Carol Frieze works in the School of Computer Science at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

as director of the Women@SCS and SCS4ALL professional organizations. She is co-author of a book on the successful efforts to attract and retain women in computing at Carnegie Mellon, where women represented 50% of the incoming class to the computer science major in fall 2018. She has been recognized by the

A. Nico Habermann Award The Computing Research Association (CRA) is a 501(c)3 non-profit association of North American academic departments of computer science, computer engineering, and related fields; laboratories and centers in industry, government, and academia enga ...

of the

Computing Research Association The Computing Research Association (CRA) is a 501(c)3 non-profit association of North American academic departments of computer science, computer engineering, and related fields; laboratories and centers in industry, government, and academia enga ...

and the AccessComputing Capacity Building Award.

Education and career

Frieze studied English literature for a while at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

before moving into cultural studies at Carnegie Mellon, eventually earning her Ph.D. from

in Cultural Studies in Computer Science. Her 2007 dissertation, ''The critical role of culture and environment as determinants of women's participation in computer science'', was supervised by

Lenore Blum Lenore Carol Blum (née Epstein, born December 18, 1942) is an American computer scientist and mathematician who has made pioneering contributions to the theories of real number computation, cryptography, and pseudorandom number generation. She ...

. She has taught at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital School in England and in the English department at Carnegie Mellon before coming to work for the School of Computer Science. Women@SCS, one of the organizations Frieze directs at Carnegie Mellon, is based on the guiding premise of leveling the playing field, working to ensure that women receive the same social, networking, mentoring, and professional opportunities, that are more readily available to the majority male peers. She also works on diversity and inclusion through BiasBusters@CMU, an academic interactive program aiming to raise awareness of bias and mitigate the harmful effects of unconscious bias on campus.

Books

With Jeria Quesenberry, Frieze is a co-author of the book ''Kicking Butt in Computer Science: Women in Computing at Carnegie Mellon University'' (Dog Ear Publishing, 2015). The book describes Carnegie Mellon's successful work to attract and retain female students in Carnegie Mellon's computer science major by focusing on the culture of computing rather than by making changes to the computer science curriculum. Frieze and Quesenberry are co-editors of the book ''Cracking the Digital Ceiling: Women in Computing Around the World,'' Cambridge University Press, 2020. This collection of global perspectives challenges the view that men are more suited to computing fields than women, a belief often perpetuated as an explanation for women’s low participation in computing in the USA. By providing an insider look at how different cultures from all continents around the world impact the experiences of women in computing, the book introduces readers to theories and evidence that support the need to turn to cultural and environmental factors, rather than innate potential, to understand what determines women’s participation in computing. The book is a wakeup call to examine the obstacles and catalysts within various cultures and environments that help determine women's participation in this rapidly growing field.

Recognition

Frieze won the A. Nico Habermann Award of the

in 2017. The award citation commended her for "devoting nearly two decades to promoting diversity and inclusiveness in computing", for publishing "valuable research towards understanding the challenges diverse populations face", and for helping to bring the number of women majoring in computer science at Carnegie Mellon close to 50%, "far above the national average".

Personal life

Frieze grew up in a coal mining village in Nottinghamshire, England, and was the first in her family to go to college. Frieze is married to mathematician Alan M. Frieze. They have two adult children and four grandchildren.

References

External links

Home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frieze, Carol Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American computer scientists British computer scientists American women computer scientists Carnegie Mellon University faculty