News Category: computer-science

Over the past five years, Texas has seen significant improvement in high school computer science (CS) enrollment, yet growth in female enrollment continues to lag. According to data collected by the UT STEM Center, in 2017 only 26% of students completing a CS course were female. Additionally, Code.org reported females accounted for only 27% of the Advanced Placement (AP) CS exams taken in 2017.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the UT STEM Center a three-year $2.5 million grant to lead the Expanding Computing Education Pathways (ECEP) Alliance. ECEP is one of eight Broadening Participation in Computing Alliances (BPC) funded by the NSF to increase the number and diversity of students in K-16 pathways. ECEP works with state leadership teams to achieve this goal through education policy reform. First launched in 2012 through an NSF grant to Georgia Tech and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, ECEP has since grown through four phases from two states to sixteen and Puerto Rico. Building on the existing network of ECEP states noted in the map above, the ECEP leadership team is pleased to announce the fifth phase addition of six new states to the Alliance: Hawaii, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, Oregon, and Washington.

The STEM Center's Deputy Director, Dr. Carol Fletcher, will join Dr. Kamau Bobb and Lien Diaz of the Constellations Center for Equity in Computing at Georgia Tech on stage during the CSforAll Knowledge Forum 2018 being held on the campus of UT El Paso from September 12-13, 2018.

The Texas Department of Information Resources Office of the Chief Information Security Officer (DIR OCISO) has announced that this year they will be hosting a CyberSecurity Public Service Announcement competition for Texas high school students grades 9-12. Students are encouraged to learn about four designated cybersecurity topics and submit a 30 second PSA promoting cybersecurity awareness by October 5th to be considered for selection.