Attracting a New Generation of Students to Computing

A combination of scholarship incentives and a new interdisciplinary degree program were used to increase the number and diversity of students majoring in computing at Santa Clara University. A 2009 grant from the Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) program of the National Science Foundation (NSF) provided scholarships of up to $10,000 per year for two cohorts of students. This paper describes how these scholarships and the new degree program impacted both the enrollment and diversity of undergraduates majoring in computing, what worked well and what did not, and what was learned from the experience.