Why BPC Matters

Populations underrepresented in computing and other closely-related disciplines, do not have equitable access to resources and opportunities to further advance in their education or career.

According to the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, only 9.9% of 2021 doctorate recipients in computer and information sciences identified as having a disability in 2021 (see Figure 7-10). Outside of science and engineering disciplines, disabled people represent 13.3% of doctoral recipients. More information is available about challenges in collecting data regarding students with disabilities.

The following is the 2021 graduation data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and represents undergraduate degree recipients in computing and closely-related fields among other undergraduate degree earners in the US:

  • Women 21% in computing vs 59% overall
  • Black and/or African American students 8% in computing vs 10% overall
  • Hispanic and/or Latino students 11% in computing vs 16% overall
  • American Indian or Alaska Native students 0.2% in computing vs 0.5% overall
  • Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander students 0.20% in computing vs 0.21% overall

For more data and statistics, visit the Research & Data page.

Making the Case

The videos below discuss various aspects of BPC to help you understand and communicate with others why broadening participation is important, NSF’s initiatives on BPC, and how to overcome common institutional barriers to efforts to broaden participation in computing.

Dr. Jeff Forbes (Program Director, NSF CISE) discusses the motivation behind NSF’s BPC Plan initiative.
Dr. Margaret Martonosi (Hugh Trumbull Adams ’35 Professor of Computer Science, Princeton University), discusses the importance of broadening participation in computing.
Dr. Ron Metoyer (Professor of  Computer Science and Engineering, Vice President and Associate Provost for Teaching and Learning, Notre Dame University) discusses institutional barriers to broadening participation in computing and how to overcome them.