Some kids spend their summer hanging by the pool. Others study up to solve the diversity problem in America’s tech industry.
Across the country, summer programs are aimed at addressing a “pipeline problem” in science, technology, and math, encouraging students from underrepresented backgrounds –- African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans –- into pursuing careers in those fields.
The pale, male reality of America’s biggest tech companies has long been an open secret, and was reinforced this year when companies including Facebook, Yahoo, and Google released information on the demographics of their workforces showing that their employees are disproportionately white and Asian.
In early July, Apple CEO Tim Cook told Bloomberg that his company planned to release information on the diversity of its workforce “at some point.”