Every day, computer science researchers are working to solve big problems that impact all of our lives — from expanding accessibility in wearable technology to improving the lives of rural farmers through AI. For CS research to explore issues that impact all communities, it’s crucial that the researchers themselves are representative of those communities. However, in 2020, less than 10% of computer science Ph.D. degrees in the United States were awarded to researchers from historically marginalized groups in computing.
As part of our efforts to make CS research careers more accessible, Google Research is continuing our work with the Computing Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institutions (CAHSI) and the CMD-IT Diversifying LEAdership in the Professoriate (LEAP) Alliance to increase the diversity of Ph.D. graduates in computing. Together, we are providing dissertation awards to support Doctoral students from historically marginalized groups as they complete their Ph.D. requirements. This year, we have six winners: Abel Gomez Rivera, Dhruv Jain, Elsa Tai Ramirez, Matthew Anderson, Rodrigo Augusto Silva Dos Santos, and Saadia Gabriel.
We spoke with two of our 2020 award recipients — Amber Solomon from The Georgia Institute of Technology (Ph.D. ‘21) and Oscar S. Veliz from The University of Texas at El Paso (Ph.D. ‘21) — about their computing research journeys and aspirations for the future.
Article by Chloe Tims. Read interview here.
