African American women in the computing sciences

Abstract

Most will likely agree that fewer and fewer women are finding their way to completing a bachelor's degree in one of the computing sciences. However, in looking at data collected by the National Science Foundation (NSF) on bachelor's degrees in Computer Science (CS), an interesting anomaly is evident when African American women are viewed as a separate trend. This paper presents some preliminary analysis and suggests that research is needed to better understand this ethnic group that has remained relatively stable in its production of bachelor's degrees in CS.