UW CSE Outreach
Both as a department and as a solid UW citizen, UW Computer Science & Engineering strives through research, educational leadership, intellectual partnerships, and community outreach to measurably improve science scholarship, commerce and society. Here is a sample of our outreach efforts aimed at diverse constitutencies.
General CSE Outreach
- AccessComputing Alliance: AccessComputing activities help students with disabilities reach critical junctures on a path toward college studies and careers in computing fields. Most efforts of AccessComputing serve individuals with a wide variety of disabilities; some activities are specially designed for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.
- Our Professional Master's Program, geared for fully employed professionals in the state's burgeoning information technology industry, enrolls roughly 150 students and graduates roughly 50 students annually. Internet-based distance learning is used extensively.
- We are active in various aspects of the UW-Bothell Computing & Software Systems Program and UW-Tacoma's Institute of Technology.
- Working with UW Professional and Continuing Education, we offer multi-course Certificate Programs in C Programming, C++ Programming, Client/Server Management, Data Communications, Managing Network Operations, Multimedia, Software Engineering, Software Product Management, and other specializations. In 2010, more than 1,000 students participated in more than 3 dozen different certificate programs, generating more than 3,000 course enrollments.
- We work closely with Washington's community and technical colleges and develop online course materials, course equivalency certification, email bboards to foster interaction, and transfer information.
- UW CSE faculty participated in the design of the computer science curriculum for Ashesi University in Ghana. Ashesi University offers four-year bachelors degrees in computer science and business administration, based on a liberal arts core curriculum. The business administration curriculum was designed by faculty from the Haas School at Berkeley; the liberal arts core curriculum was designed by faculty from Swarthmore College.
Outreach with University of Washington
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University of Washington Women's Initiative (UWWI): UW women engineering students from a variety of engineering departments give 45-90 minute presentations to middle and high school girls.
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Engineering Discovery Days (formerly open house): The College of Engineering highlights several current research projects for the general public Friday and Saturday.
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Gear-Up: For the past several years, we have hosted several Gear-Up summer institutes, where we run a Mindstorm Lego robot workshop.
- IGNITE: We bring about 40 young women from the IGNITE program to a special presentation during the College of Engineering Open House, where we provide lunch, have a panel of women undergraduates in CSE, and take participants to see some of our research in action.
Industry Outreach
- Study after study confirms that the #1 factor in the success of high-tech businesses is the presence of strong research institutions. For an overview, see "The Impact of a Research University: An Information Technology Perspective."
- Our colloquium series is open to the public, available live and on-demand on the Internet, and recorded for later broadcast on UWTV.
- Our Affiliates Program fosters interaction among 75 of the region's and nation's leading information technology firms.
- We are actively involved with regional leadership organizations, such as the Washington Technology Industry Association and the Technology Alliance.
Pre-Majors Outreach
- CSE Programs
- Summer Academy for Advancing Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Computing . The Summer Academy is an academically challenging program designed for deaf and hard of hearing students with skills in math and/or science who may be considering computing as a career, either in industry or academia, and are ready to enter or are in college.
- Women's Seminar. A seminar for women taking CSE 142 or 143 our introductory programming courses, where they begin to build community and learn more about our department.
- Recruiting Receptions: Twice a year we invite the top students in our introductory programming courses to learn about the department and go on tours with current majors.
- UW Programs
- Society of Hispanic Engineers: In 2008 we began what we hope will be an annual tradition of hosting a session for the SHPE Future Meets Present 2008 Conference, where hispanic high school students are brought to campus to hear from local industry and participate in various hands on workshops in the Engineering Department.
- Emerging Leaders: We have two or three current majors eat lunch with the High School Emerging Leaders and then take them on a tour of the Allen Center for CS&E.
- College of Engineering Bridge: We host two BRIDGE sessions to introduce incoming freshman to topics in CSE
Current Major Emphasis
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CSE Programs
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Women's Lunches: Twice a quarter we host lunches for the women in the graduate and undergraduate major to join together to listen to speakers from industry or discuss relevant topics such as how to prepare for graduate school, etc.
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Mentors: We pair up a new CSE major (rookies) with a veteran CSE undergraduate major their first quarter in the department during the ACM Welcome Night so the veterans can show our new students the ropes around the Allen Center for CS&E
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ACM and ACM-W: Two students groups who work on building community within the department
- Academic Support: We offer tutoring resources to students in the CSE department who may need a little extra help with their courses.
- UW Programs
- Grace Hopper Conference: Each year we send staff, faculty, graduate and undergraduate students to the Grace Hopper Annual Celebration of Women in Computing.
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CSTA: We are a strong supporter of the Computer Science Teacher's Association. We encourage all of our Inspirational Teachers and CS4HS graduates to work with CSTA if they are teaching CS.
National Organizations
- NCWIT: UW CSE is an active member of NCWIT. NCWIT is the National Center for Women & Information Technology. We are a coalition of more than 100 prominent corporations, academic institutions, government agencies, and non-profits working to increase women's participation in information technology (IT).
- NCWIT "Sit with me" campaign: Sometimes you have to sit to take a stand. We sit to inspire women in computing and IT. We sit to recognize the value of women’s technical contributions. We sit to embrace women’s important perspectives and increase their participation. Imagine designing technology that is as broad and creative as the people it serves.
- PNWGC: The Pacific Northwest Girls Collaborative Project (PNWGCP) brings together organizations in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington that are committed to informing and motivating girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
- Higher Education
- Industry
- Economic Impact

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