Slides from the invited talk given on Feb 13, 2019 being part of a diversity and inclusion week - Infusion 2019. Infusion is a diversity focused week for the Illinois College of Engineering, hosted by the Dean's Student Advisory Committee of Engineering Council. This invited talk was co-hosted by the NSBE - UIUC chapter.

1. Diversity and
Computing/Engineering:
Perspectives from Allies
Tao Xie
Department of Computer Science
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
taoxie@illinois.edu
http://taoxie.cs.illinois.edu/

2. Roots of My Diversity Passions
• My PhD advisor David Notkin
• My former colleagues

3. https://news.cs.washington.edu/2013/02/10/david-notkin-featured-in-ncwits-sit-with-me-campaign/
David Notkin (1955-2013)
UW CSE

4. Notkin: Founding Member/AA Chair of NCWIT
“Notkin was a founding member of NCWIT and provided
pivotal leadership in the organization's early years as one
of the first chairs of its Academic Alliance.“ David is the
one that convinced me that it would be worthwhile for me
to become a co-chair of the AA," Amato said. "It might be
possible to put in place projects and project co-chairs. So,
in some sense, we have him to thank for the current
organization of the AA." David was widely recognized and
admired for his exceptional skills as a research mentor for
graduate students and as a powerful and unwavering
advocate for improving gender diversity in computer
science.”
https://www.ncwit.org/blog/people-behind-harrold-and-notkin-award
Nancy Amato
Illinois CS Dept Head

5. Previous Soft Eng
Colleagues
@NC State
Profs. Annie Anton and
Laurie Williams, strong
advocates on promoting
women in computing

6. Snapshots of My Diversity Journey
• On-campus minority undergrad students
• Minority students across the nation
• On-campus and national services

7. Snapshot of My Diversity Journey – 2007
Approached and brought Justin Gorham and Rob
Udechukwu to a CS education workshop at Duke Campus
https://www.csc.ncsu.edu/news/331
Park Scholar’06, NCSU BS’10,
NCSU PhD student
NCSU BS’10, GEM Fellow’12
NCSU PhD student
https://www2.cs.duke.edu/csed/pltlcs/wkshopApr07.html

8. Snapshot of My Diversity Journey – 2009
https://www.csc.ncsu.edu/news/851
KaMar Galloway, NCSU BS’13

9. KaMar Galloway (Present): Program Manager,
Google CS First and Applied Digital Skills
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10156457170366162
2018: “Google teamed up with the rapper, donating $1
million to his nonprofit SocialWorks to bring computer
science education to Chicago public schools.”
https://www.blog.google/outreach-
initiatives/education/accelerating-cs-education-in-loca/
“Our Computer Science Summer Institute
(CSSI) provides opportunities for diverse students
like KaMar Galloway to strengthen their CS skills and
prepare them for a technical career. CSSI was
instrumental in KaMar’s pursuit of CS at North Carolina
State University and eventually his role on our CS First
team, which aims to engage 1 million students in CS,
particularly those from underrepresented groups.”
KaMar Galloway

10. Snapshot of My Diversity Journey – since 2009
https://mentornet.org/
Get connected to mentor a number of minority students across
the nation via MentorNet, Social Media, conference venues
MIT BS’08, CMU PhD’15
Now Assistant Professor @U. Michigan
U. Florida BS’08, PhD’14
Now Assistant Professor @U. Oklahoma
…

11. Snapshot of My Diversity Journey – 2011
Tony Mitchell, Assistant Dean & Director of Minority Engineering Programs
at NC State emailed me:
“As part of his dissertation work, Mr. Christopher Newman, a Ph.D.
candidate from UCLA, is spending this week on campus interviewing
students, faculty and staff to understand factors that contribute to
scholarly success of our African American undergraduates in engineering
and computer science... I am contacting you because several students
Chris has interviewed mention you as one who has sought out students
to get involved with your research and projects. We here in the dean’s
office are of course appreciative of your efforts, and believe your input will
help Chris as he continues his study.”

