In 2021, Cal State Fullerton was awarded a $650,000 Best Practice grant from the Center for Inclusive Computing at Northeastern University, funded by Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company created by Melinda French Gates. That grant has been renewed twice and will continue through August 2024.

“The sponsor has looked at the progress we’ve made in lower division courses, the increasing number of female students entering the computer science major, and the increasing number of female students progressing through the major, and they were very pleased that through the effort of the entire department and strong support from the dean of the College of Engineering & Computer Science, we were able to deliver what we promised few years back,” says Doina Bein, the grant’s principal investigator and professor of computer science.

With Beth Harnick-Shapiro, co-PI on the grant, a computer science lecturer and faculty coordinator for the Women in Computer Science and Engineering (WiCSE) program at ECS, Bein proposed and executed a multipronged approach to recruiting community college students and promoting their success academically, socially, and financially.

“We have conducted several mentoring workshops with five community colleges that feed into CSUF,” Bein says. “These are brand-new initiatives that involve current CSUF female students talking about various aspects of academic life at CSUF and offering tips on how to be successful after transferring here. Given the large number of students in computer science and the relatively small number of professional staff available to help these students, the workshops are invaluable for incoming students, irrespective of their gender.”

Bein says Karina Vega, CSUF’s grant administrator, has been training the student presenters, organizing the presentations, and coordinating with community colleges to schedule the workshops for more than a year.

In addition, the department implemented a seven-week summer research program in 2023, which has been very successful. More than 100 students from community colleges and CSUF participated.

“We plan to possibly host two more this summer and potentially next summer. There are two tracks – one focused on data science and one on pairs trading – both with extensive real-world applications,” Bein says. “We are talking about 100-plus students who are now more experienced in research, more motivated to continue with the CS major, and possibly achieving higher grades and securing more competitive scholarships and internships. And if the two future summer research programs happen, we could reach over 300 more students.”

The Best Practice grant has provided financial support to 20 community college students as part of summer research, as well as for 12 female CSUF students, two staff members, and six faculty members.

“Through the two to three workshops per semester and stipends for community college students participating in summer research, we were able to increase the number of female transfer students to CSUF,” Bein says. “The new grant will allow us to double the number of stipends offered over the summer.”

Continuing Their Programs’ Progress

Recently, Cal State Fullerton received a new Transfer Pathway grant from the Center for Inclusive Computing, which helps amplify the effort of the current grant toward a single community college, Cypress College, through July 2025.

The new grant will provide support to 50 community college students, about 10 CSUF students, two staff members, and two faculty members. More student-led mentoring is planned as part of the new grant, but this time, it is solely focused on Cypress College.

Bein says the department’s success in revamping introductory courses would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of the computer science faculty, Computer Science Department Chair Chang-Hyun Jo, who has advocated for the program at all university levels, Dean Susan Barua, the Chairs Council, the Admissions Office, and the Advising Office.

“In the first semester, more than 630 freshmen have benefitted from a better structure for lectures and labs, a unified way to teach and assess, and a fast way to receive feedback on work submitted,” Bein says. “There are CSU campuses at which entire computer science departments have fewer students enrolled than we have freshmen. We work as a team, supporting each other, respecting each other, and learning from each other.”