Conference Session

CANCELLED: This session has been replaced by session W269 in room 223: Panel: Building Effective Pathways and Programs for Women and Minoritities

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Hyun Kyoung Ro, Pennsylvania State University; Rose M. Marra, University of Missouri, Columbia; Patrick T. Terenzini, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Ardie D. Walser, City College of the City University of New York, Grove School of Engineering; Lois Calian Trautvetter, Northwestern University; Susan M. Lord, University of San Diego

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

and grouptutoring sessions as well as personal, professional and academic mentoring. Four of our six casestudy institutions also offered “living and learning” communities that used an all-inclusiveapproach to support student retention. For this panel session, we also examined if engineering seniors’ plans to work in oroutside of an engineering profession differed by gender and race/ethnicity. The P2P surveycontains three measures for this analysis, tapping students’ expectations that after graduationthey will: 1) be a practicing engineer in industry, government, or non-profit organization; 2)work in engineering management or sales; and 3) work outside engineering. We found thatwomen students were less likely than men to plan to be a

Conference Session

Panel on Recruiting and Retaining Women and Underrepresented Minority Students

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Hyun Kyoung Ro, Pennsylvania State University; Rose M. Marra, University of Missouri, Columbia; Ardie D. Walser, City College of the City University of New York, Grove School of Engineering; Patrick T. Terenzini, Pennsylvania State University, University Park; Lois Calian Trautvetter, Northwestern University; Susan M. Lord, University of San Diego

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering, Women in Engineering

and grouptutoring sessions as well as personal, professional and academic mentoring. Four of our six casestudy institutions also offered “living and learning” communities that used an all-inclusiveapproach to support student retention. For this panel session, we also examined if engineering seniors’ plans to work in oroutside of an engineering profession differed by gender and race/ethnicity. The P2P surveycontains three measures for this analysis, tapping students’ expectations that after graduationthey will: 1) be a practicing engineer in industry, government, or non-profit organization; 2)work in engineering management or sales; and 3) work outside engineering. We found thatwomen students were less likely than men to plan to be a

Conference Session

Developing Young MINDS in Engineering: Part I

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sarah Cooley Jones, Louisiana State University; Kelly A. Rusch P.E., Louisiana State University; Del H. Dugas, ExxonMobil

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

financial support from the program due to low GPA or major change. During thetwo years of Phase 2, 13 scholars participated with seven chosen as second semester freshmenand six chosen as second semester sophomores.The one-on-one mentoring element of the program was directed by the ExxonMobil liaison whoselected ExxonMobil engineers and matched them with an LSU ExxonMobil scholar.Additionally, the liaison coordinated workshops with the mentors and protégés, and these eventswere utilized to communicate expectations, roles and responsibilities of each person. Thementors helped the scholars with professional development and career planning. Feedback forthis part of the program was obtained through discussions during Phase 1, and a formal survey

Conference Session

Broadening Participation of Minority Students in and with K-12 Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Zhao Chad Kong; Angie Martiza Bautista-Chavez, Rice University; Andres J Goza, Rice University; Rachel Jackson, Rice University; Kurt Kienast, Rice University; Sam Oke; Juan A Castilleja, The Boeing Company; Brent C Houchens, Rice University

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering, Minorities in Engineering

works to serve underrepresented minority students, which can beseen from each of the school profiles for the 2008-2009 academic year. The demographics of thestudent body at AHS are broken down as follows: 95% Hispanic/Latino, 4% African-American,1% Caucasian, less than 1% Asian-American, and less than 1% Native American. Of the 1920total students 100% qualify for Title I status, with 91% receiving reduced price or free lunches3.A similar demographic and economic profile exists at CHS, where of the 2606 students, 83% areHispanic/Latino, 12% are African-American, 3% are Asian-American, 2% are Caucasian, andless than 1% are Native American. 100% of the students qualify for Title I status and 85%receive reduced priced or free lunches4. KIPP varies

Conference Session

Innovative Methods to Teach Engineering to URMs

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elizabeth A. Eschenbach, Humboldt State University; Mary E. Virnoche, Humboldt State University; Tyler J. Evans, Humboldt State University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

Triesman model workshops in introductory STEMcourses and to implement targeted recruiting of underrepresented minorities to the engineeringprogram.The SLS group persisting into year three remained more diverse than earlier correspondingmajor cohorts: 22 (59%) were either women and/or underrepresented minority (URM) studentsin STEM. In the 2007-08 academic year, 36 Cohort 1 students entered the program. Of theCohort 1 freshmen, 23 (66%) persisted into their second year and 12 (33%) persisted into theirthird year as SLS majors. White and Asian Cohort 1 students were more likely to persist thanSTEM URM students (47%, n= 8 compared to 21%, n=4). In 2008-09, 15 additional SLSstudents were added. Of these students, 12 (80%) persisted into their third

