The Institute for African American Mentoring in Computing Sciences leverages social media platforms to share information, offer mentorship, and connect Black computing students with vital resources. Through platforms : YouTube, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkedIn, iAAMCS provides insights into graduate programs, application strategies, and funding opportunities. These efforts are part of a broader initiative aimed at increasing the recruitment and retention of Black students in computing by fostering niche online communities and providing culturally relevant mentorship. IAAMCS plays a crucial role in empowering African American students to navigate the challenges of graduate school and succeed in the field of computing. Through this poster, we explore IAAMCS's social media strategies and their impact on increasing Black student participation and retention in computing disciplines.

Internship experiences allow students to authentically participate in industry while still obtaining mentorship and development opportunities. The Morehouse Center for Broadening Participation in Computing, in collaboration with the Atlanta University Center (AUC) Data Science Initiative, Lockheed Martin, and Amazon Photos joined forces to expand a PreFreshmen eXperience (PFX) program that supports student exposure to programming and interviewing skills. Specifically, incoming Computer Science and Software Engineering freshmen at Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Clark Atlanta University were eligible to apply to the program. The goal of this program was to not only prepare students for courses but also expose them to technical interviewing skills, resources, tools, and experiences in hopes that they will use this information to apply to an internship following their freshman year.

A Historically Black College or University (HBCU) hosted a virtual supplemental learning program to expose underrepresented minority and low-income youth to game development via Construct 3: Game Making Software. The program implemented a hybrid need-based admissions model that compared paid, subsidized, and free virtual outreach participation among underrepresented minority (URM) and low-income adolescents. Due to the program's unique distinctions: a virtual learning environment amid COVID-19, African American undergraduate instructors, and its need-based admissions model, it is unclear which factors directly affected student participation. Future directions include investigating what factors contributed to participation rates, obtaining student and parent feedback, and comparing this program to summer programs for underrepresented students.

This Research Full Paper presents a qualitative interview and descriptive study on computing resilient identity development of African Americans who have earned a Ph.D. in a computing field. Low sense of belonging and self-efficacy contributes to low participation and performance of African Americans have lower participation and performance in computing as compared to their White and Asian counterparts. Computing identity including sense of belonging and self-efficacy contributes to this deficit. To increase African American successful representation in computing, resilience is explored to identify the support systems, challenges, and coping processes of African Americans who have earned a Ph.D. in computing. In depth, semi-structured interviews of African American post-docs, faculty, and industry researchers in computing fields were implemented. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. Transcriptions were analyzed with a hybrid inductive-deductive qualitative content analysis. Surveys were employed to document participants' work resilience and personality to supplement the qualitative data. Results include the resilient identity development of participants by reciting background information, challenges and support systems in their respective employment, and how they react to such stressors and supports, and the productive they are while persevering. Findings from this work can be used to improve academia and industry conditions for African American professionals and to identify resources that were suggested to be pivotal in participants' resilient identity development within the computing field. This paper is in conjunction with other papers in an extended case study on resilient identity development in African American computer scientists.

This Research Full Paper presents a qualitative interview study on the effectiveness of a computing identity development listserv. The demand for diverse computing careers increases, yet African Americans continue to participate and succeed in computing fields proportionately less than their White and Asian counterparts. An individual's computing identity can influence their performance and willingness to participate. The African American PhDs in Computer Science Listserv is an email listserv created to increase and maintain members' sense of belonging, self-efficacy, and resilience in computing. Semi-structured interviews of graduate student, faculty, and industry professional members were conducted to investigate how effective the listserv was at increasing and maintaining computing identity. Findings include decision making processes for joining, duration and dosage of interaction members partake, maintenance of computing resilience, members' self-reflection, willingness to seek help, and attitudes towards computing. Recommendations were made about the listserv and if other African Americans in computing should join. Findings can be used to develop new approaches to supporting the computing identities of underrepresented groups. This paper is in conjunction with other papers in an extended case study on resilient identity development in African American computer scientists.