Advice for building recruiting pipelines from high school to college: BridgeUP STEM program

Abstract

This panel brings together personnel from the Georgia Institute of Technology and the National Center for Women & Information Technology to discuss challenges, necessary logistics, and practical advice for creating a high school-to-college pipeline for recruiting women and gender nonconforming students into computing. Framed by our experiences developing BridgeUP STEM - -an ongoing, two-year program comprising coursework, tiered mentoring, research internships, and community events - -panelists will discuss important lessons for designing bridge programs, including what worked well and what did not for project planning, recruiting participants, structuring activities, and negotiating flexible formats to accommodate students' needs and unexpected challenges. Panelists represent key perspectives including project leaders, a logistics coordinator, a coding instructor, a Faculty Mentor, an undergraduate student participant, and a program evaluator. This panel will provide attendees with guidance for replicating similar programs at their own institutions to better foster recruitment and retention pipelines for attracting a greater diversity of students in computing.