About a decade into her career, Kelly Shaw noticed a national trend in computer science that reached far beyond the University of Richmond, where she was teaching. The supply of faculty members in 2014 couldn’t meet the demand from undergraduates wanting to take computing courses.

Now at Williams since 2019, she is working to turn the tide.

As co-chair of the Computing Research Association’s (CRA) Education Committee, which is composed of 13 faculty members from different types of colleges and universities across the U.S. and Canada, Shaw is helping to build pathways for computer science students to go into teaching-focused careers.

“The reality is that research-focused faculty members at research institutions have little knowledge about teaching-focused opportunities,” Shaw says. “They don’t know how to mentor their graduate and Ph.D. students on how to go toward that track.” 

To address this concern, Shaw and Erik Russell, director of educational initiatives at CRA, have received a two-year, nearly $50,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to conduct a series of workshops that support career-building opportunities specifically for teaching-track computer science faculty. 

One set of in-person workshops will provide professional development, career advice and networking opportunities for current computer science teaching-track faculty members at Ph.D.-granting institutions. A second set of virtual workshops will educate graduate students and postdoctoral fellows about the myriad teaching-focused faculty positions that exist, the steps needed to prepare for those careers and advice about the faculty job search process. 

To broaden participation, CRA is planning targeted outreach to historically Black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions, providing funding for their travel to the in-person workshops.

Currently, only about 35 percent of Ph.D.s in computing are awarded to U.S. students studying domestically, creating a shortage. According to research by RAND, the shortage may reflect a broader trend in STEM fields. In part, that’s because “it’s so lucrative to go into industry, where you can make $100,000 a year with just a bachelor’s degree,” Shaw says.

The result, some researchers argue, is a concern for the nation’s growth, competitiveness and security.

“Teaching-focused faculty are essential to the United States’ ability to educate the large number of undergraduate students who are interested in computing fields and who are needed to sustain the country’s technical innovation and productivity,” Shaw says. “Without [these faculty], a much smaller number of students would major in computing fields due to enrollment limitations, and faculty members at Ph.D.-granting institutions would reduce the number of doctoral students they train due to increasing teaching demands.”

Shaw’s passion for mentorship and providing undergraduate research opportunities stems from personal experience. As a first-generation student at Duke University, where she earned her B.S., Shaw says she had a professor who was a mentor, collaborator and cheerleader. “She was the person telling me, ‘Hey, you should try undergrad research and get your Ph.D.’”

During her time on sabbatical for the 2023-24 academic year, Shaw interviewed other Williams faculty to learn how they work with undergraduates and mentor them. “So many faculty members say how they had a mentoring experience that was life changing, so now they do it for students,” she says. “That’s their motivation for being at a place like Williams. They want to give students the same opportunities that were given to them.”