Conference Session

Special programs and activities for minorities in engineering

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mary Anderson-Rowland, Arizona State University; Dana Newell, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

Page 12.147.4meaningfully in career fairs and to present themselves well in interviews. The major change in the programming of the NACME project occurred in January 2005, when the Guaranteed 4.0 Plan by Donna O. Johnson9 was introduced to the NACME students.10 In Fall 2005 the first new freshmen class was presented with the Plan. The results of this 4.0 Plan were dramatic with the freshmen with a significantly improved first semester GPA.10 At the center of this program is a detailed time management plan. A Check List for the Detailed Time Management Schedule was developed and reported, as well as the assignments that support the 4.0 Plan.10, 11 II. The NACME Program The spring semester program for the freshmen has been reported10 and

Conference Session

Factors Affecting Minority Engineering Students

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Klod Kokini, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

). Page 12.134.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 A Successful Process for Increasing the Diversity of the Faculty in EngineeringIntroductionIn its pursuit of preeminence and maximum impact, the College of Engineering (CoE)at Purdue University developed a strategic plan in 2002, which, in parallel to that of theuniversity, called for increasing significantly its faculty over the next several years.According to this plan, the engineering faculty have grown from 289 in the fall of 2001,to 339 in the fall of 2006.The strategic plan of the college called for hiring faculty of exceptional quality, who aremultidisciplinary and bring diversity, while building on the strengths of the

Conference Session

MIND - Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Andrea Ogilvie, University of Texas-Austin

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

semesters, EOE’s FIG initiative is a 28week retention focused cohort program. EOE FIGs assist students with building a supportnetwork that includes peers, upper division students, faculty, and professional engineers. EachFIG consists of: (1) 20 to 26 first year engineering students; (2) two FIG Peer Leaders - upperdivision minority engineering students; (3) one FIG Academic Tutor – upper division minorityengineering student; (4) one FIG Facilitator - staff member from the EOE Program. Theparticipants in each FIG cohort share a common class schedule that includes three to four basicsequence courses in the engineering degree plan. One of these courses is a small, one-hourweekly seminar where students can get to know each other. Led by Peer Leaders

Conference Session

Factors Affecting Minority Engineering Students

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Leo McAfee, University of Michigan

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

REU has had the added importance of being a research“eye-opener” experience. Often an unstated factor is the benefit for graduate students togain research project management (including research project planning with timelinesand budgets, personnel supervision, technical assessment and leadership, and mentoring).WIMS LSAMP REU Primary Component --- Research Projects with MentoringThe WIMS LSAMP REU is structured with the primary goal of a research projectexperience. Each student has a research project with a strong involvement with one of theresearch thrust teams, working directly with an advanced graduate student or post-doc orsystem integrator (usually in meaningful daily contacts) under the direction of a WIMSfaculty member. Each REU

Conference Session

Multimedia Tutorials and Web Development

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ramin Sadeghi, Power & Water University of Technology; Ali Mehrabian, University of Central Florida; Saeid Moslehpour, University of Hartford

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

with moderators (leaders or teachers). 2. The moderators may serve as models. 3. The users (students) interact with other users (students). 4. Everyone can be an equal.In this presentation, we focus on person-to-person interaction. These interactions can occurwhenever it is desirable for the participants or at prearranged times.How Should You Introduce Web-based Distance Learning? Another component in planning is to determine the computer skills and comfort of yourstudents so that all students can access distance learning confidently and comfortably. Somestudents will benefit from an introduction to DL in which the parallels between classroomlearning and DL are clearly modeled. These students will profit from a teacher-led

Conference Session

Recruitment and Retention

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mary Anderson-Rowland, Arizona State University; Patti Culley, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

their first year of engineering. Most students have a highschool resume complete with all of their awards, music and athletic accomplishments, but nowthey need an “engineering” resume for an internship, a scholarship, or a research position inengineering. The resume can also serve as an excellent career-planning tool, establishing aframework on which to build and a guideline for gap analysis. Creating this new resume isdifficult for most students. They need help translating and prioritizing their previous experiencesinto “skills” that are useful in engineering. With the help of a Career Services representative,who is in close contact with what industry wants on a resume, and the director/mentor ofacademic scholarship programs, who follows

