Preliminary analysis of factors affecting women and African Americans in the computing sciences

The current paper presents research that investigates those factors that affect the recruitment and retention of women and African Americans in the computing sciences. We begin by discussing the data that describes the historic participation of women and African American students in the computing sciences. We then discuss the social, cultural, and financial factors that have traditionally affected these students and their progression in the field. Finally, we present an outline of recommendations that can be used to develop new policies and learning programs that can be used to increase the number of students from these groups. Though there is much literature on this topic, the current paper suggests that further investigation is needed to understand the extent to which existing statistical data can be interpreted to aid in the recruitment and retention of these underrepresented groups in the field.