Conference Session

Build Diversity in Engineering Graduate Programs

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carl White, Morgan State University; Clifton Sean Martin, Innovative STEM Foundation (ISF); Maisha Drew, Innovative STEM Foundation; Givon Forbes, Innovative STEM Foundation (ISF)

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

. If there is not a sufficient pipeline to meet U.S.demand, then the country will not have the trained personnel required to remain competitive inthe global economy or continue its standing as a leader in technological research. In addition to being inadequate, the pipeline also needs to diversify. According to areport published for Congress, Blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans as a whole comprisemore than 25% of the population; however, they earn 16.2% of the bachelor degrees, 10.7% ofthe master’s degrees, and 5.4% of the doctorate degrees in science and engineering 1. There needsto be an increased effort to recruit from historically underrepresented groups, in order todiversify the current pipeline. The nation's population is a

Conference Session

Developing Young MINDS in Engineering: Part I

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christine E. Hailey, Utah State University; Chandra Y. Austin, Auburn University; Cameron Denson, North Carolina State University; Daniel L. Householder, Utah State University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

. Page 22.972.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Investigating Influences of the MESA Program upon Underrepresented StudentsThe Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program supports educationallydisadvantaged students and minority students in middle schools and high schools by providingpathways to help them succeed in science, mathematics and engineering.1 MESA goals are to“1) increase the number of engineers, scientists, mathematicians, and related professionals attechnical and management levels, and 2) serve as a driving force in encouraging minorities andfemales in achieving success in these fields.”2 MESA programs are based on a common

Conference Session

Myths About Gender and Race

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Peggy Layne, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society, Minorities in Engineering, Women in Engineering

Committee. Page 22.1456.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Myths of Race and Gender: The Engineering “Pipeline” Metaphor and the Careers of Female Deans of EngineeringIntroductionWho does engineering is important, since engineers are key contributors to the design oftechnologies that shape our world.1 While women have made significant gains in their proportionof degrees earned and their representation in the professoriate in the past 30 years, they remainsignificantly underrepresented in engineering.2 In 2009, women earned just 17.8% of the 74,387bachelor’s degrees awarded in

Conference Session

Myths About Gender and Race

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Amy E. Slaton, Drexel University

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society, Minorities in Engineering, Women in Engineering

attempts to correct minority underrepresentation in the engineering disciplines,educational researchers, cognitive psychologists, and scholars in related fields have since the1980s developed many studies centered on the notion of student self-efficacy. 1-6 These studiesseek to measure the degree to which under-represented minority or otherwise marginalizedstudents experience a sense of self-confidence or feeling that they are able to counter "barrierconditions." Those conditions might include discrimination or other challenging social andintellectual situations encountered in college. While such studies are certainly preferable to adenial of differences between minority and majority experiences, they intentionally or otherwisesupport the notion

Conference Session

Myths About Gender and Race

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Deborah Kilgore, University of Washington; Sheri Sheppard, Stanford University; Cynthia J. Atman, University of Washington; Debbie Chachra, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

Liberal Education/Engineering & Society, Minorities in Engineering, Women in Engineering

makes a difference, but is there a difference in motivation? Some findings from the Academic Pathways StudyIntroduction Despite years of research and intervention, women continue to be underrepresented inengineering [1]. In 2008, women comprised 18.4% of all recipients of an engineering degree [2],continuing an historical trend spanning the last 30 years, during which women’s share ofengineering degrees has remained stable or even declined. One of the goals of the AcademicPathways Study (APS) of which the present analysis is a part, was to contribute to the ongoingdialogue about underrepresentation in engineering, on both explanatory and remedial topics. Thepresent study discusses some APS

Conference Session

Developing Young MINDS in Engineering: Part I

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rafic Bachnak, Texas A&M International University; Runchang Lin, Texas A&M International University; Rohitha Goonatilake, Texas A&M International University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

science and engineeringprograms. The data for Hispanic graduates from science and engineering programs shows thesituation needs to be corrected right away [1]. Therefore, many initiatives are focusing onminority populations in order to sustain engineering education and address the rapidindustrialization, economic development, and innovations that are taking place in the world.Strategies employed to recruit and retain students in engineering include a variety of approaches,such as hands-on activities, summer workshops, competitions, research experiences, and pre-engineering programs [2-6]. This paper describes a recruitment and retention program that isdesigned to increase the number of minority students in engineering by forming Pre