12. Snapshot of My Diversity Journey - 2017
With Part of NSBE UIUC Chapter Leadership Team @ 2017 NSBE Convention

13. My Diversity Journey: Mentees/Advisees
Maintains a mentoring emailing list with >500 members, mostly minority
students in computing
Has supported and supervised undergraduate/graduate research of 26
minority students during my 5+ year Illinois faculty career so far and 19
minority students during my 8 year NC State faculty career.
2017 Summer Undergrad Research2016 Summer Undergrad Research Part of Research Group@ Tapia 2018

14. My Diversity Journey: On-Campus Services
During 2018 Fall - 2020 Spring, I serve as the Chair of the Diversity Committee
of Illinois CS Department
One of 2 faculty advocates at Illinois for the FLIP (Diversifying Future
Leadership in the Professoriate) Alliance, to increase faculty diversity in
computing at research universities by increasing the diversity of PhD graduates
(African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and People with Disabilities)
http://www.cmd-it.org/programs/current/flip-alliance/
One of 7 mentors for the Illinois Academic Redshirt in Science and Engineering
(ARISE) Program Sponsored by NSF
https://engineering.illinois.edu/admissions/undergraduate/arise.html
…

15. My Diversity Journey: National Services
Served as Tapia 2018
General Chair
Served as Tapia 2017
Program Chair
Tapia 2018 had 1431 attendees and 112
sponsors, 60% of attendees are students.
Typically >50% female attendees, >50%
Hispanic or black attendees
Started from my first Tapia conference (2011); served as doctorial consortium (co)chair in Tapia 2014/2015
http://tapiaconference.org/

16. Diversity Efforts Need Allies
• Too many people don’t have proper understanding of diversity and related reality
• Underrepresented group faculty/professionals/students may be overloaded

17. Gender Equality and Microsoft CEO
(From 2014 to 2015, 2018)
“Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to
Women: Don’t Ask For A Raise, Trust
Karma”
– Grace Hopper 2014
“Microsoft's CEO is returning to an event
that got him in trouble last year — but
he's just there to listen”
-- Grace Hopper 2015
“4 years after the CEO of Microsoft
publicly flubbed a question on how
women should ask for a raise, he has
completely different advice”
-- 2018

18. https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/yes-women-can-and-do-want-to-code-uw-
professors-and-alumnae-say/
https://quillette.com/2018/06/19/why-women-dont-code/
Stuart Reges
UW CSE Principal Lecturer

19. Statement on Diversity at MICRO-50 (2017)
https://www.sigarch.org/statement-on-diversity-at-micro-50/
MICRO-50 conference program included an all-white-male panel entitled “Legends of MICRO.”

20. Even Underrepresented Group
Students/Faculty May Have Misperception

21. Social Expriment Illustrating Privilege
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwx5IvypC5Q&feature=youtu.be

22. Underrepresented Group Professors Overloaded
with Services
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2016/11/what
-is-faculty-diversity-worth-to-a-university/508334/
https://www.chronicle.com/article/What-Factors-Hold-Back-
the/244841
"The added burden of committee service,
the invisible labor, the belief that people
don’t value their work — those kinds of
things add up,“
“Women and underrepresented minorities
do more service and administrative work,
and the invisible labor of mentoring
students that they engage in isn’t
rewarded in the tenure-and-promotion
process.”