Conference Session

Research Infrastructure in STEM Disciplines

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Abhijit Nagchaudhuri, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore; Madhumi Mitra, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore; Rose Stoakley, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore; Tiara Turner, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore; Suraf Cherinet, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore; Gabriel Ladd, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore; Harsha Chalyam, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore; Christopher Hartman, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore; James B. Burrows-Mcelwain, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

172 airplane, (iii) preliminary investigationsfor program development and path planning of a robotic helicopter (UAV) equipped witha monochrome IP camera for agricultural applications.Increased profits, environmental concerns, and effective farm management have been theprimary motivators for the adoption of “Precision Agriculture (PA)” in the United Statesover the last decade. PA is a convergence of agronomy, advanced engineeringtechnologies, and geo-spatial information technology (GIT)”. At UMES synergy betweentwo ongoing multidisciplinary projects ECPA(Environmentally Conscious PrecisionAgriculture) and AIRSPACES ( Aerial Imaging and Remote Sensing for PrecisionAgriculture and Environmental Stewardship) have provided the platform to

Conference Session

Influence of Race and Culture

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Leslie Wilkins, Maui Economic Development Board; Sheryl Hom, isisHawaii and Women in Technology; Jenilynne Gaskin, Maui Economic Development Board; Kawailehua Kuluhiwa, Maui Economic Development Board, Inc.; Christine Andrews, Maui Eco Dev Board

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

, present courses andfuture plans. The chart below confirms that the girls are self-selecting STEM related courses aselectives and the majority plan on continuing on to higher education. Based on 26 high schooler responses Yes Response Currently enrolled in *STEM related elective courses 74% Favorite school subject is *STEM related 73% Excels in *STEM related subjects 67% Plans on attending college after high school 91%* includes hard and soft sciences, technology, engineering, math, computers, electrical, andelectronics courses. Page 12.193.11As a

Conference Session

Marketing Engineering to Minority Students

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Willie Ofosu, Pennsylvania State University-Wilkes-Barre; Ahmed Abdul-Rahman, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology; Emmanuel Nutsuklo, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology; Michael Brenu Osae, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

technologies that are new indeveloped nations can also be found in developing nations. What can present a differenceis that in developed nations, adequately trained manpower would be found to operate thesystem whereas this may not be the case in all developing nations. Due to costs involvedin many such endeavors, it is important that the particular technology is proficientlyevaluated to ensure that it is the system needed for the particular application desired andthat the results when the technology is applied, will effectively achieve the plannedobjective.With the view to adapting the technology to local conditions, the factors that are used inassessing it for the planned objective should involve a study of applying the technologyin the equatorial

Conference Session

NAFP Panel Discussion

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Goang-Shin Liaw, Alabama A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

Technology, and a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Dr. Liaw has been heavily involved in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for many years. He has planned, directed, and executed more than ten research projects at Alabama A&M University with contract values in excess of two million dollars. He has authored over 50 technical articles, reports, and papers as a result of his research work. Dr. Liaw’s current research interests are to apply nanotechnology in water and air purification systems in the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) for the International Space Station and future Lunar Habitat

Conference Session

Retention of STEM Students

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Morrison Obeng, Bethune-Cookman College; Xiaohe Wu, Bethune-Cookman College

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

andtechnical activities have helped in the retention of students in the engineering program. The BCUfaculty and Administration are very supportive of these student organizations. It is planned toform the IEEE student chapter at BCU in the spring of 2007. Figure 1, and Figure 2 show theengineering student enrollment at BCU from fall 1999 to fall 2006. Page 12.650.4 Engineering Student Enrollment 60 # of Engineering Students 50 40 Enrolled

Conference Session

Foster Excellence

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tony Mitchell, North Carolina State University; Angelitha Daniel, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

and Space Administration Space Station.Angelitha Daniel, North Carolina State University Angelitha L. Daniel graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Materials Science and Engineering. After graduation, she was hired as the Coordinator of Minority Recruitment for PECAP, Pitt’s Engineering Career Access Program (formerly known as the IMPACT Program) from July 1998 until June 2003. Ms. Daniel currently works as the Assistant Director of Minority Engineering Programs at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. She is responsible for the planning and implementation of programs that assist the college in recruiting, retaining, and graduating

Conference Session

Factors Affecting Minority Engineering Students

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carolyn Vallas, University of Virginia; Susan Donohue, University of Virginia

