On Oct 20, 2009, the 111th session of the U.S. House of Representatives voted 405-0 to approve H. res. 558, which names the week of Dec 7 as National Computer Science Education week. The resolution encourages:

1. identification by schools, teachers, researchers, universities, and policymakers of mechanisms for teachers to receive cutting edge professional development so that they can provide sustainable learning experiences in computer science;
2. exposure of students to computer science concepts; and
3. opportunities for females and underrepresented minorities in computer science.

This resolution was created in response to the declining enrollments in computer science, and the resolution supports research to address what would motivate increased participation in computing.

The bill was co-sponsored by Rep. Vern Ehlers, a former Calvin physics professor. A transcript of his remarks is available, as is a video from CSPAN. (H. Res. 558 is introduced at about time 66:50 in the video. Press the Play button and you can advance the slider to that time)

Rep. Ehlers was made aware of the problem of declining enrollments in computer science by Prof. Joel Adams, chair of Calvin’s CS Department.

The week of Dec 7 was chosen to honor the birthday of computing pioneer Grace Hopper, seen here in her appearance on David Letterman’s show.

At the 2008 Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges Midwest (CCSC:MW) conference, Chris Stevenson of the ACM’s Computer Science Teachers Association gave the keynote address. Among other things, she spoke of the challenges facing high school computer science programs, and how the “high school pipeline” of computer science students was drying up.

After hearing her address, Calvin CS professor Prof. Joel Adams made an appointment with U.S. Representative (and former Calvin Physics professor) Vernon Ehlers, and shared with him data on the undersupply of CS students. Rep. Ehlers had not been aware of and was surprised by this undersupply. He immediately saw its negative consequences for the U.S., and promised to think about what could be done at the federal level to promote computer science.

On June 18 2009, Rep. Ehlers introduced House Resolution 558, which declares the week of Dec 7 to be “National Computer Science Week”, in honor of Grace Hopper. The resolution has gone to two House committees; stay tuned for updates as it makes its way through the system,

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will be twice as many new jobs in software engineering as in all other kinds of engineering combined, and more network administration/analysis jobs than (non-software) engineering jobs. See our Computing Careers Market page for the details.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the top 5 fasted growing jobs through 2016 will be:

1. Network systems and data communications analysts
2. Personal and home care aides
3. Home health aides
4. Computer software engineers, applications
5. Veterinary technologists and technicians

So computing-related jobs are the #1 and #4 fastest-growing jobs in the US, for the foreseeable future. Please help us put an end to the myth that there are no jobs in computing!