NACME Announces Research on Underrepresented Minorities in STEM
NACME Announces Research on Underrepresented Minorities in STEM.
New Data Point to Gaps, Opportunities for Improvement
Washington, /PRNewswire/ -- The National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME) released new research, made possible by Motorola Foundation, that quantifies a growing "opportunity gap" in the number of minority students pursuing degrees and careers in science and technology. In what NACME characterizes as "the 'New' American Dilemma," the report shows that rates of participation by African Americans, American Indians, and Latinos in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields have flatlined, and in some cases have actually declined.
At a time when the pursuit of careers in science and technology is a
major indicator of the nation's ability to be competitive and economically
strong, NACME's report highlights another reason that the United States is
falling behind in the global economy.
The report finds a vast pool of minority students who aren't prepared
for STEM fields and who thus can't contribute to the solution. The report,
"Confronting the 'New' American Dilemma, Underrepresented Minorities in
Engineering: A Data-Based Look at Diversity," shows that progress on this
issue has been marginal, neither steady nor substantial enough for
representation of minorities in STEM to reflect their overall proportion of
the U.S. population. Among other statistics, the report reveals:
-- The proportion of bachelor's degrees in engineering awarded to African
Americans between 1995 and 2005 has declined. In 1995, engineering
degrees accounted for 3.3% of bachelor's degrees awarded to African
Americans, versus 2.5% of these degrees in 2005.
-- Though Latinos are expected to account for 25% of the U.S. population
by the mid-21st century, the gap in educational attainment for Latinos
relative to non-Hispanic whites has widened. In addition, evidence
suggests that Latinos are losing interest in engineering and are opting
to pursue other fields of study in college.
-- American Indians comprise only 0.4% of engineering faculty. Lack of
diversity among college and university faculties has the potential to
rob minority and female students of the role models and mentors needed
to improve students' motivation to continue college.
Released at a Capitol Hill briefing today, the report also articulates
a set of calls to action directed at K-12 and higher education, government,
and business.
The calls to action include having genuinely high expectations for our
young students of color, removing systemic barriers to underrepresented
minorities' participation in college, developing a national STEM workforce
development policy, and forming business partnerships that promote untapped
populations.
The NACME report was authored by the Commission on Professionals in
Science and Technology (CPST) and was supported by the National Science
Foundation (NSF). The findings have caught the attention of members of
Congress, including Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, who spoke at today's event.
"We must look out for America's strength in the global economy, and to
do that, we must encourage untapped resources into the STEM pipeline," said
Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas). "So many of our minority
youth are not prepared to take on jobs in critical science and engineering
fields, and this is a problem Congress can -- and must-address.
"I commend NACME for working toward a more diverse and competitive
engineering workforce, and I support them in their efforts," said
Congresswoman Johnson.
According to the report, African Americans, American Indians, and
Latinos constitute 30% of the nation's undergraduate students, a proportion
that is expected to grow to 32% in 2010 and to 38% by 2025. Yet today,
fewer than 12% of baccalaureate engineering graduates in this country are
underrepresented minorities.
"America is open to embracing the ideas and perspectives of people from
all walks of life," said Eileen Sweeney, director of Motorola Foundation.
"Motorola invests in this strength and diversity of ideas with its support
for educational programs that spur children's interest in math and science
-- and for research like the NACME study that helps elevate the public
discourse about underrepresented minorities in engineering."
More than six decades after Gunnar Myrdal wrote An American Dilemma,
NACME's research reveals where the United States still struggles with a
dilemma of race and opportunity. NACME's "'New' American Dilemma" report
proposes a series of responses that include creating support groups to
retain underrepresented minorities once they enter college and encouraging
businesses to include recruitment of minorities in their workforce
development strategies.
"There is a solution to America's endangered competitiveness, and NACME
is ready to work with government, education, business, and individuals of
goodwill to achieve it," said Irving Pressley McPhail, Ed.D., NACME
executive vice president and chief operating officer. "We must prepare and
empower America's hidden workforce of young men and women who have
traditionally been underrepresented in STEM careers."
NACME's scholarships and programs help people like Eric Adolphe.
Adolphe, now a NACME board member and founder of a multimillion-dollar
corporation, received a NACME Scholarship when rising tuition costs left
him homeless in New York City. Adolphe credits this critical support for
his success today. "I nearly dropped out of school until a friend told me
about the NACME Scholarship, which was awarded to me on an emergency
basis," said Adolphe. "Looking back, NACME didn't just give a kid a chance
at finishing college; NACME literally changed the course of my life."
About NACME
Since 1974, the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering
(NACME) has provided leadership and support for the national effort to
increase the representation of successful African American, American
Indian, and Latino women and men in engineering and technology, math- and
science-based careers. For more information, visit http://www.nacme.org.
About Motorola Foundation
Motorola Foundation is the independent charitable and philanthropic arm
of Motorola. With employees located around the globe, Motorola seeks to
benefit the communities where it operates. The company achieves this by
making strategic grants, forging strong community partnerships, fostering
innovation, and engaging stakeholders. Motorola Foundation focuses its
funding on education, especially science, technology, engineering, and math
programming. For more information on Motorola Corporate and Foundation
giving, visit http://www.motorola.com/giving.
The Commission on Professionals and Science and Technology completed
the research in the report and released today on its website an information
sheet with state-by-state data on bachelor's degrees awarded to
under-represented minorities in engineering in 2006. The top ten states (in
terms of the percentage of the state's engineering bachelor's degrees
awarded to URMs) are shown here. The full list is available at the
organization's website: http://www.cpst.org. Lisa Frehill, Executive
Director of CPST, said, "It is interesting to note that even in states with
proportionately high representation of URMs among engineering bachelor's
recipients, there is a wide gap between this rate and the representation of
URMs in the state's general population."
