UNM TO HOST NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR CONFERENCE

October 16, 2003

UNM TO HOST NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR CONFERENCE

The University of New Mexico School of Public Administration and the Department of Computer Science are hosting a conference for principal investigators of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Information Technology Workforce (ITWF) and Information Technology Research/Education and Workforce (ITR/EWF) programs on October 26-28, 2003, at the Sheraton Old Town Inn in Albuquerque.

Organized by Roli Varma, associate professor, School of Public Administration, and Deepak Kapur, chair and professor, Department of Computer Science, the conference expects to draw more than 70 principal investigators (PIs) and co-principal investigators (co-PIs) to attend, along with eight representatives from the NSF. Eric Roberts, professor, Computer Science, Stanford University, will give the keynote address.

The purpose of the conference is to make new PI’s and co-PI’s from 2003 and others from 2000-02 aware of three broad themes considered in the ITWF and ITR/EWF programs on under-representation of women and minorities in IT workforce – environment & culture, educational continuum and workplace. The conference will provide opportunities for researchers to meet, share and discuss relevant issues; to inform each other about promising findings emerging from research projects; and to build a sense of community among PI’s and co-PI’s working at different institutions.

“Women and minorities have increased their presence in higher education, but still there are much fewer of them pursuing IT fields. Why is that? What can be done about it?” asked Varma. “This conference will foster intellectual discussion on the under-representation of women and minorities in IT education and workforce. The conference will provide a large number of active scientists research
findings and information among more research groups.”

“The Department of Computer Science is committed to addressing these important problems locally at UNM and contributing to the discussion as well as possible ways to deal with these issues,” said Kapur. “I am looking forward to this important conference for some answers.”

“The conference also increases UNM’s visibility among leading scientists and NSF representatives,” Varma added.

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