Page 44 - Engineering Career Guide, 4th Edition

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44 START-ENGINEERING.COM ISTOCKPHOTO.COM
REACHING THE GOAL
OK,let’s be real. The engineering pro- fession is dominated by white
males. Always has been. But that’s not its future. The profession is embracing diversity
— not only because that’s the right thing to do, but because it’s essential to quality engineering. As David C. Munson, former dean of the University of Michigan’s College of Engineering, explains: “Di- verse teams produce better answers, and there’s research to back that up.” The American Society
Engineering schools are working hard to attract and retain women and minorities.
for Engineering Education (ASEE) agrees: “We learn from those whose experiences, be- liefs, and perspectives are dif- ferent from our own.” Moreover, as Munson says, to keep Amer- ica competitive, “we cannot continue to draw students from only a quarter of the population.
That makes no sense at all.”
Accordingly, America’s engineering schools are
making big efforts to recruit and enroll more stu- dents from underrepresented groups. Engineering schools now typically host a wide variety of groups — such as the Society of Women Engineers, the Na- tional Society of Black Engineers, and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers — that offer women and minority students support and guidance.
So if you think engineering is where you be- long, you’re right — no matter who you are or where you’re from.
SCHOOLS THAT GRADUATE THE MOST WOMEN
ENGINEERING, BY THE NUMBERS
While engineering continues to be a white male dominated field, the number of degrees earned by women over the last few years has now risen to 24 percent of the total degrees awarded. Hispanic degrees awarded have also shown small increases. Degrees awarded to African Americans have remained relatively flat and total just under 5 percent. Many universities are committed to reaching out to minority groups and women, and some host summer camps and other opportunities for high school students.
1. Georgia Institute of Technology
2. University of Michigan
3. Purdue University
4. Texas A&M University
5. University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
6. University of California, Irvine
7. University of California, Berkeley
8. University of Florida
9. Virginia Polytechnic Institute
10. University of Alabama in Huntsville
SOURCE: AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR ENGINEERING EDUCATION, 2021 DATA