Academic and Research Leadership Symposium for Diversity-Driven Innovation

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BackgroundIn 2010, the National Academies released a report, Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Revisited: Rapidly Approaching Category 5, which suggests that the majority of new jobs created in the U.S. will be a result of advancements in science and technology. Racial and ethnic minority groups including African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans, however, remain substantially underrepresented in engineering and science, especially at the level of Ph.D. researchers and faculty. Growing evidence of increased innovation resulting from racially and ethnically diverse organizations and top management underscores the strong need to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in advanced research, and in academic positions, to sustain the United States as a global economic leader. Technical DescriptionResponding to the aforementioned need, the Academic and Research Leadership Symposium (ARLS) has been created to prepare minority engineers in academia, industry, and government laboratories whose careers involve a strong focus on research and development in advanced technologies. The 2014 ARLS, co-located with the 2014 National Society of Black Engineers national conference, is the inaugural event of the recently founded Academic and Research Leadership (ARL) Network. The ARLS has two focused threads: (1) faculty development, and (2) research career development and peer networking. The faculty development thread has workshops organized by members of the ARLS Network that strengthen and demystify fundamental components of academia. The research career development and networking thread is critical to preparing minority engineers for a career in research organizations and helps meet the goal of a self-sustaining ARL ecosystem through peer networking. It provides an opportunity for researchers at all career levels to nurture connections with their peers and be inspired by the latest discoveries and technical advances across many disciplines of engineering and science. Opportunities for new collaborations and strategic career advancements are anticipated and will create new connections to support the development and growth of minority engineers involved in research in the United States. NSF Funding will support travel expenses for 30 minority early career faculty, graduate students, and research professionals to attend the Symposium. It will also support some of the preeminent speakers for the Symposium.Broader SignficanceThis symposium will serve as a meeting place for minority researchers to share ideas leading to new intellectual products and technologies that benefit society. ARLS will provide a pool of minority candidates to improve the diversity amongst employees in universities or federal/industrial laboratories within the United States. The gathering of engaged minority researchers will provide a network and critical mass that is necessary to help increase the number of participants in research focused careers in the United States. Finally, it will also provide a pool of candidates for program managers of federal agencies needing to diversify their review panels, people to develop content and teach workshops in the current NSBE graduate school conference (GSC), and develop best practices for increasing the interest amongst minority students to seek Ph.D.s in engineering in ways not currently possible.This award is being supported by the Broadening Participation in Engineering Program of the Engineering Education and Centers Division.