Conference Session

New Research & Trends for Minorities in Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Maria M. Larrondo-Petrie, Florida Atlantic University; Ivan E. Esparragoza, Pennsylvania State University, Media

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

ofopportunities open to all.Engineering Professional Societies and Engineering Education Related Sites Page 22.1065.3Professional societies for engineers provide scholarships, fellowships, awards, conferences,competitions, publications, and resources for students, parents, educators and professionalengineers. Table 1 shows a listing of engineering professional societies. The computer scienceand engineering technologies societies are included in this table because the computer scienceand engineering technology programs are often housed in the college of engineering. The tablealso includes architecture, because students may want to explore the

Conference Session

Attracting Young Minds: Part II

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jeffrey H. Rosen, Georgia Institute of Technology, CEISMC; Anna Newsome, Georgia Institute of Technology, CEISMC; Marion Usselman, Georgia Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

language skills inlimited English proficiency (LEP) students by promoting inquiry and student discussion 10.Generally the benefits of these types of activities are limited primarily to students who self-selectinto after-school robotics clubs or summer programs, or who live in neighborhoods whereparents have the time, resources and knowledge to successfully coordinate and coach a FLLteam. Without intervention, these common pathways to participation too often rule out activeinvolvement by low income students in many predominantly minority schools.The State of Georgia Figure 1. Georgia Participation in FLLhas a highlysuccessful state FLL Students Teamstournament series that 2000

Conference Session

Developing Young MINDS in Engineering: Part I

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Virginia Booth Gleghorn, Purdue University,Minority Engineering Programs; Carol S Stwalley P.E., Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

Conference Session

Attracting Young Minds: Part I

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert W. Whalin, Jackson State University; Qing Pang, Jackson State University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

indications from thefirst two cohorts indicate success [1]. Those analyses and early indications of SEEP success ledto the realization that a relatively near term solution to our highly publicized and welldocumented United States engineering pipeline challenge is within our grasp, if we (the USA)have the resolve to make it happen. The solution proposed, documented and quantified is to usethe supply of US citizen/permanent resident high school graduates with Math ACT scores in the17-25 range, coupled with Summer Engineering Enrichment Programs or SEEPs, andengineering scholarships and/or stipends, at all ABET accredited engineering programs at publicuniversities (partnered with local Community Colleges) to more than double the number of BSengineer

Conference Session

Attracting Young Minds: Part II

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sarah M. Brown, National Society of Black Engineers; Lauren D. Thomas, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

Conference Session

Attracting Young Minds: Part II

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carl White, Morgan State University; Clifton Sean Martin, Innovative STEM Foundation (ISF); Maisha Drew, Innovative STEM Foundation (ISF); Givon Forbes, Innovative STEM Foundation (ISF)

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

requirements and needs, the demand for qualified and quality STEM professionalswill continue to grow. If this pipeline shortage is not adequately addressed, it will pose asignificant threat to America’s position in the world.Furthermore, the U.S. pipeline needs to increase its diversity. The U.S. is a country full ofdiverse people with distinct ethnicities, backgrounds, and beliefs. However, this diversity is notrepresented among the STEM professionals in the country. In fact, underrepresented minoritiesrepresent only a small fraction of the individuals currently in STEM majors and careers inAmerica. African-Americans and Hispanic Americans represent only 1 in 10 of the engineeringoccupations in the country2. The benefits gained from a more diverse

Conference Session

Innovative Methods to Teach Engineering to URMs

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gordon W. Skelton, Jackson State University; Qing Pang, Jackson State University; Wei Zheng, Jackson State University; HuiRu Shih, Jackson State University; Tzusheng Pei, Jackson State University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Vertical Integration for Missile Defense Surveillance Data, July 2004 Present, Northern Gulf Institute, Data Sampling and Modeling of Contaminant Disper- sant, August 2010 - Present Selected Publications / Presentations Shuangzhang Tu, Gordon Skelton, Qing Pang, ”A Compact High Order Space-Time Method for Conser- vation Laws”, Communications in Computational Physics, Accepted. N. Meghanathan and G. W. Skelton, ”Risk Notification Message Dissemination Protocol for Energy Effi- cient Broadcast in Vehicular Ad hoc Networks,” IAENG International Journal of Computer Science, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 1 - 10, March 2010. Wei Zheng, Jianjun Yin and Gordon Skelton, ”Synergize

Conference Session

New Research & Trends for Minorities in Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Yvette Pearson Weatherton, University of Texas, Arlington; Stephanie Lynn Daza, University of Texas at Arlington; Vu V. Pham, University of Texas, Arlington

