NCSA NEWS

EOT-PACI Workshops Encourage Minorities to Attend Graduate School

released August 22, 2000

Forbes Lewis, a professor at both the University of Kentucky and the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, has organized a series of graduate school workshops designed to provide minority students with an honest picture of the value, as well as downsides, of enrolling in computer science and engineering graduate programs. These workshops are part of EOT-PACI's Access and Inclusion project of the Coalition to Diversity Computing (CDC).

"Because major research programs are found at institutions very different from the typical minority-serving college or university, it is important that students understand the context they will be entering. This is stressed throughout the presentations," Lewis said.

More than 35 undergraduate minority students attended the most recent workshop, which was held in June at Hampton University in Virginia in conjunction with the Symposium on Computing at Minority Institutions.

Lewis and CDC colleagues discussed a wide array of graduate school topics such as university selection, academic preparation, the admissions process, and financial aid opportunities. Another workshop panel, comprised of graduate students who had received undergraduate training at minority-serving schools, explained student life at a research university from the minority student's point of view. The symposium also offered a graduate school fair that gave students opportunities to connect with possible institutions for further study.

Additional workshops in this series are planned for this fall.

 

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