Anti-Racism Practice in Engineering: Exploring, Learning & Solutions (ARPELS)
- Conference
- Location
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Minneapolis, MN
- Publication Date
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August 23, 2022
- Start Date
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June 26, 2022
- End Date
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June 29, 2022
- Conference Session
- Page Count
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13
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--42073
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/42073
- Download Count
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356
Paper Authors
Kenneth Connor Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Kenneth Connor is an emeritus professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engi-neering (ECSE) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) where he taught courses on electromagnetics, electronics and instrumentation, plasma physics, electric power, and general engineering. His research involves plasma physics, electromagnetics, photonics, biomedical sensors, engineering education, diversity in the engineering workforce, and technology enhanced learning. He learned problem solving from his father (who ran a gray iron foundry), his mother (a nurse) and grandparents (dairy farmers). He has had the great good fortune to always work with amazing people, most recently the members and leadership of the Inclusive Engineering Consortium (IEC) from HBCU, HSI, and TCU ECE programs and the faculty, staff and students of the Lighting Enabled Systems and Applications (LESA) ERC, where he was Education Director until his retirement in 2018. He was RPI ECSE Department Head from 2001 to 2008 and served on the board of the ECE Department Heads Association (ECEDHA) from 2003 to 2008. He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE.
Craig Scott Morgan State University
Mohamed Chouikha Prairie View A&M University
Pamela Leigh-Mack Virginia State University
Barry Sullivan
John Kelly North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (CoE)
Stephen Goodnick Arizona State University
Mark Smith University of Texas at Austin
Michelle Klein Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept. Heads Assoc. (ECEDHA)
Shiny Abraham Seattle University
Ben Oni Tuskegee University
Esther Ososanya University of the District of Columbia
Abdelnasser Eldek Jackson State University
Shujun Yang
Hector Erives University of Texas at El Paso
Dr. Hector Erives is an Associate Professor of Practice in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the University of Texas at El Paso since 2018. Prior to joining UTEP he worked in the industry for over ten years where he held various positions. He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the New Mexico State University. His research interests are in engineering education, remote sensing, and intelligent control systems.
Cole Joslyn University of Texas at El Paso
Ivonne Santiago University of Texas at El Paso
Peter Romine Navajo Technical University
Founder and Head of the 1st ABET Accredited B.S. Electrical Engineering program at a Tribal Institution
Shayla Sawyer
Rodrigo Romero University of Texas at El Paso
Yuanrui Sang
Hassan Salmani
Delia Saenz Arizona State University
Miguel Velez-Reyes University of Texas at El Paso
Dr. Miguel Velez-Reyes is the George W. Edwards Distinguished Professor in Engineering and Chair of the ECE Department at University of Texas at El Paso. He is a first generation in college student who received his BSEE degree from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (UPRM) in 1985, and his SMEE, and PhD from MIT in 1988 and 1992 respectively. He was a faculty member of the UPRM ECE Department from 1992 to 2012. He is the UTEP Campus Coordinator for the NOAA Center for Earth Systems Science and Remote Sensing Technology. He was the Founding Director of the UPRM Institute for Research in Integrative Systems and Engineering, and Associate Director of the NSF CenSSIS ERC. His research interests are in integrating physical models with data driven approaches for information extraction using remote sensing. He has over 160 publications. He is Fellow of SPIE and the Academy of Arts and Sciences of Puerto Rico. Received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers award from the US President in 1997. He chairs the SPIE Conference on Algorithms, Technologies and Applications for Multispectral, and Hyperspectral Imaging. He is board member of the Inclusive Engineering Consortium (IEC).
Abstract
Recent events have brought systemic racism and racial injustice in all facets of society into sharp focus. (X), a recently formed consortium of HBCU, HSI, and TCU ECE programs, recognizes the need and opportunity this has created to stimulate action on creating a more just and welcoming environment for underrepresented minorities in engineering education. (X) members are compelled by our mission to make a stand together in treating everyone with equity and respect, regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, sex, gender identity or orientation, age, disability, citizen status, or national origin. Accordingly, and in response to both national calls for racial justice and exigencies in higher education around equity and representation, we delivered a series of capacity-building workshops in 2021 to 1) promote an understanding of inequitable patterns and 2) introduce participants to frameworks that help to counter them. Actionable steps were identified to mitigate the deleterious effects of exclusion in engineering education and to facilitate collaboration of individuals and institutions in a way that enables tangible change.
The (X) Social Justice Workshop Series (Anti-Racism Practice in Engineering: Exploring, Learning & Solutions or ARPELS) was organized to occur before and after the 2021 Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Heads (ECEDHA) conference series in March 2021 to disseminate results and recommendations to representatives of over 230 ECE departments from the US and Canada, and recruit participants for additional sessions. The overarching goals of the 3-part workshop series were 1) building capacity in understanding and embracing anti-racist methods; 2) inspiring self-reflection and organizational review around equity and inclusion and 3) launching transformational change at both the individual and systems levels.
All sessions were organized similarly. Each began with an overview of the key session topic, followed by breakouts where participants could identify concrete steps to respond to issues raised. Sessions were conducted over two days—Tuesday and Thursday—to allow time for reflection between the opening and closing segments. Session 1 focused on building an understanding of anti-racism and its relevance to engineering. Session 2 focused on forging equitable partnerships, especially between (X) MSI member programs and Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). Session 3 began with a panel discussion of 5 African-American academics representing different levels of administration and addressed issues raised by the panel. The first three sessions (winter and spring 2021) were followed by an additional workshop session (fall 2021) focused on catalyzing research teams with partners from MSIs, PWIs and industry. For all four sessions, the key measures of success came from the lively and fruitful discussions reported on from the breakouts, which provided many excellent ideas that are being implemented by (X) to fulfill its mission of enabling its member programs to address together the issues they are unable to handle alone.
Connor, K., & Scott, C., & Chouikha, M., & Leigh-Mack, P., & Sullivan, B., & Kelly, J., & Goodnick, S., & Smith, M., & Klein, M., & Abraham, S., & Oni, B., & Ososanya, E., & Eldek, A., & Yang, S., & Erives, H., & Joslyn, C., & Santiago, I., & Romine, P., & Sawyer, S., & Romero, R., & Sang, Y., & Salmani, H., & Saenz, D., & Velez-Reyes, M. (2022, August), Anti-Racism Practice in Engineering: Exploring, Learning & Solutions (ARPELS) Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--42073
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