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

engineering: what were the major influences or factors in your decision to leaveengineering? What, if anything, would have made you stay in engineering? If you stayed at U.Va., what were the major influences or factors keeping you here? If you transferred to another university, why did you transfer?For all: would the opportunity to participate in research as an undergraduate have any influence onyour decision?Do you anticipate working in engineering or a related profession after graduation? If so, for how long? If you plan a short career (> 5 years), to which career path do you plan to switch? If not, in what field do you plan to work? Will you need graduate education to accomplish your career goal?Any other

Conference Session

Research Infrastructure in STEM Disciplines

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Elizabeth Cady, National Academy of Engineering; Norman Fortenberry, National Academy of Engineering

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

populationsunderrepresented in STEM. Finally, each principal investigator should indicate how they plan toidentify, attract, engage, support, and sustain participation by both underrepresented populationsand underrepresented institutions. Thus, there are six main topics to be addressed, requiring bothquantitative and qualitative information.Table 1: Project Collaboration: Information Needed from NSF Principal Investigators, Schools,School Districts, Departments, InstitutionsParticipation Research Education Research Educationby: Capacity Capacity Percent/ Percent

Conference Session

Special programs and activities for minorities in engineering

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Peter Stroot, University of South Florida; Bernard Batson, University of South Florida; BK Robertson, Alabama State University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

partnered with Alabama State University (ASU), anHBCU institution, to initiate a new pipeline between the schools that has the potential to increasethe number of ASU biology graduates enrolling in engineering graduate programs. This newpipeline will be christened by a new hybrid laboratory course in the spring of 2006 that exposesASU students to the use of molecular biology based methods in engineering. This USF coursewas developed through an NSF-CCLI grant and offered to USF students in the spring of 20051-3.For the planned hybrid course, the lecture portion of the course will be broadcast live through theinternet for ASU students. The lecture will be the responsibility of the USF faculty member,while the laboratory section will be provided

Conference Session

Influence of Race and Culture

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tony Mitchell, North Carolina State University; John F. Flannigan, III, III, Sloan Construction Company; Renee M. Wooten, SAS Institute, Inc.; Eric P. Pearson, Northrop Grumman Corporation; Angelitha Daniel, North Carolina State University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

12.1410.1Angelitha Daniel, North Carolina State University Angelitha L. Daniel graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Materials Science and Engineering. After graduation, she was hired as the Coordinator of Minority Recruitment for PECAP, Pitt’s Engineering Career Access Program (formerly known as the IMPACT Program) from July 1998 until June 2003. Ms. Daniel currently works as the© American Society for Engineering Education, 2007 Assistant Director of Minority Engineering Programs at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. She is responsible for the planning and implementation of programs that assist the college in recruiting, retaining, and

Conference Session

Factors Affecting Minority Engineering Students

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Brad Matanin, Virginia Tech; Tremayne Waller, Virginia Tech; Jean Kampe, Virginia Tech; Cory Brozina, Virginia Tech; Bevlee Watford, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

, mentoring, or answering questions. Residentialadvisors are also assigned to a group of students, called their activity group, for which they mustplan an event each week on a minimal budget. Activities range from volleyball, Frisbee, andbasketball to ice cream eating contests and karaoke, among others. The RAs and staff helpcelebrate birthdays during the program and students attend a 4th of July picnic on campus. Theamusement park trip usually planned during ASPIRE has been replaced with a less costly trip toplay laser tag, bowl, and/or roller skate. Students could also attend a trip to the local mall andMovie Theater on one weekend.Students meet every Friday afternoon for seminar to cover different aspects of campus life. Theincreased size of STEP

Conference Session

Learning Needs and Educational Success

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carolyn Skurla, Baylor University; Steven Eisenbarth, Baylor University; Richard Campbell, Baylor University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

first responder by meetingwith students who are referred by faculty to determine the cause of the student’s academic stress,to identify needed academic services and to help the student develop an action plan. Although aformal evaluation of the Early Alert program has yet to be completed, results within the Schoolhave indicated a positive influence on retention rates within engineering and computer science aswell as increased University retention rates for students that leave ECS.Other activities within the School that are targeted at improving student retention and successinclude a new approach in the freshman computer science sequence, making theSuccess4Students program (www.success4students.com) available to all entering ECS freshmen,and

Conference Session

Academic Boot Camp

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Eric Brittain, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Reginald Bryant, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Lincoln Chandler, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Robbin Chapman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Shaundra Daily, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Mark Hampton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Ishara Mills-Henry; Aisha Walcott, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