23. Diversity Wisdoms from PhD Advisor and
Colleague

24. “Computer Science and Flexible Learning” - Notkin
• I've heard Maria Klawe say (something along the lines
of): "To become a better teacher, you should learn
how to do new things that are hard for you - this will
help you remember what it is like for many of your
students.“
• “In particular, for teachers who are part of a core
majority group - in computing, this is usually white
males, like me - it's important to put yourself
sometimes in a learning situation in which you are a
minority. ”
https://www.ncwit.org/blog/computer-science-and-flexible-learning
David Notkin (1955-2013)
UW CSE

25. “Computer Science and Flexible Learning” - Notkin
• “I've been taking Pilates and circuit training in classes of
about 25 people each, where I am often the only male
and where I am almost always the oldest person in the
class (often by 10+ years). In each case, I have found
myself looking for people "like me," and have been forced
to realize that my body isn't shaped and doesn't bend like
most of the others in the class. It doesn't mean I'm not
learning, but it means I have to look at the learning
process a bit differently.”
• “I've also noticed that the instructors seem to be aware of
me as a minority, even to the point of changing their
patter a bit. "OK, class, now pull the weight just under
your ... uh, just under your chest." Somehow I get the
feeling that if I wasn't there, the instructor would phrase
that differently.”
https://www.ncwit.org/blog/computer-science-and-flexible-learning
David Notkin (1955-2013)
UW CSE

26. “Increasing Flexibility” – Notkin NCWIT’12 Summit Flash Talk
• “the McGurk effect, which says what we hear
depends on whether we see or not. Implicit bias says
our experience in history affects how to see other
people. And all of these feed in to the way we
perceive ourselves, and the way others perceive us,
and the way that we perceive others perceive us.”
https://www.ncwit.org/video/ncwit-12-summit-flash-talk-david-notkin
David Notkin (1955-2013)
UW CSE

27. Open Reception – Notkinfest on Feb 1, 2013
• “It’s important to remember that I’m a privileged guy.
Debbie and – our parents, Isabell and Herbert, were
children of poor Russian Jewish immigrants, and they
were raised in the Depression and taught us the value of
education and how to benefit from it.
• “Mom, especially, taught us the value of each and every
person on earth. I still wake up and – You know, we have
bad days, we have bad days, but we have plenty to eat
and we have a substantive education, and we have to
figure out how to give more back. Because anybody who
thinks that we’re just here because we’re smart forgets
that we’re also privileged, and we have to extend that
farther. So we’ve got to educate and help every
generation and we all have to keep it up in lots of ways.”
https://web.archive.org/web/20181118171838/https://geekfeminism.org/2013/05/13/remembering-a-geek-feminist-ally-david-notkin-1955-2013/
David Notkin (1955-2013)
UW CSE
https://news.cs.washington.edu/2013/02/01/honoring-david-notkin/

28. “Fifty Privileges”
• “#1: I’ve never heard gunfire from my bedroom”
• “#2: I’ve always had access to food when I wanted it”
• “#3: Police protect me rather than suspect me”
• “#4: I never had to learn to protect myself on the street (or the
playground)”
• “#5: I had two parents raising me”
• “#6: My public schools were able to attract nationally recognized
teachers by paying professional grade salaries”
• “#7: Most of my peers were college-bound, and 98% of them
graduated from high school”
https://blogs.uw.edu/ajko/tag/privilege/
Andy Ko
UW iSchool

29. “Fifty Privileges”
• “#8: When people see me on the street, most don’t have an immediate
fear response”
• “#9: I was lucky enough to grow up in an era and in a state where smart
poor kids like me could get grants, scholarships, and part time jobs to cover
most of my in-state tuition and fees, and leave with less than $10,000 in
student loans.”
• “#10: For some reason, my high school allowed a community college
student to come to our high school at 7 am to teach about ten students
(including me) computer science”
• “#11: I could play on the street in my neighborhood(s) without feeling in
danger of cars, kids, gangs, or police”
• “#12: In high school, I didn’t have to work to help my family pay the bills”
https://blogs.uw.edu/ajko/tag/privilege/
Andy Ko
UW iSchool

