When minority computer scientists--or computer scientists who are women, for that matter--look around a computer room, meeting, or classroom, they rarely see other women or people of color. Patricia J. Teller, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Texas at El Paso, and Valerie Taylor, Ph.D., head of the Department of Computer Science at Texas A&M Un...
Many scientists can recall the moment that inspired their interest in science. For Tania Ruiz (pictured left) that moment occurred at the age of six. She says, "After seeing Star Wars at a drive-in in 1977, astrophysics became my passion. I spent almost a year trying to locate the Big Dipper over my house. I recall standing on the top of the front steps, finding the asterism [a cluster of stars o...
