A Proposal to Conduct a Workshop on Professional Development of Underrepresented Minority Master?s and Doctoral Engineering Students

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Proposal # 1143753Title: A Proposal to Conduct a Workshop on Professional Development of Underrepresented Minority Master?s and Doctoral Engineering Students.P.I. Shirley McBay, President of Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) NetworkProject Summary: The Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Directorate for Engineering (ENG) and Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences, to conduct the third in a series of workshops focused on the professional development of underrepresented minority students in engineering and materials science. The goals of the two-day November 2011 workshop are to: 1) provide masters and doctoral engineering students from underrepresented minority groups with information, resources, and skills development opportunities to increase their success in graduate school and in transitioning to engineering careers in academe, government, or industry; and (2) provide networking opportunities for student participants with each other as well as with engineering faculty/other professionals attending the workshop. The first workshop in the series, conducted in November 2009 with ENG Directorate support, was on Mentoring of Underrepresented Minority Undergraduate Students in Engineering. The workshop brought together 142 students and their faculty advisors from 15 institutions. The second workshop, conducted in May 2011 convened three-member engineering faculty/staff teams from the 14 institutions to be invited to the proposed third workshop in November 2011. Faculty/staff advisors from ten of the institutions participating in the first workshop, who met in July 2010 to discuss next steps, strongly recommended the second and third workshops. Institutional teams in the proposed third workshop will consist of seven masters and doctoral underrepresented materials science and engineering students and the three-person faculty/advisor teams that participated in the May 2011 workshop, for a total of 14 ten-member institutional teams. Students on each team will include three masters and four doctoral students, including, where possible, at least three female students. Each racial/ethnic underrepresented group in a participating institutions graduate materials science or engineering program will be represented. The November 2011 workshop plenary sessions and breakout groups will focus on the requirements for completing a masters and/or doctoral degree in engineering or materials research; how to succeed in graduate school and secure support for graduate study; and the role and importance of research, publishing, conference attendance, mentoring, and networking. The workshop will examine requirements for success in academe, industry, and government and the critical transition from masters to doctoral degree programs in the fields represented.