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

degrees awarded to people in these underrepresented groups over thepast few decades, there is still much work to be done to diversify the profession to reflect thecountry‘s shifting demographics and to broaden perspectives used in developing newtechnologies and solving complex problems.The importance of diversity in the engineering workforce has been recognized as a priority by anumber of entities, including the National Academies. Engineers from diverse backgrounds andexperiences are needed to devise creative solutions to the challenges posed by a diverse andmore interconnected world.1 Recruitment of a diverse engineering workforce includes thesuccessful recruitment, retention and graduation of a diverse engineering student population. Inorder

Conference Session

Developing Young MINDS in Engineering: Part I

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Horacio Vasquez, University of Texas, Pan American; Arturo A. Fuentes, University of Texas, Pan American; Robert A. Freeman, University of Texas, Pan American

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

to STEM was offered.Affect survey results are presented and compared to the results of the previous year ofthis project. Based on the positive results that were obtained in this project, it is arguedthat CBI is an effective and well received pedagogy for high-school student and that theCBI materials and tools developed for this course could be modified and adapted in otherengineering and science courses at UTPA, STC, and other institutions to attract studentsto STEM fields.1. BackgroundResearch indicates that the lack of relevance to relate educational activities to the realworld is one of the important factors that influences the decision of minority students todrop-out or transfer out of STEM undergraduate fields1. For minority students

Conference Session

Attracting Young Minds: Part II

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Velda V. Morris, School District of Philadelphia; Rebecca A. Stein, University of Pennsylvania; James F. Keller, University of Pennsylvania; Vijay Kumar, University of Pennsylvania

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

, Hawaii where they tied for fourth in poster presentation. Page 22.1713.3 Figure 1: BEST Robotics Champions (2006) and MATE ROV Champions (2010)Importance of Robotics EducationThe field of robotics is celebrating its 50th anniversary7. While the primary achievements of thefield are primarily connected to increased accuracy and through input for automation in specificrepetitive tasks, such as welding, painting, and machining, in hazardous, high volumemanufacturing environments, the last five years have seen tremendous advancements enabling anew generation of applications in fields as diverse

Conference Session

Build Diversity in Engineering Graduate Programs

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carmen G. Villa, Texas A&M University; Felecia M. Nave, Prairie View A&M University; Sherri S. Frizell, Prairie View A&M University; Mary V. Alfred, Texas A&M University; Fred Arthur Bonner II, Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow in the Office of the President at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Additionally, he has recently been awarded a $1 million National Science Foun- dation (NSF) grant that focuses on factors influencing the success of high achieving African American students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Page 22.1499.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011This presentation highlights findings from a currently funded three-year research project with

Conference Session

New Research & Trends for Minorities in Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Adrienne R. Minerick, Michigan Technological University; Rebecca K. Toghiani, Mississippi State University; Christopher Dawson, Mississippi State University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

Minority Engineering and Science Students EncounterAbstractAn IRB approved cooperative survey between Mississippi State University and MichiganTechnological University was conducted of ethnically underrepresented undergraduate andgraduate students. The focus of the survey was on the unique challenges that minorityengineering and science students encounter at the two institutions. The institutions are regionallyvery different; the host community at MS State has a >60% African-American population, whilethe surrounding community at the second has a <1% African-American population. The goals ofthis survey were to identify, from the student’s perspective, any challenges they faced and towhat extent they thought that

Conference Session

Innovative Methods to Teach Engineering to URMs

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ram V. Mohan, North Carolina A&T State University; Ajit D. Kelkar, North Carolina A&T State University; Keith A. Schimmel, North Carolina A&T State University; Vinaya Kelkar

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

, engineering and mathematics by utilizing the relevant STEM Page 22.889.4content from NASA, sponsored research and education programs from NASA, in conjunctionwith our university faculty expertise.Goals and ObjectivesThe objectives of the INSTRUCT project is to integrate NASA content into STEMundergraduate courses with a primary emphasis on stimulating interest in STEM disciplinestowards increasing the number of under-represented minorities and women in these areas. Thespecific goals of the INSTRUCT program are to:1. Increase and stimulate the participation of underrepresented students in STEM disciplines2. Retain underrepresented students in STEM

Conference Session

Build Diversity in Engineering Graduate Programs

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Allison Kang, University of Washington; Lisa A. Peterson, University of Washington; Elena Maria Hernandez, University of Washington

