The AIMS2 program had a prominent place on the agenda at the annual summit of the Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI), held September 10-12 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. CAHSI is a consortium of Hispanic-serving institutions committed to consolidating the strengths, resources and efforts of organizations that share the core value of increasing the number of Hispanics who pursue and complete baccalaureate and advanced degrees in computing. In addition to CECS dean S. K. Ramesh, who gave a workshop on the results and lessons learned from the AIMS2 collaboration, Gloria Melara, professor of computer science, and Vidya Nandikolla, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, attended the meeting, along with Jan Swinton, an AIMS2 project collaborator from Glendale Community College. A group of students who had worked on the U.S. Department of Education HSI-STEM web portal for grantees took part in an all-day poster session, where they demonstrated the site.
“We were invited because of the work we are doing,” says Ramesh. “All the attendees talked about what we can do to attract more students and support them, and the students who accompanied us were able to show how the project work they had done had helped them academically and professionally.”