The Future is Female for the Tech Industry: City College to receive grant from Google to promote women in computer science
By Sayra Ilyas
The following article appeared in the November 2019 edition of The Campus.
The GroveSchool of Engineering has partnered with Google to create a pipeline programfor New York City female high school students interested in pursuing a careerin computer science. Google awarded The City College of New York (CCNY) with an$18,000 grant to help create new opportunities for women in STEM and hopefullyincentivize a new generation of female tech professionals.
The partnership between CCNY and Googleblossomed during an information session held last summer for CUNY career serviceprofessionals. Brendan Collins, Google’s university program specialist, came tovisit the campus three times over a five-month period, showing a great deal ofinterest in the diverse and bright minds over at the Career and DevelopmentInstitute. Since then, Collins has worked to create resumé and interviewworkshops, as well as provide insight into the tech recruitment process, whichfocuses specifically on what Google is searching for in new hires.
Statisticsshow that only 20% of computer science degrees in the United States are held bywomen. Incidentally, the percentage of women in the field has decreased overthe years from 37.1% back in 1984. The number of women at the frontlines oftech companies provide an even more grim reality. Only 13% of executives ofglobal Fortune 500 companies are women, including roles such as Chief InformationSecurity Office, Chief Information Office, as well as senior executivepositions including Vice President.
The student-runclub, Women in Computer Science (WiCS), will take initiative in reversing this bothersometruth by crafting the first curriculum to be used by the first cohort of NewYork City high school students. Together, CCNY’s very own undergraduatestudents majoring in computer science, as well as teaching assistants, willteam up to educate the high schoolers about the tech field in two Saturdayworkshops spanning out over the course of two years. One workshop will takeplace this October and the second in October 2020. The aim of these twosessions is to create a tangible experience in a college setting for the highschoolers and help them better understand what a career in STEM entails. Topicswill include the major obstacles that might come their way, specifically thesevere underrepresentation of women in the field.
The WiCSclub is excited about the new opportunities that this grant will provide young,female high school students. The executive board was able to give The Campusa statement about the positive impact that the grant will have on the nextgeneration of tech professionals. The club explained that, “This grant allows us to expose high schoolstudents, especially young women, to computer science and coding. It givesstudents from schools without any programming classes a great opportunity tonot only learn, but also, build a network that can help them in the future.”Over half of STEM-related professions deal with computing. Given the populardemand, however, there is a shortage of computer science courses being taughtin NYC high schools. Only 44% of all NYC public high schools teach computerscience. As a result, the NYC Department of Education is starting to take aninitiative to promote computer science education and aims to have the coursetaught by all NYC public schools by 2025. With great persistence, the nextgeneration of tech professionals will boast greater diversity and innovationthan the tech giants of today.
