Professional societies and African American engineering leaders: Paving pathways and empowering legacies
- PDF / 966,189 Bytes
- 7 Pages / 585 x 783 pts Page_size
- 5 Downloads / 158 Views
Introduction
Diversity and inclusion in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields is a global issue. The challenging issues facing the world relating to STEM diversity cross national borders and require leveraging the talents of diverse constituents.1 Active international efforts at inclusive talent development are being undertaken to empower persons from groups historically underrepresented in STEM communities.2,3 The US National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME) reports that in the United States, African Americans are one of the most underrepresented minority groups in engineering relative to their population. This is in spite of a great deal of progress in “growing African American scientists, engineers, and technologists since the Howard University School of Engineering opened in 1910.” 4 The number of African Americans in engineering at all degree levels is not representative of their percentage in the US population. Table I shows a sampling of 2016 data from a National Science Foundation (NSF) survey of doctoral recipients in engineering.5 Figure 1 illustrates a snapshot of African American representation in US colleges of engineering. These statistics show that African Americans remain underrepresented relative to US demographics.6–8 In 2012, a workshop on Ethnic Diversity in Materials Science and Engineering was co-sponsored by the NSF, the US Department of Energy (DOE), the Materials Research Society (MRS) Foundation, North Carolina State University, and the University Materials Council (UMC).9 Comprised of department heads, chairpersons, directors, and group leaders from academic programs in the materials field in US, Canadian, and Australian universities, UMC is a forum for sharing best practices related to materials science and engineering (MS&E).10 UMC addresses student recruitment, accreditation, emerging research areas, curricular improvements, intellectual property policies, implications
of the latest materials related studies, and the health of research funding for MS&E. Focusing on issues affecting recruitment and retention and longterm success in MS&E, the 2012 workshop participants examined diversity data in MS&E departments. According to the US National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, although African Americans make up 12.2% and Latinos 16.3% of the US population, they received only 2.5% and 5.3% of MS&E degrees awarded in 2010, respectively.5 Workshop attendees explored the pathways to undergraduate STEM majors, to graduate education, and to success in the workforce.9 The workshop participants included graduate students and postdoctoral associates, administrative leadership, and government and industry professionals in the MS&E community. While voices of change emanated from participants, the gatekeepers of change reside in the leadership. At the heart of the recommendations to increase retention, recruitment, and career success of ethnically diverse groups were topics with a focus on three groups: (1) individuals, (2) academic leaders,
Data Loading...
