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Engineer Starters Program

ABSTRACT

At North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, the Engineer Starters Program (ESP) serves as an avenue to target specifically those underrepresented in the Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology fields and provide them with tools necessary for success in today’s highly technical world. Designed for rising seventh through rising twelfth graders, it is a two-week program, meeting Monday through Friday. (ESP Jr. is an abbreviated version for rising fifth and sixth graders.) The program is a commuter program therefore the students are chosen from schools within a 50 mile radius. Applications are given to the area school counselors and the interested students complete and return an application, hand written essay along with an official transcript (or original grade report) and two letters of recommendation from a teacher and/or school counselor. The program consists of morning sessions which expand their math and science skills in addition to career exploration. The afternoons expose the students to University research in a manner they can understand. Participants may encounter Computer Applications; Computer Drafting; Electrical Circuits; Nanotechnology and in each area they are coached in Project Presentations. Each area is presented in the form of modules which attempt to relate back to learning outcomes in their public schools. Rounding out the program, other subjects covered include Human Factors/Ergonomics Engineering, Lower Level Supply Chain Management and Web Page Design along with Energy Awareness and Alternatives; Hydrogen Fuel Cells and Photovoltaics. The incorporation of such a variety of subjects stimulates the youths’ interests in engineering, in general, and Industrial, Architectural and Mechanical Engineering, in particular. Funding for this program is varied according to the research center involved and comes from varied sources.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE AND PLAN

This nation has long recognized the absence of diversity within science and math based professions. North Carolina A & T State University (NCAT) has pioneered the effort to encourage women and minorities to consider careers in the varied fields of engineering. NCAT is one of the very few Historically Black Colleges or Universities (HBCUs) that maintains a College of Engineering. Thus NCAT has consistently been near the top, if not at the top, of the annual lists of universities producing engineering graduates. The college offers majors in nine

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Waters, C., & Alford, V., & Vinson, E., & Fisher, V., & Pai, D. (2006, June), Engineer Starters Program 2005 Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--1138