San Jose, CA — December 5, 2016 — The new Technology Pathways Initiative (TPI) of the Center for Advancing Women in Technology (CAWIT) was announced by the White House today as part of a set of announcements in support of Computer Science for All (CSforAll). CSforAll is an effort to empower all American students to learn computer science (CS) and be equipped with the computational thinking skills they need to be innovators and creators, not just consumers, in the digital economy.

CAWIT advances the mission of CSforAll through the Technology Pathways Initiative, which aims to increase participation of college women in computer science, from campus to career. TPI establishes industry-academic partnerships for the development of new interdisciplinary computing degree programs at leading public universities, beginning with San Francisco State University, San José State University and U.C. Berkeley. In 2017, programs will be in place at three pilot campuses, funded by $3 Million in investment from TPI industry partners Intel Corporation, KLA-Tencor Foundation, and Salesforce.

TPI aims to expand its efforts to include a total of ten universities and five partners, with participating universities producing twice as many women graduates with computing degrees annually beginning in the 2020-2021 academic year.

According to Dr. Belle Wei, CAWIT Board Chair, and Carolyn Guidry Chair in Engineering Education and Innovative Learning at San José State University (SJSU), “TPI addresses a critical U.S. workforce demand for graduates with computing knowledge and skills, and creates pathways to computing education and careers for a diverse population of students who historically have not received computing education.”

New Interdisciplinary Computing Education degree programs will integrate computing with other fields of study that already attract large numbers of women. Most notably, women account for 60% of college biology majors and 43% of college mathematics majors, according to the National Science Foundation. These new degree programs will prepare students to pursue careers in emerging areas such as bioinformatics and big data analytics.

About CAWIT

Founded in 2014, the Center for Advancing Women in Technology (CAWIT) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Silicon Valley. Through its flagship Technology Pathways Initiative, CAWIT provides a collaboration platform for university, industry and government
leaders to create new pathways for the advancement of women in technology, from campus to career. Learn more at http://www.cawit.org.