CS Kickstart
We host a one-week long, CS exploration summer camp for incoming-freshmen women at UC Berkeley.
About CS Kickstart
CS KickStart is a one-week exploratory program designed to welcome incoming UC Berkeley students to the world of computer science. Participants , who come from all different majors get the chance to explore programming in a supportive environment, connect with current students and professionals, and discover the wide range of fields within computer science. The program is especially geared toward woman identifying students with an interest in math, science, or engineering—no prior programming experience is required. Our goal is to offer a fun, hands-on experience that highlights both the creativity and the impact of computer science.
Why Does CS Kickstart Exist?
Our program helps close the gender gap by creating a supportive community, providing female role models to participants, and giving resources to allow woman to succeed in the tech industry.
Women in Tech at UC Berkeley
25%
75%
20%
80%
Computer Science
EECS
women
men
Our Mission
Girls are naturally just as interested in computer science as boys, but as they grow up, they are increasingly less likely to pursue tech roles.
According to McKinsey, an American worldwide management consulting firm, "tech companies concentrate 66% of their philanthropic funding on K-12 programs, compared to 3% on college-level programs."
As a student-run organization, we are passionate about making a difference and seek to reach as many people in order to minimize disparities that exist in the tech industry.
CS KickStart aims to generate more pursuit of technology amongst women and other minority groups to improve the lack of representation and access to the tech industry. We host a week-long summer program that introduces participants to a wide range of industry opportunities, foundational programming concepts, and a supportive community that promotes diversity in tech.
Our Founders
Floraine Berthouzoz
Floraine was a research scientist in the Creative Technologies Lab at Adobe Systems; her research focused on computer graphics and HCI. Her work was aimed towards building tools that made it faster and easier for people to create and visualize high quality media content. Besides her work, she loved to travel—never getting tired of visiting new places, learning new languages, and understanding different cultures
Colleen is an assistant CS professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She specializes in computer science education and curriculum development. Lewis also researched gender and diversity issues in CS education and how the programming environment shapes perception, learning and goals. Lewis teaches computer science courses as well as a seminar course on computer science education.
Our Timeline
Early 2011
The Idea
Floraine Berthouzoz always had a passion for narrowing the gender gap in computer science. In 2011, Floraine pursues an idea she had since her undergraduate days at ETH in Switzerland, where she participated in a similar program for women. With fellow graduate student Colleen Lewis, she co-founded CS Kickstart for incoming freshmen woman at UC Berkeley.
Late 2011
Small Beginnings
For the first year, CS Kickstart was entirely organized and executed on a shoestring budget by Berthouzoz and Lewis, with the help of student volunteers. Of the 25 participants in the program, 33% of them switched from other majors to computer science.
2011-2013
Decreasing the Gap
In just 3 years, the program became instrumental in doubling the number of female CS majors at Berkeley. 1/3 of the Kickstarters have been EECS majors, 1/3 Letters and Science, and 1/3 undeclared students who were considering math, cognitive science, and statistics.
2013
Building Solid Foundation
After CS Kickstart, 96% of participants felt more prepared to take their first computer science course at Berkeley. Nearly all of the participants recommended the program. 95% of participants agreed that CS Kickstart had a positive effect on their motivation to pursue computer science and on their programming skills.
2015
Doubling Our Numbers
In 2015, a grant from Microsoft enabled the Department to double the number of participants and to include freshmen entering in the Letters and Science Department
2016
Campus Expansion
CS Kickstart became such a success at UC Berkeley that the University of Michigan launched an identical program for their freshman in 2016, after Michigan faculty learned of CS Kickstart from Professor David Culler.
2019
Department Grant
CS Kickstart receives a grant from the EECS Department's leadership for our role in diversity initiatives in the CS community at Berkeley, winning a gift from the Hopper-Dean Foundation
2023 And Beyond
Where We Are Now
Since its start, CS Kickstart has served 700+ women in 14 cohorts. In our summer 2023 program, we had 100+ participants (the most we've ever had). This program aims to encourage women to pursue computer science through programming labs with real world applications and exciting presentations about the diverse aspects of this field.
