To date, the center has worked with more than 100 universities to update their computer science programs to create what the center calls \u201cevidence-based, systemic, and sustainable interventions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
During a nearly 35-minute one-on-one conversation with journalist Katie Hafner, Brodley spoke about her path to computing and the innovative work the center is doing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brodley first became interested in computers while enrolled in a computer science class when in the ninth grade. While she found the subject fascinating, the other students, who were all boys,\u00a0 wouldn\u2019t let her use the two computers in the classroom. She ended up having to write and debug her computer programs by hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When she entered college, she decided to pursue an English degree, but pivoted at the end of her second year to computer science after her roommate jokingly \u2014 and a little condescendingly \u2014 said she would enjoy the work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was one of the best decisions she ever made, she said. Suddenly, she was getting all A\u2019s.<\/p>\n
![\"Carla](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Carla-Brodley.jpg\")
Carla Brodley, director of Northeastern\u2019s Center for Inclusive Computing, says there are many strategies universities can implement to attract more students to computer science. Photo by Matthew Modoono\/Northeastern University<\/p>\n
When Brodley came to Northeastern in 2014, she made it one of her goals to make computer science more accessible for people of various backgrounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That led to her scaling the university\u2019s Align Master of Science in Computer Science, designed specifically \u201cfor students who are non-computer science majors with no programming experience.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the Center for Inclusive Computing, Brodley and her team are also trying to address one of the biggest barriers incoming undergraduate students face: Many of them didn\u2019t take computer science classes in high school. When they enter a computer science class in college, they already feel like they are behind, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly 56% of our schools nationwide in the United States offer computer science in high school,\u201d she said on the podcast. \u201cAnd it\u2019s often an elective. And my own sons told me, taking computer science in high school was social suicide.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brodley used an analogy to explain the disparity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cImagine you\u2019re 18, you\u2019ve gone to university, and you decide to take Japanese or French or Spanish, and you walk into the classroom and you look different than everybody in the classroom, and everybody else is already talking in that language,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brodley said there are several ways to take this feeling out of the classroom, including making multiple sections of the class based on skill level.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe key is that they learn the same things,\u201d she said. \u201cAll sections should have the same assignments and the same exams. All you\u2019ve done is remove the stress of sitting in a room with a bunch of know-it-alls.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another big mistake with many computer science programs is \u201ctying progression in the computer science classes to progression in the math classes,\u201d she said. As an example, she lists requiring Calculus One as a prerequisite for basic computer science classes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not relevant to the first CS class, and maybe not that much fun versus the first computer science class, which is unbelievably fun if you\u2019re going to like computer science.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Center for Inclusive Computing has grown in the past six years. Last year, it\u00a0received significant funding from Pivotal Ventures, Melinda French Gates\u2019 organization, to help women thrive in computing degrees.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
That new funding will help the center reach even more universities and help them make artificial intelligence inclusive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s one of my heroes,\u201d Brodley said of French Gates. \u201cWe have been very fortunate to get an investment substantial enough that we\u2019ll be able to move the needle in AI across many universities in this country.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\tUniversity News<\/p>\n
\t\t\tRecent Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carla Brodley, a professor in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences, recently appeared on the popular \u201cLost Women…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57950,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[345,2350,353,85,46,125,4164,17077],"class_list":{"0":"post-57949","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-computing","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-computer-science","10":"tag-computing","11":"tag-il","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-technology","14":"tag-women","15":"tag-women-in-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}