(vs. 10.4 years for white Americans).Furthermore, 16.2% of black American Ph.D. recipients planned postdoctoral study (vs. 22.7%of all white American Ph.D. recipients).Programs are being established to enhance the quality of the graduate process for minoritygraduate students. The effects of small informal groups with underlying commonality have beendocumented to produce excellent results5. This is due in large part to common denominators ofrespect for one another’s opinions, genuine desire for members’ success, and anxiety freeenvironments for perceived failures.Through focus groups of minority graduate students, McAfee, et al. (2006) discovered thatpersonal and political aspects were major determining factors that led to the success of a

Conference Session

Retention of STEM Students

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ibibia Dabipi, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore; Joseph Arumala, University of Maryland-Eastern Shore

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

pursued through the five-year UMCP plan for cooperativeengineering education which combines classroom theory with career-related workexperience. Individual counseling is available for students desiring to transfer to otherinstitutions. The Engineering Program is founded on the basic sciences and emphasizesthe development of a high degree of technical competence. It integrates these elements:(1) basic sciences, including mathematics, physics, and chemistry; (2) engineeringsciences including mechanics of solids and fluids, engineering materials,thermodynamics, electrical and electronic circuits, and transport phenomena; (3)engineering design which applies the above elements into the creation of systems,components and processes while optimizing

Conference Session

Learning Needs and Educational Success

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sheree Watson, Montana State University; Heidi Sherick, Montana State University; Carolyn Plumb, Montana State University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

responses mentioned teamwork, and fivecommented learning about how to adjust engineering activities to a youngeraudience.Implementing the Service-Learning ActivitiesThe service-learning project culminated with student groups demonstrating theiractivities on real life middle school students. We originally planned for studentteams to go into a middle school math classroom and “teach” their activity as ateam. We were unable to implement this plan because of the difficulty in everystudent’s schedule meshing with traditional school day schedules. Instead, wewere able to take advantage of a university holiday in November (Election Day)to have students present their activity to an after school program at the local Boysand Girls Club. The audience at the

Conference Session

NAFP Panel Discussion

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Louis Everett, University of Texas-El Paso; Paul Racette, NASA; Scott Askew, NASA; Rafic Bachnak, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi; Belay Demoz; Paul Mogan, NASA

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

and Technology Center, the Center for RemoteSensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS). Haskell is one of six partner universities inCReSIS headed by KU. Serendipitously, my fellowship tenure at Haskell wouldcorrespond with the inaugural year of the Center. Working with faculty atHaskell, I developed and proposed a plan which included teaching, research andprogram development between Haskell, KU and NASA.“Turning Two Jobs into One”Belay B. Demoz, Ph.D., Cohort 9, assignment at Howard University (HU)I joined NASA Goddard Space Flight Center after spending several years workingwith private companies and the University of Maryland Baltimore County(UMBC). While at UMBC, I collaborated with Howard University on a grant toNOAA to do atmospheric research and

Conference Session

Marketing Engineering to Minority Students

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Linda Barrington, University of Massachusetts-Lowell; John Duffy, University of Massachusetts-Lowell

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

for minority students. Out of 2044 student participants reporting, thetop “three most valuable things” about EPICS were teamwork, communication and organizationand planning in that order.27At the University of Michigan a choice of service-learning section of a required freshman courseresulted in students who were significantly more satisfied with the course and the instructor.That section was made up of a higher number of women and underrepresented minorities thanthe general first year population.284.2 The uniqueness of SLICEIn 2004, U. Mass. Lowell’s Francis College began implementation of a project called “Service-Learning Integrated throughout a College of Engineering” (SLICE). As such, it is the “I” thatmakes the curriculum reform at UML

Conference Session

Recruitment and Retention

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Northern, Prairie View A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

% 0.32% 1.95% 1.63% 2.61% 4.56% 78.18% 21.82% 2 progs.2. STRATEGIES FOR REACHING EXPANSION GOALS2.1 Increase Retention RateThe national retention rate for freshman engineering students is close to 48%. The strategies wewant to employ to increase the retention rate are (a) mentoring and tutoring of students (b) designcompetitions and student recognition. Mentoring and tutoring of students are known to improveretention [2]. We intend to increase the retention rate of first and second year electrical andcomputer engineering students by providing them with academic and peer support to facilitatetheir transition into the College of Engineering. Additionally, we plan to provide studentrecognition and academic

