2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Analysis of a Five-Year Journey Nurturing Women in Computing Programs at a Public Undergraduate Institution

Presented at Women in Engineering Division (WIED) Technical Session 3

This paper presents a comprehensive five-year analysis of programs (initiatives) aimed at improving the experiences and outcomes for women in undergraduate computing programs, specifically the Computer Programming and Information Systems (CPIS) and Computer Science (CS) majors, at a public state institution. Motivated by the broader vision of reducing the gender gap in computing fields, authors implemented and sustained a series of targeted interventions, including 1) a Women in Computing student club, 2) hosting summer orientation programs specifically for incoming women students in computing majors, and 3) fieldtrips to women-centered computing events and conferences.

The primary research goals were to improve women students’ overall experience while improving sense of belonging (SoB) and Academic Self Concept (ASC) throughout their studies. Using a mixed-methods approach, the study analyzes longitudinal End-of-Semester survey data (Likert-like-scale items and open-ended responses) in conjunction with institutional enrollment metrics to assess perceived impacts over time. The study is approved by the college Institutional Review Board (IRB), and survey data are collected over four academic years.

Findings indicate that participation across all three implemented initiatives is consistently associated with positive outcomes, including women students’ experience on campus as they complete their degrees, their SoB, their ASC, and increased peer bonding and support and motivation to persist in the computing programs. While overall women enrollment in the combined CPIS and CS programs did not increase significantly during the study period, institutional data reveal a modest improvement in gender composition of the programs, reflected in a gradual shift in the male-to-female enrollment ratio.

Authors

Dr. Mary V Villani State University of New York, College of Technology at Farmingdale [biography]

Mary V. Villani is a Professor at Farmingdale State College (FSC). She earned a doctoral degree from Pace University, the Ivan G. Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. Her dissertation topic was Keystroke Biometric Identification Studies on Long-Text Input. Publications in this area include peer-reviewed journal articles, external conference papers and peer-reviewed internal Pace University Conference papers and a co-authored book chapter, in Behavioral Biometrics for Human Identification: Intelligent Applications. Dr. Villani has been actively seeking funding internally and externally (and awarded) to address the gender disparity in the computing programs at FSC, and she is co-faculty advisor to the Supporting Women in Computing ACM-W Club on campus. Dr. Villani has presented and published in peer reviewed journals regarding initiatives and outcomes addressing gender disparity in computing disciplines including a Birds of a Feather sessions and conference presentations of her work with women in computing and broadening participation. Dr. Villani has been a Grace Hopper Scholarship Reviewer. Dr. Villani was awarded the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2013. Prior to joining SUNY Farmingdale, Dr Villani had a fifteen-year Computer Consulting Career in the Risk Management and Insurance industry. Throughout her career she had authored articles and papers in Risk Management Information Systems and delivered several invited presentations at Risk Management conferences as she was a recognized expert in the discipline.
Dr. Ilknur Aydin Farmingdale State College, SUNY [biography]

Ilknur Aydin is a Full Professor of Computer Systems at Farmingdale State College in New York. She received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from University of Delaware in DE, USA and received her BS degree in Computer Engineering from Marmara University in Istanbul, Turkey. She also worked as a software engineer in Turkey on projects about implementation of a GPS (Global Positioning System) based vehicle tracking system.

Dr. Aydin's research is in the general area of wireless and mobile networks with a focus on transport layer issues including multihoming, SCTP, congestion control, and network coding. Dr. Aydin has mentored undergraduates and high school students on research projects that involve the use of Arduino boxes and Raspberry Pi's in the context of Internet of Things as well as use of the public networking testbeds such as GENI, CloudLab, and FABRIC.

Dr. Aydin has been a vivid supporter of women in computing and increasing diversity in computing. She has been the co-faculty advisor for Women in Computing club at Farmingdale, contributed in Grace Hopper Celebration as a technical committee member and reviewer. Dr. Aydin has published and presented in peer reviewed venues about women in computing and broadening the participation over a decade.
Lisa Cullington Sacred Heart University [biography]

Lisa Cullington, Ph.D. is an educational researcher with expertise in curriculum development, learning outcomes and educational assessment best practices. She focuses on building and evaluating academic programs that promote inclusive excellence for all learners. Currently, Dr. Cullington serves as the Director of Learning Outcomes for National University. Previously, she was the Founding Co-Director of the Honors Program at SUNY Farmingdale and Associate Director of the Research Aligned Mentorship (RAM) Program where she designed, implemented, and evaluated academic programs to engage students from historically minoritized communities in undergraduate research opportunities. She has served as a principal investigator and educational researcher on number grant initiatives, including grants from the National Science Foundation and the United States Department of Education.

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