New Data Point to Gaps, Opportunities for Improvement
Washington, /PRNewswire/ -- The National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME) released new research, made possible by Motorola Foundation, that quantifies a growing "opportunity gap" in the number of minority students pursuing degrees and careers in science and technology. In what NACME characterizes as "the 'New' American Dilemma," the report shows that rates of participation by African Americans, American Indians, and Latinos in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields have flatlined, and in some cases have actually declined.
At a time when the pursuit of careers in science and technology is a
major indicator of the nation's ability to be competitive and economically
strong, NACME's report highlights another reason that the United States is
falling behind in the global economy.
The report finds a vast pool of minority students who aren't prepared
for STEM fields and who thus can't contribute to the solution. The report,
"Confronting the 'New' American Dilemma, Underrepresented Minorities in
Engineering: A Data-Based Look at Diversity," shows that progress on this
issue has been marginal, neither steady nor substantial enough for
representation of minorities in STEM to reflect their overall proportion of
the U.S. population. Among other statistics, the report reveals:
-- The proportion of bachelor's degrees in engineering awarded to African
Americans between 1995 and 2005 has declined. In 1995, engineering
degrees accounted for 3.3% of bachelor's degrees awarded to African
Americans, versus 2.5% of these degrees in 2005.
-- Though Latinos are expected to account for 25% of the U.S. population
by the mid-21st century, the gap in educational attainment for Latinos
relative to non-Hispanic whites has widened. In addition, evidence
suggests that Latinos are losing interest in engineering and are opting
to pursue other fields of study in college.
-- American Indians comprise only 0.4% of engineering faculty. Lack of
diversity among college and university faculties has the potential to
rob minority and female students of the role models and mentors needed
to improve students' motivation to continue college.
Released at a Capitol Hill briefing today, the report also articulates
a set of calls to action directed at K-12 and higher education, government,
and business.
The calls to action include having genuinely high expectations for our
young students of color, removing systemic barriers to underrepresented
minorities' participation in college, developing a national STEM workforce
development policy, and forming business partnerships that promote untapped
populations.
The NACME report was authored by the Commission on Professionals in
Science and Technology (CPST) and was supported by the National Science
Foundation (NSF). The findings have caught the attention of members of
Congress, including Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, who spoke at today's event.
"We must look out for America's strength in the global economy, and to
do that, we must encourage untapped resources into the STEM pipeline," said
Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas). "So many of our minority
youth are not prepared to take on jobs in critical science and engineering
fields, and this is a problem Congress can -- and must-address.
"I commend NACME for working toward a more diverse and competitive
engineering workforce, and I support them in their efforts," said
Congresswoman Johnson.
According to the report, African Americans, American Indians, and
Latinos constitute 30% of the nation's undergraduate students, a proportion
that is expected to grow to 32% in 2010 and to 38% by 2025. Yet today,
fewer than 12% of baccalaureate engineering graduates in this country are
underrepresented minorities.
"America is open to embracing the ideas and perspectives of people from
all walks of life," said Eileen Sweeney, director of Motorola Foundation.
"Motorola invests in this strength and diversity of ideas with its support
for educational programs that spur children's interest in math and science
-- and for research like the NACME study that helps elevate the public
discourse about underrepresented minorities in engineering."
More than six decades after Gunnar Myrdal wrote An American Dilemma,
NACME's research reveals where the United States still struggles with a
dilemma of race and opportunity. NACME's "'New' American Dilemma" report
proposes a series of responses that include creating support groups to
retain underrepresented minorities once they enter college and encouraging
businesses to include recruitment of minorities in their workforce
development strategies.
"There is a solution to America's endangered competitiveness, and NACME
is ready to work with government, education, business, and individuals of
goodwill to achieve it," said Irving Pressley McPhail, Ed.D., NACME
executive vice president and chief operating officer. "We must prepare and
empower America's hidden workforce of young men and women who have
traditionally been underrepresented in STEM careers."
NACME's scholarships and programs help people like Eric Adolphe.
Adolphe, now a NACME board member and founder of a multimillion-dollar
corporation, received a NACME Scholarship when rising tuition costs left
him homeless in New York City. Adolphe credits this critical support for
his success today. "I nearly dropped out of school until a friend told me
about the NACME Scholarship, which was awarded to me on an emergency
basis," said Adolphe. "Looking back, NACME didn't just give a kid a chance
at finishing college; NACME literally changed the course of my life."
About NACME
Since 1974, the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering
(NACME) has provided leadership and support for the national effort to
increase the representation of successful African American, American
Indian, and Latino women and men in engineering and technology, math- and
science-based careers. For more information, visit http://www.nacme.org.
About Motorola Foundation
Motorola Foundation is the independent charitable and philanthropic arm
of Motorola. With employees located around the globe, Motorola seeks to
benefit the communities where it operates. The company achieves this by
making strategic grants, forging strong community partnerships, fostering
innovation, and engaging stakeholders. Motorola Foundation focuses its
funding on education, especially science, technology, engineering, and math
programming. For more information on Motorola Corporate and Foundation
giving, visit http://www.motorola.com/giving.
The Commission on Professionals and Science and Technology completed
the research in the report and released today on its website an information
sheet with state-by-state data on bachelor's degrees awarded to
under-represented minorities in engineering in 2006. The top ten states (in
terms of the percentage of the state's engineering bachelor's degrees
awarded to URMs) are shown here. The full list is available at the
organization's website: http://www.cpst.org. Lisa Frehill, Executive
Director of CPST, said, "It is interesting to note that even in states with
proportionately high representation of URMs among engineering bachelor's
recipients, there is a wide gap between this rate and the representation of
URMs in the state's general population."
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