ACM Celebrates Diversity in Computing & Technology

ACM recognizes the achievements and efforts of the Asian and Pacific Islander community in the computing and technology field. In celebration of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, ACM will be highlighting 2023 ACM Fellow recipients from the AAPI community. Their career work has led to groundbreaking contributions that helped improve the computing field and left an outstanding impact on how technology is used. Follow the series via #CelebratingAAPIMonth and leave us a message on X, Linkedin, Facebook, Mastodon, or Instagram.

This Women's History Month, ACM proudly commemorates the groundbreaking achievements of women in computing. Join us in celebrating their contributions with a curated selection of past People of ACM interviews, ByteCast episodes, TechTalks sessions, and clips from previous diversity panels which will be showcased on ACM's social media accounts throughout the month of March. Additionally, in partnership with Rob O'Connor's podcast, The Machine, ACM Fellow Nuria Oliver discusses her career journey as a woman in the computing field.

ACM is celebrating 2024 Black History Month with an interactive Q&A video series! Join us for an enlightening journey as computing students around the world pose burning questions to Black experts in tech, and watch as they share their wisdom and experiences as they address questions such as what role does technology play in addressing social issues, how can a diverse perspective enhance the impact of technological issues, how do you envision the future of computing in terms of inclusivity and diversity, among others.

Recent advancements in AI have introduced many to its immense potential and functionality. However, how are AI technologies impacting different communities around the world? View the panel, "A Global Perspective on Contemporary AI," featuring Alain Tchana from the LIG laboratory, Kalika Bali from Microsoft Research India, Nadia Rodríguez Rodríguez from the University of Lima, and Aboubakar Mountapmbeme from the University of North Texas. Their discussion explores the crucial need to involve the global community in AI development and the inclusion of underrepresented cultures in its coding to make AI accessible to all.

Throughout October 2023, ACM celebrated Global Diversity Awareness Month by highlighting the scientific accomplishment of ACM members who are advancing computing through unique aproaches. Revisit the compelling and inspirational interviews featured in this years' People of ACM series.

Why do communities matter? Why should you spend time and energy on fostering a community in your field? In recent years, many initiatives have been launched aimed at empowering underrepresented groups by creating communities. To celebrate Hispanic-Latino Heritage Month (Sept. 15 - Oct. 15, 2023), the ACM DEI Council invited moderator Patti Ordóñez, Daniel Acuña, Stephanie Ludi, and Carlos R. Rivero to share their journeys as computing professionals, acknowledge their influences, and discuss the benefits and challenges of building alliances in the panel "Communities Matter: Celebrating Hispanic-Latino Alliances in Computing."

During Pride Month 2023, ACM recognized the LGBTQ activists and computing professionals who pioneered LGBTQ rights within their fields. ACM featured inspiring quotations from LGBTQ activists and computing professionals through our social media campaign "Who Said It?" Did you recognize any of these quotations? We invite you to post quotations from LGBTQ activists and computing professionals that inspired you using the hashtag #PrideMonth2023. 

During Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in May 2023, ACM spotlighted Asian American and Pacific Islander pioneers and luminaries in the field of computing, whose ingenuity and entrepreneurship have helped shape the world we live in today. Who are your AAPI heroes that have inspired you to pursue computer science? Follow the series via #APAHM and leave us a message on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram.

The pandemic has fueled many changes—from the way we work to how big a role we allow technology to play in our life. Research also shows that the past three years have affected women in the workforce particularly hard. How has it been for women in computing? View the in-depth panel conversation on demand, "What's Changed Post-Pandemic? A Conversation With Women in Computing," featuring Jocelyn Simmonds, Jen Lamere, Yasmine Elglaly, and Hemangee Kapoor, moderated by Gloria Childress Townsend.

Celebrate Black History Month by viewing the ACM DEI Council's panel, "Black Excellence in Real-World Computing"—now on demand. Moderator Fay Cobb Payton and panelists Juan Gilbert, Diana Burley, Martez Mott, and Happy Sithole offer an hour of stories, insights and actionable tips. Learn about the critical decisions that led them where they are, the unique challenges they navigate working at the intersection of computing, society, and identity, and how students, researchers, and practitioners of color are impacted by the pandemic and other current events.

While the internet has permeated almost every aspect of daily life, Native American communities still face critical challenges such as limited telecommunications infrastructure and underrepresentation in computing research and industry. How are Native American netizens using social media? How can they take advantage of technology to reinvigorate their cultures? And what can we learn from indigenous perspectives? During Native American Heritage Month and beyond, we invite you to visit four research projects selected from our digital library that engage with and are inspired by the Native American experience.

For Global Diversity Awareness Month in 2022, ACM launched an #IAmACM campaign highlighting the unique scientific accomplishments of ACM experts featured in this year's People of ACM series.

Diversity in computing enriches our understanding of the field as well as the people working in it. During Hispanic Heritage Month this year, we are spotlighting several Hispanic computing professionals, whose academic excellence, engineering accomplishments, and long-term efforts to diversify the field make them inspiring role models for future generations of students, researchers, and practitioners. We encourage you to post about the Hispanic computing professionals who have inspired you using the hashtags #HispanicHeritageMonth and #HHM2022.

During Women's History Month in March 2021, ACM encouraged computing professionals and students to use the hashtag #SheIsWhyICode to share stories on social media about the women in computing who have inspired them at any point in their careers or education. The stories ranged from your earliest introduction to computer science to overcoming a recent professional obstacle, and the technical women varied from luminaries of the computing field to your high school CS teacher or current boss.

ACM is celebrating Black History Month in the US this year by posting responses from Black ACM Fellows, volunteers and members to questions about their careers in computing. We'll learn about what inspired them to pursue careers in this field, how underrepresentation shapes the experiences of Black students and professionals in computing, and what can be done to combat racial bias in computing and technology. View a webpage featuring their responses.

During Women's History Month in March 2020, ACM encouraged computing professionals and students to use the hashtag #SheIsWhyICode to share stories of women in computing who have inspired them at any point in their career or education. The stories ranged in topic from one’s earliest introduction to computer science to overcoming a recent professional obstacle, and the subjects varied from luminaries of the computing field to someone’s high school computer science teacher or current boss.

ACM is celebrating Black History Month this year by posting responses from African American ACM Fellows, volunteers and members to questions about their careers in computing. We'll learn about what inspired them to pursue careers in computing, how does underrepresentation shape the experiences of African Americans in computing, and what can be done to combat racial bias in computing and technology. View a webpage featuring their responses.