Computer Science professor honored with research mentoring award

Posted by Jayme Blaschke
University News Service
August 27, 2013

Anne H.H. Ngu, a professor in the Department of Computer Science at Texas State University, has received the 2013 NCWIT Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award from the National Center for Women and Information Technology.

The award recognizes computing professors for their outstanding mentorship, high-quality research opportunities, and efforts to encourage and advance undergraduates (particularly women and minorities) in computing-related fields. The NCWIT Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award is sponsored by AT&T, which will donate $5,000 to Texas State.

Ngu was the first professor to establish a computer science undergraduate research program at Texas State. The 20 students who have participated in her research program include women, Latinos, African Americans and first-generation college students. External evaluation of her REU program found that “students reported multiple learning gains from their research experiences, including increased confidence in computer science, and a greater understanding of the technical research process.”

“AT&T is proud to support educators whose outreach and encouragement engages students from diverse backgrounds to study computing,” said LuAnn Chrumka, vice president of information technology at AT&T. “This award is a natural extension of AT&T’s Aspire program, and our commitment to education-focused groups that concentrate on STEM disciplines for students in underserved communities. We hope this award motivates additional faculty who are developing students to become our future researchers and innovators.”

Research experiences for undergraduates (REUs) have been shown to impact students’ career decisions and influence the path of their graduate studies. REUs can be particularly powerful for female students, who currently earn only 18% of undergraduate degrees in computing.

“We’re thrilled to be able to recognize these influential educators with support from AT&T,” said NCWIT CEO Lucy Sanders. “Their work with students is directly diversifying the computing pipeline.”

About NCWIT

NCWIT is a non-profit organization of organizations working to increase women’s participation in computing and technology. NCWIT helps its members more effectively recruit, retain and advance girls and women in K-12 through college education, and from academic to corporate and startup careers. Members of the NCWIT Academic Alliance--nearly 650 distinguished faculty from more than 275 colleges and universities across the country--work to increase the number of women graduating with computing and technology degrees, with access to leading-edge practices for recruiting and retaining women and a supportive professional community. Find out more at www.ncwit.org.