Deaf Computing Academy at UW

Date
Thursday, June 14, 2007

DO-IT and the UW Department of Computer Science and Engineering is co-sponsoring a two-month computing academy on the UW campus for ten students interested in pursuing computing careers. It is supported by the AccessComputing project funded by by the National Science Foundation as part of the Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) program of the Directorate for Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering (CISE) (grant #BPC 0540615).

The following article is from uwnews.org, the source for news and information at the University of Washington, UW Office of News and Information, Jun. 13, 2007.

Deaf computing academy welcomes first participants in national program Hannah Hickey hickeyh@u.washington.edu.

WHAT: The 2007 Summer Academy for Advancing Deaf & Hard of Hearing in Computing, a nine-week academy teaching talented students the fundamentals of computer science and aimed at boosting their numbers in the field.

WHO: 10 deaf and hard-of-hearing students, in their last years of high school or early years of college, who show promise for a career in computer science.

WHEN: June 18 - Aug. 17

WHERE: University of Washington, Seattle campus

DETAILS: Students from around the country will take an introductory computer-programming class and a project course in computer animation. The students will also tour local high-tech companies and meet with deaf or hard-of-hearing professionals. Representatives from IBM, Oracle and Cray will talk to the students about their own experiences obtaining advanced degrees and pursuing careers in computer science. This will be the first of at least two years of funding for the academy.

The number of deaf or hard-of-hearing people with doctorate degrees in computer science remains very low, according to academy co-director Richard Ladner, professor of computer science and engineering. The summer academy is part of the UW's Alliance for Access to Computing Careers and is funded by the National Science Foundation.

More details are at http://www.washington.edu/accesscomputing/dhh/academy/.

For more information, contact co-director Ladner at (206) 543-9347 or ladner@cs.washington.edu, or program coordinator Rob Roth at robroth@cs.washington.edu.