CS-JEDI: Required DEI Education, by CS PhD Students, for CS PhD Students

Abstract

Computer science (CS) has historically struggled with issues related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Based on how these issues were affecting PhD students in our department (the Carnegie Mellon University CS Department), we identified required DEI education for PhD students as a potentially high-impact approach to improving the PhD student experience in our program. Given that no existing curriculum met the desired criteria, we (PhD students) -alongside many members of the CMU community -developed and implemented CS-JEDI: Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Computer Science. CS-JEDI is a 6-week DEI curriculum that is now taken by all first-year PhD students in our department. This paper covers CS-JEDI's motivation and goals; describes how its evidence-based curriculum is tailored to these goals and to the CS PhD context; and gives a data-driven evaluation of the extent to which CS-JEDI's first offering, in Spring 2022, achieved these goals.