Practices for recruiting and retaining graduate women students in computer science and engineering

Producing a continuous supply of well-trained, high-quality IT professionals poses the greatest challenge of U.S. competitiveness over the next decade. A largely untapped talent pool is among women who currently participate in computer science and engineering education at low rates, and subsequently, in academia and in industry. This paper summarizes current practices by Computer Science and Engineering departments aimed at recruiting and retaining graduate women students. It also outlines the need for research to study the effectiveness of these practices.