A Social Justice Approach to Computer Science Research and Black Undergraduate Students.

This experience report describes a holistic research experience for Black undergraduate students that was developed to help them obtain research experience while also addressing psychological and social challenges potentially encountered while developing a Black computing research identity and social capital. The Computing and Us research group is a multi-institutional research group co-directed by Black computing faculty and a Ph.D. program coordinator from two Historically Black Colleges and Universities and a Predominately White Institution. The research experience is grounded in a social justice perspective which provides culturally and socially relevant research mentorship situated in Afrocentric philosophies geared towards increasing students’ sense of belonging, self-confidence and knowledge of graduate school opportunities while cultivating their research skills. Initial results show that participants became more interested in the idea of graduate school as well as more confident in their studies and the learning environment.