SGER: A Model for Increasing Participation and Graduation Rates in Computer Engineering Related Disciplines

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In 2004, there were 64,675 bachelor degrees awarded to students majoring in engineering fields in the United States. Out of that total, women received 20.5% of the total degrees awarded, African Americans received 5%, Latin Americans received 6.9%, and Native Americans received approximately 0.5%. These percentages were disproportionate compared to their individual total population numbers within the U.S. for that same year. This SGER proposal argues that there is a major disconnect in the pipeline leading to the production and increase of undergraduate computer-engineering-related degrees by underrepresented student populations (i.e., female and minority students). To repair this disconnect, the focus must be on how young computer science and engineering students from underrepresented populations are trained and the inevitable obstacles students from these backgrounds face as they try to adapt to the culture of the computer science and engineering educational environments. This is essential to their professional success and the technological future of the United States since this is an ideal pool for finding the next generation of computer science and engineering professionals, technicians, and knowledge workers. This proposal provides a description of a laboratory apprenticeship training model that incorporates four major components for successfully achieving the increased recruitment, retention, training, and timely graduation rates of students from underrepresented and underserved backgrounds.