From 2018 to 2019, the number of students from underrepresented groups who completed a Ph.D in computer science decreased by 13 percent. Computer science research has broad implications for billions of people—which is why it’s so important that researchers doing this work represent the experiences, perspectives and concerns of people all around the world. So we’re working with the Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI) and the CMD-IT Diversifying Future Leadership in the Professoriate Alliance (FLIP) to increase the diversity of Ph.D graduates in computing.

In 2019, together with Google Research, CAHSI and CMD-IT FLIP established separate competitive dissertation awards programs across their network of institutions. They invited doctoral students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds to apply for the awards to be used for the last year of the completion of the dissertation requirements.

Meet the graduate students who received this award. By pursuing research in computer science and related fields, they’re positively influencing the direction and perspective of technology. Here’s what they’ve shared about themselves, their aspirations, and their dreams for the future.

Elsa Tai Ramirez

My aspiration is to apply for a faculty position in a software engineering or computer science department. As a faculty member, I would like to continue teaching software engineering and doing research in software requirements and software architecture.

Rodrigo dos Santos

I look forward to the continuity of my work in the academic sphere, by working towards the collaboration between academy and industry through joint research and development projects. This would benefit software engineering and computer science students who join these projects as researchers, allowing them to get much needed practical experience by working on real-life projects.

Abel Gomez Rivera

Working as a scientific researcher has always been a dream since I had my first research-oriented class. Applying my aptitude for research and my passion for educating future generations in an academic setting is an ideal working situation for me.

Easysoftonic