The STARS Catalyst project advanced the engagement, persistence, and careers of computing college students and faculty through national programs: the STARS Leadership Corps service-learning program; the annual STARS Celebration conference which inspires action to improve computing education, and the annual RESPECT conference to expand the academic community and scholarship; the STARS Research program; and the Workforce Preparation and Tech Entrepreneurship programs.

Intellectual Merit
This project funded research that advanced our understanding of contributing factors to college students’ persistence in computing degrees and careers. It focused on three areas: 1) evaluating interventions to support persistence, 2) exploring psychosocial factors linked to persistence, and 3) assessing the STARS Computing Corps.

Interventions: We found that career awareness, confidence, and skill development were interventions that strongly predicted students’ intentions to persist in computing, and that career awareness and faculty mentorship were important (Fisk et al., 2024). We studied the effects of a self-assessment intervention (consisting of two automated emails), and found evidence that it brought more students into computing by doubling the likelihood that top-performing, non-major students took another computing course, added on CS as a minor, and applied to be TAs (Fisk et al., 2025). 

Psychosocial Factors: We found evidence that faculty relationships are more predictive of students’ self-efficacy, belonging, and persistence intentions than peer relationships (Wyatt et al., 2025; Dress et al., 2025). Professional Role Confidence (PRC)—belief in one’s fit in a computing career—was a stronger predictor of persistence than grades or technical self-assessments (Dress et al., 2025). Additional research explored how gender, self-efficacy, programming anxiety, and belonging shape computing aspirations (McGill et al., 2025); differences between Black students at PWIs vs. HBCUs (Laffredi et al., 2025); and how social-psychological processes influence occupational segregation (Fisk et al., 2025). We also published best practices for using participant data in BPC research (McKlin et al., 2023). These findings guide future efforts to broaden participation in computing by highlighting which psychosocial factors and relationships best support persistence.

STARS Computing Corps: Our research found that, after controlling for initial intent, weekly time spent on STARS activities predicted stronger intentions to persist in computing (Wyatt et al., 2024). Qualitative interviews with STARS alumni revealed that participation improved both technical and soft skills, increased belonging and self-efficacy, and fostered a “Pay it Forward” ethos that influenced their professional lives.

Broader Impacts

The STARS Computing Corps alliance serves as a national resource to improve computing education and research. STARS conferences, communities, and networks create significant institutional and human resources to improve computing education. In particular, the college STARS Leadership Corps program and the annual STARS Celebration conference propagate evidence-based approaches, and the annual RESPECT research conference advances peer-reviewed scholarship. 

This project supported the STARS Leadership Corps (SLC) program to engage over 53 faculty and staff and 504 college students from 45 institutions across the U.S. from 2022-2024. In this SLC program, students lead service-learning projects with the support and guidance of a STARS faculty leader. STARS faculty/staff leaders attend monthly webinars to learn how to lead their SLC cohorts and share progress. STARS also facilitated national Brain Trust webinars accessible to faculty/staff and students to learn more about national opportunities and computing careers.

This project supported the annual STARS Celebration conference that propagates evidence-based approaches to effective computing education, provides academic and professional development, and extends professional networks. From 2022-2024, 364 faculty, staff, and students attended the STARS Celebration, with many presenting posters and talks.

The RESPECT research conference has developed leadership, community, and peer-reviewed scholarship on broadening participation in computing, with over 500 attendees from 2022-2024. The number of authors submitting research papers to the RESPECT conference from 2022-2024 has ranged from 232 to 407 authors, and each year the conference has produced peer reviewed proceedings. In 2022 and 2023, RESPECT was technically sponsored by IEEE and in 2024, RESPECT became an ACM SIGCSE conference, reflecting the importance of RESPECT in contributing to to research knowledge on computing education.

The STARS Research Toolkit provides resources for faculty, college students, and K12 teachers to investigate the impact of computing education innovations, including tools for data collection and analysis, partnership development, research and communication strategies, as well as lesson plans for integration of computational thinking into standard K12 courses. The STARS Research program engaged three STARS Scholars in interdisciplinary research including integration of AI and science into elementary education, and studying K12 teacher learning, and prepared 27 STARS Research Assistants to help lead and evaluate their local STARS Leadership Corps impacts. 

Last Modified: 04/25/2025
Modified by: Tiffany Michelle Barnes