Spelman College News July 24, 2019 Spelman College Participates in the Congressional Diversity in Tech Summit Today, Spelman College joined the Congressional Bipartisan Historically Black Colleges and Universities Caucus for the second annual HBCU Diversity in Tech Summit, hosted at Howard University. This annual event is the largest collaboration of government, industry and HBCU leaders. The summit will bring together 47 companies, 34 HBCUs and members of Congress for conversations around tech diversity, and preparing students of color for careers within emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. Through two days of dynamic strategy sessions, participants will build sustainable partnerships to strengthen course curriculum, close the skills gap and create universal best practices for the recruitment and retention of HBCU graduates. Spelman, the country's leading producer of Black women who complete P.h.D.s in science, technology, engineering, and math, has already begun to prepare STEM graduates to fill the estimated 557,100 new computing jobs created between 2016 to 2026. "Spelman has secured several partnerships with both private and public organizations to help empower students to fill jobs in competitive STEM fields." said Mary Schmidt Campbell, Ph.D., president of Spelman. "The opportunity to engage with government and industry during the Diversity in Tech Summit will ensure that our students have access to corporations that are proactively working to diversify their employee pipeline." The conference happens at a time when Spelman, and its partners in the Atlanta University Center Consortium, are developing new curriculum to support the AUC Data Science Initiative, which will offer technical classes for students who want to specialize in data science or learn data analysis to give them a competitive edge in the job market. "Attending the summit is an opportunity to explore corporate partnerships that could enhance current data science related initiatives, as well as bring visibility to the work that Spelman College is doing to increasing technology opportunities and resources across campus," said Leyte Winfield, Ph.D., associate professor of organic chemistry and division chair of the sciences, who will represent Spelman at today's summit. In addition to the AUC Data Science Initiative, the College recently received a $200,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop undergraduate data-science-focused units that will prepare students to enter a data-driven workforce. In February 2019, the Army Research Laboratory granted the College funding to support curricular and research activities related to artificial intelligence and machine learning, with the goal of Spelman becoming a center for local and statewide training. "HBCUs are integral in preparing African-American students for jobs in competitive STEM fields, but it takes meaningful cooperation between the private and public sectors to truly ensure the tech sector reflects our nation's diversity," said Congresswoman Terri Sewell (AL-7), vice-chair of the HBCU Caucus. "Without engagement with HBCUs, industries miss out on a dynamic, well trained cohort of diverse workers. That is why I am so proud that companies like those participating in the HBCU Caucus' Diversity in Tech Summit recognize the importance of a diverse workforce." SANDRA M. PHOENIX HBCU Library Alliance Executive Director Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library 111 James P. Brawley Drive SW Atlanta GA 30314 404-978-2118 (office) 404-702-5854 (cell) http://www.hbculibraries.org sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> Honor the ancestors, honor the children and those yet to come. Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/hbculibraryalliance1/ and Twitter at https://twitter.com/HBCULibAlliance Check out "PULSE!" The HBCU Library Alliance's News Source! - https://hbculibraryalliance.wordpress.com/