2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 352: NSF S-STEM: Inclusive Hackathon Themes to Attract Underrepresented Community College Students into Computing Disciplines

Presented at NSF Grantees Poster Session

There is a broad agreement that part of the solution in attracting more underrepresented students to computing disciplines is to influence students early on in their educational pathways. The NSF S-STEM Scholarship program at a minority serving institution organized Hackathons with inclusive themes as one of the strategies to attract and recruit more underrepresented, underserved, and under-prepared community college students transferring into computing disciplines. This initiative successfully attracted underrepresented student groups (2022: 62 students, 52% Hispanic, 27% female, 2021: 39 students, 23% Hispanic, 16% female) to these Hackathons conducted in an in person as well as in an online format. The Hackathon brought together individuals from 2-year community colleges and a 4-year rural minority serving institution to work on challenging computing projects in a short amount of time. The main objectives of these Hackathons were to (i) create a strong sense of community and an environment where every student felt welcomed; (ii) engage students from different backgrounds to learn about each other and come together to solve computational problems; (iii) to strengthen the communication between students early on in their computing experience and student who are relatively new to the field of computing. This paper will discuss the design of inclusively themed Hackathons, the logistics involved during planning, the execution, the challenges faced, and the impact it created to broaden the participation of underrepresented, underserved, and under-prepared community college students in computing related activities.

Authors

Dr. Vinitha Hannah Subburaj West Texas A&M University [biography]

Dr. Subburaj joined the College of Engineering at West Texas A&M University (WTAMU) in 2017. She received a M.S. in Computer Science from Texas Tech University in 2010, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Texas Tech University.
Dr. Anitha Sarah Subburaj West Texas A&M University [biography]

Dr. Anitha Subburaj is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at West Texas A&M University (WT) since 2016. She has been named the inaugural appointee to the McFather Professorship of Engineering, Computer Science and Mathematics at WT, 2022. Dr. Subburaj received her M.E. in Applied Electronics from the Anna University in 2007, India and her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at the Texas Tech University (TTU) in 2014. She was a post-doctoral research associate at TTU before coming to WT. Dr. Subburaj is a Senior Member of the IEEE society. She teaches electrical circuits design, signals, control systems, renewables, and electric power systems. Dr. Subburaj has several publications in Renewable & Sustainable Energy Review Journal, IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, and International Journal of Renewable Energy Research. Her research interests include Education research methods, renewable energy, control systems, battery energy storage system, and battery connected to grid applications.
Dr. Pamela Renee Lockwood-Cooke West Texas A&M University
Dr. Audrey Meador West Texas A&M University [biography]

Dr. Audrey Meador is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics in the College of Engineering at West Texas A&M University. She was previously a K-12 mathematics educator for seven years before moving into higher education, where she currently teaches pre- and in-service mathematics education courses. Her scholarly contributions include 10 articles, and four book chapters in the areas of the instructional routine of Number Talks, preservice teacher education, and the recruitment and retention of undergraduate students in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. She is current Co-PI on two funded National Science Foundation grants in the Division of Undergraduate Education.

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