El Camino College will be the second community college in the state and the first in Southern California to partner with the California State University system in creating a computer science degree complete with workforce experience. ECC is a partner in the Computing Talent Initiative, a comprehensive $5 million National Science Foundation grant that will provide scholarships for students pursing computer science degrees. ECC joins California State University, Monterey Bay; California State University, Dominguez Hills; and Hartnell College to replicate a cohort model four-year computer science bachelor's degree pathway from the community college to the university level. Over the next five years, this program will fund 240 scholarships for high-achieving, financial aid-eligible students who are pursuing associate and bachelor's degrees in computer science. At El Camino College, 64 students in the 2019 and 2020 cohort will receive scholarships totaling $494,080. ECC computer science professor Massoud Ghyam is a co-principal investigator for the grant, representing the college.
Students in computer science programs will have access to support such as student learning communities and tutoring, with the goal to improve retention and transfer rates, bachelor's degree attainment, and employment success in computer science. Outcomes from this grant program will be applied to additional colleges and universities to serve a larger number of students.