The dissertations of all five 2019 graduates of the ATLAS Institute's PhD in Technology, Media & Society program emphasize empowering groups that tend to be less engaged in engineering fields. The five graduates are all women, itself a group that is underrepresented in engineering.

“There are opportunities to make our learning systems more equitable, empowering and inclusive of the amazing diversity in the human experience,” says Abigale Stangl, a graduating PhD student who researched how to make media and information systems more accessible for people who are blind or visually impaired. “We need to think about how to change social conversations about what’s possible for people of all different abilities.”

Women, people with disabilities, and most minority groups, including African Americans, Latinos, American Indians and Alaska Natives are all underrepresented in science and engineering (S&E), according to the 2019 Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities Report by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics.  The proportion of the underrepresented groups is lowest in engineering, computer sciences and physics. 

Mark Gross, director of the ATLAS Institute, points out that ATLAS PhD students embrace many topics and this clustering is a little unusual, but that ATLAS is a place that seeks to empower everyone to engage with technology and engineering. “Historically, engineering and computing have been dominated by white men like me," says Gross.  He references the research of this year's ATLAS graduation speaker, inventor Leah Buechley, a ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder alumna with a PhD in computer science from the College of Engineering and Applied Science; she pointed out in a paper that of the 36 covers of Make Magazine published to date, 85 percent featured white males. None were people of color.

"Until we change those numbers, we’re missing out on great talent. Our graduating PhD students exemplify that talent," adds Gross.

In their dissertations, Donna Auguste and Simone Hyater-Adams sought to broaden African American participation in STEM fields, Auguste via researching the bond between STEM learning and STEM identities and Hyater-Adams through using performing arts and digital media to attract underrepresented students; Stangl examined how to make media and information systems more accessible for people who are blind or visually impaired; Hyunjoo Oh created design tools that enable children to design and build mechanical systems, drawing children in by making those systems playful and engaging; and Brittany Kos researched the barriers women and non-binary students face in participating in hackathons.

For her dissertation defense, Hyater-Adams began by reading a poem about her personal struggle to balance her passion for both the arts and physics while simultaneously two dancers interpreted and performed her story.

“I have always been a scientist and an artist, and that intersection has always been important to me,” Hyater-Adams said.

Auguste plans to use what she learned from her doctoral research to encourage African American youth to enter STEM fields. Auguste worked with families to monitor air quality with sensors to identify possible triggers of asthma attacks and other health issues. 

“While the PhD is wonderful, my successful outcome will be reaching the kids,” Auguste says. “ I want to reach them by the thousands.”

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Kos, B. A. The Collegiate Hackathon Experience.  Extended abstract for the 2018 ACM SIGCSE Doctoral Consortium. Proceedings of ICER '18: International Computing Education Research conference. (Espoo, Finland, 2018).

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Despite a significant snowstorm, organizers of an ATLAS student-run hackathon, T9Hacks, once again reached their goals of increasing participants and attracting a majority of women to the creative coding marathon.

Led by ATLAS doctoral student Brittany Kos, this year's T9Hacks drew more than 130 participants, 70 percent of them female and non-binary, with 65 percent of the participants first-time hackers. In 2017, 110 people attended, with 60 percent of participants women/nonbinary.

The 24-hour event, which began Feb. 10, is geared toward college students and recent college grads, especially women, non-binary and transgender students—the “T9” stands for “Title IX,” a U.S. amendment that prohibits gender-based discrimination in educational settings.  In general, Hackathons—marathon creative coding and making events—are mostly attended by men, with female-to-male ratios often as low as 1 to 15.

For some, T9Hacks was an opportunity to attend their first hackathon, for others, it was a chance to venture out and try new technology for the first time. Teams of participants completed projects in three areas; cybersecurity, creative tech and tech for social impact. Workshops were available for beginners and mentors were available throughout to consult and support participants.

Working in teams, participants programmed and built creative software projects ranging from Happy Ivy, an app that encourages people with bipolar disorder to finish their tasks, to PeekPeak, an app that helps users save money by reducing utility usage during peak periods.

This year's winners and project descriptions can be found on , with special recognition from T9Hack's organizers for these projects: , by Tatiana Blanco and Vi Nguyen, an autonomous aquaponics system which allows users to grow food with a minimum amount of effort and cost;  by Carl Cortright and Shubha Swamy, a data visualization tool that maps crime locations within Boulder; and  by Cassandra Goodby and Ryan Craig, an emergency WIFI system that can be set up quickly and easily.

In addition to lead sponsorship from ATLAS, the event received major support from Workday, Zayo Group, Google, SketchUp and  MD5. Circadence, Major League Hacking, ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder's College of Engineering and Applied Science, TechChange and the National Center for Women & Information Technology also provided sponsorship.

For those who missed T9Hacks and those attendees who didn't get enough, don't despair; T9Hacks happens again next fall. Those interested in joining the planning team should visit the . 

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Geared particularly for women, the all-night event aims to attract newcomers to computer programming by providing a fun, lively and accessible hackathon. It's also a chance for participants to explore new ideas, experiment and collaborate, while racing to address a variety of challenges.

T9Hacks is geared toward college students and recent college grads, especially women, non-binary, and transgender students—the “T9” stands for “Title IX,” a U.S. amendment that prohibits gender-based discrimination in education.

New this year: The 2018 hackathon will offer three tracks—Creative Technology, Humanitarian Technology, and Cybersecurity—with workshops and design challenges that introduce students to the topics, teach them a variety of relevant tools and help them navigate complexities and build solutions.

ATLAS PhD student Brittany Kos, who created the event and has organized it for the last three years, intends that T9Hacks provides students with an opportunity to explore possibilities, get started on a project they may have had in the back of their minds, or create a solution to a problem they encountered. 

It’s also a chance to dive into a whole new subculture of hackers and makers. There will be workshops for beginners at the beginning of the hackathon and mentors are available throughout to consult and provide support.” 

"No prior programming experience is required,” Kos says.

For more information including a detailed schedule, .

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