30. “Fifty Privileges”
• “#13: Because I was a boy, my teachers gave me more frequent and more
constructive feedback”
• “#14: All of family and my friends’ family had jobs if they wanted them, setting the
expectation that having a job was feasible, expected, necessary, and supported”
• “#15: My skin is white(ish) and my nose is thin(ish), so white people don’t other me
(much)”
• “#16: Because my voice is louder and deeper than most womens’, I have a biological
advantage in obtaining positions of power.”
• “#17: When I was a boy, people treated me as future professional problem solver,
rather than a future parent, spouse or friend”
• “#18: Because I’m taller than the average male and female, I was much more likely in
life to receive more social esteem, more leadership skills, higher income”
• …
https://blogs.uw.edu/ajko/tag/privilege/
Andy Ko
UW iSchool

31. Diversity and Computing/Engineering

32. http://gendermag.org/
Margaret Burnett
(Oregon State U.)

33. http://gendermag.org/downloadables/genderMag-flyer.pdf

34. Culturally Relevant Computing/Ethnocomputing
• “The African-American Distributed Multiple Learning Style System (AADMLSS) is a
culturally relevant technology program, developed by the Human-Experience Research
Lab. AADMLSS City Stroll is an interactive game-like environment that uses culturally
relevant cues, gestures, sounds and lyrics to teach students algebra.
http://www.hxrlab.org/“AADMLSS City Stroll combines gaming
technologies with artificial intelligence is
providing a unique multimedia learning
experience for students to learn Algebra.”
Juan E. Gilbert (U. Florida)

35. Some More Wisdoms

36. Imposter Syndrome
• “a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their accomplishments
and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a "fraud".”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome
http://phdcomics.com/comics/archive_print.php?comicid=1972

37. Richard Tapia’s Advice
• “I may not be the best, but I
am good enough.”
• “If you sit on the porch with
the big dogs and
occasionally bark like a big
dog, the world will view you
as a big dog.”
https://medium.com/stem-and-culture-chronicle/the-road-ahead-1493e8320e5
Richard Tapia (Rice U.)

38. Dare to Talk About Your Negative Experiences 
Positive Things
David Notkin (1955-2013)
2010 Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award

39. Dare to Speak Up (Respectfully/Nicely)
• Example of speaking
up in terms of service
load
• Example of speaking
up in terms of
undesirable behaviors
of other researchers
in the research
community

40. Book: “Crucial Conversations
- Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High” ~$11
https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-Conversations-Talking-Stakes-Second-dp-
0071771328/dp/0071771328/ref=mt_paperback?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=

41. Important driving force of success:
Empathy/EQ + self-awareness/improvement +
abstraction/reflection for advice/lessons learned
In later career phases, ONLY technical skills may not be
sufficient for (bigger) success.
http://taoxie.cs.illinois.edu/advice/
My research group’s motto: Work Hard, Work Smart, Work Wise
Concluding Advice

42. Graduate School Or not?
Statechart of Post-PhD Career (Incomplete)
PhD
Student
PhD
Univ. Faculty
Industry or Gov
Lab Researcher
Startup Founder
Company
Engineer/
Manager…
Post-PhD Benefits:
Independent researcher/innovator
More freedom at work
…
https://www.slideshare.net/taoxiease/phdprogram-preparation

43. MS Program Can Be Reasonable Buffer
• MS vs. MCS (here at Illinois CS)
• MS thesis degree  research
• MCS course degree
• MS student sometimes gets financial aids (tuition paid, monthly stipend)
• Fellowships from outside or univ: GEM, …
• Research assistantship from advisor
• Teaching assistantship from department
• PhD student typically gets financial aids
• Often MS admission may be less competitive than PhD admission
• Do research summer internship with a professor (or in spring/fall semester, when you may be
too busy with course load though) at least once before graduation
https://sites.google.com/site/asergrp/fellowships
https://sites.google.com/site/asergrp/statements

44. Q/A + Discussion
Diversity & Computing/Engineering:
Perspectives from Allies
Tao Xie
Email: taoxie@illinois.edu
http://taoxie.cs.illinois.edu/