The Alliance for Access to Computing Careers is a National Science Foundation funded project that works to increase participation of people with disabilities in computing fields. AccessComputing provides mentoring and funding for career development activities specifically for students with disabilities.
Part of this project includes the AccessComputing Team, which is made up of undergraduate and graduate students who
- Have declared or plan to declare a computing-related major such as computer science, information science, informatics, or computer engineering.
- Identify as having one or more disabilities.
These students must be enrolled as an undergraduate or graduate student at their college or university in the United States. International students are welcome to apply for and join this team as well.
Below, read more about AccessComputing and application.
For answers to your questions, contact Eric Trekell at the DO-IT Center at the University of Washington (a university partner with AccessComputing).
Are you a computing student with a disability?
Looking for an internship? Want to connect with peers and mentors with disabilities? AccessComputing can help you do that.
AccessComputing, a National Science Foundation funded Broadening Participation in Computing Alliance, provides mentoring and funding for career development activities for students with disabilities in computing-related fields. This includes:
MENTORING
Through our online community, students and mentors discuss a variety of topics. It is a place to connect with others to share your successes, ask for suggestions regarding any issues that may arise for you related to your disability, education or employment, and to support other team members when they need help brainstorming solutions.
TUTORS
Struggling with a computing course? Please contact us about tutor support. Each term, AccessComputing can fund a limited number of tutors for project participants.
CONFERENCES
Interested in attending a conference related to computing, diversity, or professional development? AccessComputing may be able to provide funding for travel, registration, or accessibility-related costs. While we can’t send every student to every event, we do fund many students each year to attend events like Grace Hopper, the Tapia Celebration of Diversity in Computing, the CSUN Assistive Technology Conference, SIGCSE, and the Computing Research Association’s Widening Participation events, among others.
RESEARCH INTERNSHIPS
Every year AccessComputing funds students with disabilities to participate in the Computing Research Association’s Distributed Research Experience for Undergraduates Program.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
- Age: Participants should be 18+.
- Disability: At AccessComputing, we recognize that not all students with disabilities register with their campus disability/accessibility office and that they have a variety of reasons for not doing so. For that reason, we do not require our participants to be registered with their campus disability office, or to provide medical documentation of a disability as a condition of eligibility. We do require a self-report from you, discussing your disability and the ways in which it creates barriers for you. All information provided on the application is confidential and is only ever reported to the National Science Foundation in an aggregate manner. We define “disability” broadly and recognize invisible disabilities – psychological & emotional conditions & neurodivergence, for example – as barriers to student success.
- Academics: Participants should be in a computing-related field.
WHEN CAN YOU APPLY?
AccessComputing does not have an application deadline; because of the way our funding is designed, we can accept applications at any time throughout the life of the AccessComputing program – and guess what? We’ve been around for more than 15 years and have been successful enough that we’re on our fifth consecutive NSF grant!
Find the student team member application and more information at the AccessComputing web page.