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Background | |
Diversity Summit Participants |
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Diversity Summit Agenda | |
Diversity Resources |
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The Quiet Crisis | |
Diversity Summit Report |
Engineering Societies Diversity Summit Summary Report
The American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) convened an action-focused summit on diversity in engineering on April 2-3, 2003. Response to the summit was overwhelmingly positive. Participants felt that their diversity programs would be more effective as a result of the information presented and more importantly the connections made at the meeting, and they asked for assistance to maintain those connections. Two priorities for action were identified: a common vision or policy statement and increased leadership commitment are needed to bring the engineering community together on diversity issues.
A survey of current diversity program activities sent to engineering societies prior to the summit showed that all of the participating organizations view diversity as a high priority and are interested in potential collaborations. The level of activity and amount of resources devoted to diversity programs varies widely. Diversity programs at the disciplinary societies are primarily aimed at their membership, while the minority-focused organizations have more programs focused on college and pre-college students.
AAES Chair Paul Kostek moderated the event. NAE President Bill Wulf and NSF Deputy Director Joe Bordogna welcomed attendees and stated their organizations' commitment to increasing diversity in engineering. Presentations from Jacob Lozada, special assistant to the director of the Office of Personnel Management for diversity strategy, and Malcolm O'Neill, chief technology officer, Lockheed Martin Corporation, addressed the importance of diversity at all levels in both the government and industry workforce. Eleanor Babco, executive director of the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology, provided attendees with current statistics and historical trends on the participation of women and underrepresented minorities in engineering, and Patricia Campbell, president of Campbell-Kibler Associates, discussed research findings on the characteristics of effective programs to increase the participation of women and minorities in science and engineering and emphasized the importance of evaluation. Three disciplinary societies and three minority-focused organizations presented examples of their diversity programs. Summit participants spent time in small group discussions addressing how to make existing programs more effective and identifying resource needs and opportunities to work together.
AAES has established an electronic mailing list to facilitate ongoing communication among summit participants, and additional information will be posted on the NAE and AAES web sites. The summit was designed as the first step in an ongoing effort to increase the impact of engineering society diversity programs through education and collaboration. The planning committee is currently discussing how to keep the conversation going and facilitate partnerships across the engineering community.
The event was hosted by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in Washington, DC, with financial support from the General Electric Fund, Intel Corporation, the National Science Foundation (NSF), Lucent Technologies Foundation, and AT&T. More than 60 individuals representing both staff and volunteer leadership of 28 engineering societies participated in the summit