Creating a JEDI Mindset
Student-created Course Sharpens Focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Computer Science Community
STACEY FEDEROFF
To begin class, student facilitator Ananya Joshi asks the room of first-year Ph.D. students to stand if they are comfortable doing so. Then, she plays a short video leading students in light stretching and a breathing exercise. Soothing music chimes as the students stretch from side to side, then, prompted
by the woman in the video, they all take a deep breath in and out together.
“All right, that was our centering practice,” says Joshi before reviewing the agenda for the second week of CS-JEDI: Introduction to Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Computer Science.
First conceived of in 2020, the six-week course — now required for all first-year Ph.D. students in SCS’s Computer Science Department — aims to create a more welcoming computer science community. CS-JEDI was primarily developed by CS Ph.D. students who, after investing more than 1,300 hours of work, received the university’s Graduate Student Service Award in 2022. CS-JEDI is now also the subject of published research, which won a best paper award at the Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) conference, held in March 2023. Now, in addition to continuing to educate first-year CSD students, the program may spread not only to other departments within SCS, but to other universities as well.
“[CS-JEDI] opens the door to deeper conversations and allows students not only to learn, but also to understand the importance of what they can do and how they can contribute to this whole environment of diversity, equity and inclusion,” said Darla Coleman, executive director of SCS Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Initiatives.
When student facilitator Victor Akinwande participated in the class as a new international student from Nigeria, he said he found not only the discussion valuable, but also the curated resources available in an online library that any SCS graduate student can access and utilize.
“It was just super helpful to be aware of and be exposed to these topics,” Akinwande said.
First-year CSD students completing a JEDI breathing exercise
COURSE CONNECTIONS
Each week, CS-JEDI students hear from guest speakers on the current week’s topic from within the CMU community. In the second week of class, guest speakers Jordan Taylor and Adinawa Adjagbodjou — both Ph.D. students in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute — presented on how biases of identity, intersectionality and systemic inequality affect research and teaching, and their particular importance to Ph.D. students. Taylor broke down how research survey design can be affected by stereotype threat, which is the risk of confirming negative stereotypes, depending on how questions are worded or organized.
“This is something that is so foundational, since we make Google Forms all the time, be it for recruiting students or to evaluate something,” said Taylor. In another example, Taylor pointed out how something as common as the name for the “stable marriage” problem, a canonical problem in computer science and economics, could alienate LGBTQ+ people.
“The formulation of this problem as a marriage between a man and a woman can be marginalizing if you’re a queer person in this class and that’s not how you imagine yourself navigating the world,” said Taylor. “There’s a way you can do these problems and instead design alternative structures.”
During each of the six class sessions, all structured around collaborative learning, students study a core question. They approach it through one of several sub-topics called lenses, which are then discussed with a synthesis group of four to five students.
When she first participated in CS-JEDI as a student, Joshi said the discussion groups built into the curriculum allowed her to connect with her fellow Ph.D. students in ways that she wouldn’t have otherwise. Students also found the discussion topics apply to their academic work. “Some of the students talked every week about how the class topic was helping them get a better idea of their own research,” said Joshi.
Presenters Jordan Taylor (left) and Adinawa Adjagbodjou (right), Ph.D. students in HCII, speaking about how biases of identity, intersectionality and systemic inequality affect research and teaching for Ph.D. students.
Bailey Flanigan, Ph.D. student and co-founder of JEDI
BEGINNING WITH CORE QUESTIONS
Zico Kolter, associate professor of computer science and faculty instructor for the CS-JEDI course, described how practitioners of technical fields like computer science often believe they are dealing in objective truths, and this may inadequately account for the fact that everyone sees the truth through their own lens. The CS-JEDI class allows students to consider the ways societal norms may influence their perception of the truth at the onset of their research careers.
“That’s a new notion for a lot of people in science as a whole,” Kolter said. “And I would say most scientific programs don’t touch on them at all … so bringing them up is an extremely important perspective for students to see.”
A discussion in June 2020 among Ph.D. students Bailey Flanigan, Catalina Vajiac and Sara McAllister planted the seeds of what would eventually become the CS-JEDI course. The three talked about their experiences as women in computer science, and how their interactions as Ph.D. students left them feeling
like something was missing.
“Before that conversation, we all felt like we were trying to overcome the same set of issues alone,” said McAllister. “And although we weren’t sure what a concrete solution would look like, we wanted to see if our peers were having the same experiences.”
The three informally surveyed their peers and found similar anecdotes. “Some students talked about keeping their struggles to themselves because they didn’t want to be perceived as a burden to their advisors or other people,” Flanigan said. “It seemed like there were no real channels for students to have honest conversations about the difficult issues — DEI-related or not — that tend to come up in Ph.D. programs.”
The CS-JEDI course emerged as a step toward addressing that problem, by offering a space where students could have open and evidence-based discussions about DEI in academia and computer science. After the CSD Departmental Review Committee gave the green light to pilot the course, 15 SCS Ph.D. students worked together in close collaboration with the Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation to design the CS-JEDI curriculum and included curriculum reviews.
