to buttress CAHSI’s unified effort to address America’s competitiveness.

Past CAHSI annual meetings have been held at Google and Microsoft headquarters and have been co-located with the SACNAS National Conference, where the workshops, technical panels and poster session were integrated into the SACNAS conference program. The due date for student papers and posters is June 14, 2015. CAHSI is also seeking involvement of industry and faculty who share CAHSI’s core purpose and desire to become part of its effort to prepare students who are qualified to enter the workforce with knowledge and experiences in areas of critical need. To learn more about the CAHSI Summit, visit the CAHSI website, www.cahsi.org, or contact CAHSI’s project manager, Claudia Casas at ccasas@utep.edu.

About CAHSI: CAHSI was formed in 2004 with the core purpose of creating a unified voice to consolidate the strengths and resources of Hispanic-Serving Institutions and other groups committed to increasing the number of Hispanics in all computing areas. The member institutions are from the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and California, Texas, New Mexico, Florida, and Illinois, which represent the states that have some of the highest Hispanic K-12 and undergraduate enrollments. CAHSI’s educational innovations have increased student retention and success and CAHSI students’ research experiences have socialized them into the knowledge, skills, and values of the profession. CAHSI is funded by the National Science Foundation’s Broadening Participation in Computing program in the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE).