Jane Margolis, Senior Research, UCLA Graduate School of Education
Abstract:
Despite the ubiquitous presence of technology in our lives, the national computer science enrollment numbers continue to decline and the number of women and students of color majoring in the field is abysmally low. In this talk, Dr. Margolis will discuss the reasons behind this persistent underrepresentation and how the numbers in computer science reflect ddep-seated patterns of educational inequity and the ways in which fields become segregated. Based on over 15 years of research, beginning at Carnegie Mellon Computer Science Department and currently underway in the Los Angeles Unified School District high schools, Margolis will discuss actions that have successfully reversed this national trend. Dr. Margolis is the author of two award-winning books on this topic, Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing (MIT Press, 2002) and Stuck in the Shallow End: Education, Race, and Computing (MIT Press, 2008).
Bio:
Dr. Margolis is a Senior Researcher at the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies and is a social scientist who focuses on educational inequity and segregation. For the last 15 years she has studied the low numbers of females and students of color in computer science. She is the Principal Investigator of several large grants looking at this problem, being supported by the National Science Foundation, the Sloan Foundation, Google, and Microsoft. She is the author of two award-winning books on this topic Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing (MIT Press, 2002) and Stuck in the Shallow End: Education, Race, and Computing (MIT Press, 2008). She was honored with the 2005 Computing Research Association Habermann award for Diversity "because of the way she uses her research to inform ongoing interventions; she is committed both to rigorous research and to making important changes in society."