The 2005 Tapia conferences is a project of the Coalition to Diversify Computing (http://www.cdc-computing.org/), which is a joint organization of the ACM, CRA and IEEE-CS. The CDC seeks to increase the number of highly trained scientists and engineers through the development of a diverse community of professionals that can effectively meet the computing demands of an evolving society.

CDC projects target students and faculty with the expressed intent of increasing the number of minorities successfully transitioning into computing-based careers in academia, federal labs and industry. Additional projects seek to increase the available pool of faculty members through partnerships and mentoring. Current emphasis is placed on the following three areas: (1) recruitment of minority undergraduates to MS/Ph.D. programs, (2) retention of minority graduate students enrolled in MS/Ph.D. programs, and (3) transition of minority MS/Ph.D. graduates into academia and industry.

The diverse membership of CDC from areas of academia, industry and federal laboratories enables a variety of different perspectives and approaches to be used in achieving CDC's goals. CDC also partners with a number of organizations with similar missions to leverage resources to optimize outcomes.