Questions and Solutions Related to Broadening Participation in Computer Science

Throughout my academic career, I have been heavily involved in activities that aim to create an inclusive environment in scientific research.  My training and background stems from a mathematics and computer science background and was broadened during my PhD when I shifted my focus to analysis of biological data. I feel very passionately that there is opportunity to diversify scientific research.  There have been many successes in this process (e.g., the proportion of publications in STEM fields that have a woman as an author has steadily increased since 1995).  Yet, there are still areas that need improvement (``Women were 1.6 times more likely than men to report interruptions in their graduate studies, a major factor impacting doctoral completion rates.’’ ACM-W, 2022) and the opportunity for change is more promising than it has ever been.  In this talk, I hope to lead a discussion about the opportunities to improve diversity, and what the gains are to the scientific community in broadening participation.