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

. Combined with Oregon and Idaho, the Northwest is home to approximately 170,000(6.8%) of the nation‟s federally-enrolled tribal members3.African Americans, Hispanics and Alaska Indians/American Natives (AI/AN) together onlyaccount for 11.3% of the science, engineering, technology and math (STEM) workforce4 outsideof universities, but make up 29% of the population5. From 2000-2020, the non-Hispanic laborforce will grow by 9%, while the Hispanic labor force will grow by 77%6. Tremendous disparitystill exists in the educational achievements of adults from different ethnic groups (Table 1),suggesting that the changing demographics will create a significant workforce problem in STEMfields in the future. For example, over 41% of Hispanic students never

Conference Session

Mentoring Minority Students

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Christine S Grant, North Carolina State University; Tuere Bowles, NC State University; Olgha Bassam Qaqish, North Carolina State University; Rex E Jeffries, North Carolina State University; Barbara Smith, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

biomedical group of successful URM engineering faculty; andtargeted research experiences at a large research university, leveraging partnerships withagency-sponsored programs.1. Introduction The purpose of this work is to present the program and evaluation design for an existingmentoring research program for underrepresented students at North Carolina State University.The BioMed-Connect Alliance (BMCA) initiative was established in 2011 by ProfessorChristine Grant as a pilot program to target Underrepresented Minority (URM) students atvarious academic levels to further enhance their understanding of the translational aspects ofresearch and educational activities to express informed career choices to maximize theirexperiences in Biomedical

Conference Session

New Approaches in Engineering

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Singli Garcia-Otero, Virginia State University; Nasser Ghariban, Virginia State University; Fedra Adnani

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

other engineering programs in the U.S., we require incoming freshmen to declaretheir intended major. All the engineering students are required to take two semesters ofIntroduction to Engineering (ENGR 101 and ENGR 102). This paper discusses some of themethods we used in first semester of Introduction to Engineering to increase the retention rate,and provides the statistical results for the past two years.IntroductionThe demand for more diversified and qualified graduates in science, technology, engineering andmathematics (STEM) has increased dramatically in recent years, as many baby boomersapproach the retirement age [1]. In response to the demand, the number of freshman engineeringstudents has grown considerably over the last decade and this

Conference Session

Broadening Participation of Minority Students in and with K-12 Engineering

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Allison Anderson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Guillermo Luis Trotti, Trotti & Asssociates, Inc.; Suzanne Marie Wilcox, ExplorationWorks Museum of Science and Culture; Elizabeth Perry Gundersen, ExplorationWorks Museum of Science and Culture; Dava J. Newman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

K-12 & Pre-College Engineering, Minorities in Engineering

Learning in Rural CommunitiesIntroductionAs recently as 50 years ago, the outlook for rural education in the United States was not good.Many schools were underfunded, understaffed, under-enrolled, and lacked the resources andfacilities to provide an education equivalent to their urban counterparts[1]. Informal educationprimarily came from utility based exposure directed toward a largely agrarian economy. Leisureopportunities for informal education, often enjoyed in urban environments, was sparser[2]. Withimproved communication, transportation, and focus on rural development, formal education hasimproved, yet not at the same level of more urban school systems[2, 3]. There is still a gapbetween the resources and courses available to rural students

Conference Session

Mentoring Graduate Students - Diversity and Assessment

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Aidsa I. Santiago-Román, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez; Pedro O. Quintero, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez; Guillermo J. Serrano, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez

Tagged Divisions

Graduate Studies, Minorities in Engineering

-accredited undergraduateprograms as well as strong graduate programs in Civil, Chemical, Computer, Electrical,Industrial and Mechanical Engineering. Moreover, UPRM has played a critical role in thetraining of future Hispanic scientists and engineers in Puerto Rico and the United States. TheCollege of Engineering (CoE) is among the largest engineering institutions in the United States,ranking fifteen in the nation in undergraduate enrollment. The CoE of UPRM admits the topstudents from high schools in Puerto Rico. Some key national rankings as described by theASEE Profiles of Engineering and Engineering Technology Colleges published in June 2010include: • Number 1 in Engineering Bachelor’s degrees awarded to Hispanics (614); • Number 3 in

Conference Session

Innovatiive Methods to Teach Engineering to URMs

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Armando A. Rodriguez, Arizona State University; Mary R. Anderson-Rowland, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

%, but the number ofengineers that US colleges and universities send into the workforce annually has stayed the sameat around 120,000. The increase requested is 8.33% in engineering degrees. “By contrast,roughly 1 million engineers a year graduate from universities in India and China. This educationdisparity threatens to slow our economic recovery, stunts our long-term competitiveness, andleaves technology firms in a skills crisis.”1It is well known that about 40% of students enrolled in science, technology, engineering andmathematics leave their major after the first year. Less than 50% of the students who start inthese majors actually complete their degree. Although this percentage is about the same as theattrition for non-technical majors