“The set of Ph.D. students, staff and faculty who contributed to the curriculum approached it from a diversity of perspectives and experiences around DEI topics,” Flanigan said. “This was important in helping us anticipate how different members of our community might experience the material. Another main goal we had was to tailor the content to the computer science Ph.D. experience, since this is an experience that all CS-JEDI students all have in common.”
After running an official course pilot in Spring 2021, the faculty of the CSD officially added CS-JEDI to the Ph.D. curriculum, making it a requirement for all first-year Ph.D. students. The proposal to make the course required for all students was discussed extensively, but ultimately approved in the interest of more evenly redistributing the work of creating an inclusive environment, Flanigan said.
“We designed CS-JEDI to be a required class because making our community welcoming to all requires everyone — not just those who are most affected by DEI issues, or those who are already interested in DEI — to self-educate and engage with these topics,” said Flanigan. “Fluency in DEI topics can also be really valuable for Ph.D. students in general, helping them to be more connected to their community, and to be more effective collaborators, teachers, mentors and job applicants.”
First-year CSD students listening to JEDI guest speakers before forming discussion groups
Adinawa Adjagbodjou discussing machine bias with students
SHIFTING THE CULTURE
Two more curriculum overhauls later, different versions of the class have now been held four times, first on Zoom and now in person.
The program’s success wouldn’t have been possible without the collaborations among the leadership team, students and faculty in CSD.
“When I started this endeavor with Bailey and Catalina,” said Sara McAllister, “I had no idea what the reaction would be, but the support I’ve received around it from my peers, my advisors, my collaborators and others has been amazing.”
According to the published research on CS-JEDI, about half of the students who were glad they took the course also said they probably wouldn’t have taken it if it was optional.
“To me, this is a promising sign for required DEI education, because it looks like many students value the opportunity to learn this material … and otherwise wouldn’t get it,” Flanigan said.
The article also reports that students most strongly agreed that CS-JEDI increased their awareness of their peers’ perspectives, their ability to create inclusive environments, and to identify and bring up these topics and advocate for themselves.
“I’ve definitely heard more people talking about DEI issues just walking around the hallways or at Ph.D. events,” said McAllister. “I hope that newer and future Ph.D. students feel more included and, as they go on in their careers as teachers, researchers, managers and mentors, are able to identify and remedy DEI issues.”
Emma Strubell, an assistant professor in the Language Technologies Institute, believes initiatives like CS-JEDI not only educate students who hold privilege in certain ways, but also give marginalized students formal ways to frame what they’re experiencing. Strubell expressed her wish that she had something like this course when she was a Ph.D. student.
“I think this is a great way of trying to shift the culture to a more positive space,” Strubell said.
Last year, Strubell organized two mini-JEDI sessions based on and inspired by the material and philosophy of the full six-week course. Raising awareness around diversity, equity and inclusion issues for Ph.D. students who are pursuing careers in academia can improve the overall environment for future generations of students.
“I hope we can continue this momentum,” Strubell said.
LONGEVITY FOR BELONGING
Now that the course has been built and approved, the focus of the CS-JEDI project has shifted to its sustainability. To promote continuity of instructor expertise, the two student-facilitators co-teaching the course each semester are interleaved, so that one student instructor has always co-taught the course once prior. The curriculum also includes interchangeable elements at several levels of detail, so that the course can more easily adapt
to student feedback.
Eventually, the CS-JEDI program could expand beyond CSD to accommodate all departments in SCS.
“I think a big part of what we’ve done so far is show that it’s possible to teach a course like this,” Flanigan said. “The fact that this course came from students and it’s taught by students makes it unique. Also, the fact that we’re actually teaching these topics in a required setting, and we’re collecting detailed data that suggests that it’s going well, gives precedent for similar initiatives to be adopted at other places.”
Fielding interest outside Carnegie Mellon, Flanigan gave a presentation on this effort in February to similarly curious students at Columbia University.
“I see this as the beginning of many more schools hopefully doing something like this — and hopefully doing it even better,” Flanigan said, “to the point where people across institutions are combining their knowledge and building up a community understanding of how to equip our students — and hopefully eventually, faculty — with tools and strategies for making our field inclusive.”
CS-JEDI fits in alongside other DEI programs available to all students within SCS, such as the student-run SCS4ALL or Women@SCS. The SCS DEI office also periodically hosts workshops on recognizing unconscious bias through a program called BiasBusters.
“Our goal is to create a sense of belonging for all students within SCS,” Coleman said.
“The hope is that it has some longevity, and that it continues to do the good work that the CS-JEDI leadership team started.”
“Our goal is to create a sense of belonging for all students within SCS.”
CONTINUING THE JOURNEY
At the end of the presentation on stereotype threat, one student wanted to know how to best look for these biases, asking “Is there a list of examples to look through?”
Taylor responded that no, there isn’t a list — and, essentially, that was the reason for the development of the CS-JEDI course in the first place. These issues can’t be eradicated by simply checking off a list. Rather, recognizing them has to be the first step in the journey of understanding that leads to more innovative teams and ideas.
“Something to think about when there’s a stereotype threat,” Taylor told the student, “is an ethos of mindfulness, which is why it’s important for us
to talk about these issues of identity.” ■