Exploratory Project: Graduating ENgineers In the U.S. (GENIUS) Summer Program

这一探索性的努力将通过实施天才暑期计划来应对增加准备进入工程和计算机科学大学项目的非裔美国高中毕业生数量的挑战。为期一个月的夏令营面向位于华盛顿大都市地区的高中三年级新生。该项目将为学生在大学STEM项目中取得学术成功做好准备，并为学生及其家庭提供关于大学申请过程的更多洞察力。天才计划将解决两个关键问题，这两个问题影响学生申请、入学和毕业于经认证的STEM项目的比率。技术创业中的创新和新兴想法能在多大程度上激励学生拥抱工程学？接触大学人员和文化对学生的影响有多大？对上大学有什么看法？随着美国人口变得更加多样化，少数族裔人口将成为科技劳动力中越来越大的一部分，必须提高招聘和保留率。美国社会不断变化的人口结构使得制定有效的战略来培养非洲裔美国工程师势在必行，这一群体传统上在数学和科学方面落后于国内和国际同行。天才计划通过开发一个计划来解决这个问题，该计划针对的是以非裔美国人为主的学校中崛起的高三学生，他们正在努力应对低毕业率和标准化考试成绩低于平均水平的问题。该计划将整合现有的大学服务和战略大学合作伙伴关系以获得支持。

This exploratory effort will address the challenge of increasing the number of African-American high school graduates prepared to matriculate in engineering and computer science university programs, by implementing the GENIUS Summer program. The month-long summer camp targets rising juniors in high schools located in the DC metropolitan area. The program will prepare students for academic success in university-based STEM programs and provide students and their families with additional insight on the college application process. The GENIUS program will address two critical inquiries that impact the rate of students applying to, matriculating in, and graduating from accredited STEM programs. To what extent can innovative and emerging ideas in technical entrepreneurship motivate students to embrace engineering? To what extent does exposure to university personnel and culture impact students? views of attending college? As the US population becomes more diverse, the minority population will become an increasing segment of the technology workforce and recruitment and retention rates must be improved.The changing demographics of the American society make it imperative to develop effective strategies for graduating African-American engineers, a group that traditionally underperforms its national and international peers in math and science. The GENIUS Program addresses this issue by developing a program targeting rising high school juniors at schools that are predominately African-American and struggle with low graduation rates and lower than average performance on standardized exams. The program will marshal existing university services and strategic University partnerships for support.