Video of the Day: 'My Robot is Better Than Your Robot'

Blog Safari #47

Join our rhino guide, Nyabingi, as she takes you through the afrosphere to find some truly creative Black bloggers. We use this semi-regular blog safari to expose you to some Black bloggers that you might otherwise overlook. Visit the links below to enjoy these suggested blog posts!

• At The Bar - Why I'm Sitting the Next One Out
• Field Negro - 'Sweet Home Alabama' is Only for the Documented
  
• Politics 365 - Obama, Smiley, West and the Politics of the Messiah
• Science Careers - Are African Americans Surging in Computer Science? 
• What About Our Daughters - TBS Prepares to Air Birth of a Nation: The Black Women's Edition Weekly

Let us know if you come across any remarkable posts that should be shared in our next Blog Safari!

Empowering Leadership Alliances Seeks High School Students of Color Interested in Computing Fields

In conjunction with Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA), the Empowering Leadership Alliance (ELA) is starting an initiative to reach out to high school seniors interested in computing fields before they matriculate on their respective university campuses.

ELA is an NSF-funded program that engages underrepresented minority (URM) students in computing disciplines at research institutions in a nationwide network composed of leading universities including Rice University, UC Berkeley, and UT Austin.

Their mission is to increase the number of students from groups with long-standing under-representation that receive undergraduate and graduate degrees in the computing disciplines.

We are asking villagers to inform minority high school seniors who are interested in pursuing computing-related fields about EL Alliance. Ideally they should register with the online EL Alliance registration form.

After students register, they will be contacted by ELA staff who will invite them to:

• Ask questions about computing or classes or university academic life
• Participate in university student-led teleconferences where college students would answer the high school students’ questions,
• Be matched with a current college student,
• Participate in mentoring teleconferences, among other possibilities.

We think that CSTA and EL Alliance can help bridge the fragile pipeline from high school through college and graduate school so that our nation can benefit from these future minority leaders in computing. If you have any questions about the EL Alliance, please contact Alice Fisher.