Conference Session

Foster Excellence

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cathy Qian, Alabama A&M University; Zhengtao Deng, Alabama A&M University; George Seweryniak, DoE

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

Page 12.671.7Ridge National Laboratory. Four graduate students were supported through researchassistantships. Five undergraduate research assistants were trained in computational science.In 2005, of the 60 minority scholarship recipients, 12 were actively attending graduateschools in science and engineering field. Three DOE Scholarship recipients are currentlyworking for DOE. It was proved that this project created a huge attraction to top minorityengineering students and greatly enhanced engineering education to minority students.Bibliography[1]. DOE Alliance for Computational Science Collaboration (ACSC) FY00 STRATEGIC PLAN.[2]. Z.T. Deng, Cathy Qian and Scott von Laven, “Alliance for Computational Science Collaboration: HBCU

Conference Session

Special programs and activities for minorities in engineering

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Abulkhair Masoom, University of Wisconsin-Platteville; Fahmida Masoom, University of Wisconsin-Platteville

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

ethnic minority or a female. All entries are rated on their degree of innovation,originality, relation to health care engineering, quality of the proposal, and clarity of the planto implement the proposed designs. Teams, advancing to the second round, are required togive an oral presentation at the GE-HealthCare headquarters in Milwaukee before thejudging panel. Upon completion of the designs, and presentations, a panel of General Electricengineers selects the top three entries to be awarded prizes. In the first year of thiscompetition, there were eight entries, and according to the judges the top three designs werepatent worthy.This paper describes the planning, organizing, and methods to implement the designcompetition, and discusses the

Conference Session

MIND - Poster Session

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ibironke Lawal, Virginia Commonwealth University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

Studies."25The issue of venturing into strange space came to a head when, with the outbreak of World WarII, the United States suddenly faced a manpower crisis. Men were called up to service, andindustry needed people with technical expertise at drawing boards and engineering shops toproduce planes and tanks for the war. So, companies sought to hire female engineers. But theycould not find enough female engineers. Companies like General Electric hired women withknowledge of Math and Science, gave them emergency crash courses and turned them intowartime engineers’ aides.One of the most elaborate of such plans, in 1942, was the Curtiss-Wright airplane company’sinitiative for training "Curtiss-Wright Cadettes." Seven colleges--Cornell, Iowa State

Conference Session

Learning Needs and Educational Success

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Northern, Prairie View A&M University; John Fuller, Prairie View A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

/training.html defines Rapid Prototyping asin a design process where early development of a small-scale prototype is used to test out certainkey features of the design [2]. Traditionally, students have designed logic circuits in a linear Page 12.1193.5fashion based on defined needs goals. These steps are shown in Table 1. Increased developmenttime, costly mistakes, and less communication, has been a result when designing more complexand challenging systems [3]. In Whitten, Bentley, and Barlow, system designers at very earlystages of planning of large-scale systems, a small-prototype is built to exhibit key features of theintended system [4]. The prototype

Conference Session

Retention of STEM Students

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Annita Alting, City College of the City University of New York; Ardie Walser, City College of the City University of New York

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

with the lowest scores on “academic facilities” and “strength ofeducation” also had the lowest “academic achievement” scores- the connection was notconclusive. For example, a low MGPA score could be the result of the grading practicesin a particular department and have little to do with the other departmental characteristics. In future works, we plan to examine the impact of the departmental characteristics on theretention and academic achievement of engineering students as well as continue to studythe predictors of retention, graduation and academic achievement. We will also explorethe challenges in implementing new policies, gaining buy-in from the college communityand the importance of good communication both in and outside of the college

Conference Session

Learning Needs and Educational Success

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Karen Crosby, Southern University; Samuel Ibekwe, Southern University; Guoqiang Li, Southern University; Su-Seng Pang, Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge; Kun Lian, Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices (CAMD)

Tagged Divisions

Minorities in Engineering

increasing surface area.4Education and TrainingIn addition to technical research, education and human resource development is another impacttask in which, better educational opportunities, and exposure to cutting edge researchtechnologies has been emphasized for minority students that are planning to earn an engineering Page 12.1492.6or science undergraduate or graduate degrees. Through this project, the research experience ofminority students is being improved so that they can reach their full academic potential andcompete successfully for the available high technology oriented career opportunities. Themotivation here is to (a) develop a “research