NSF INCLUDES: Increasing Degrees Awarded to African American, Hispanic, Native American and Women Students in Engineering (50K Coalition)

在需要STEM知识的领域，就业增长最快，这导致商界领袖现在和不久的将来都在寻找熟练的美国工人。攻读工程学学位的学生人数正在增加，但在申请工程学学位的学生中，任职人数不足的学生比例仍然很低。为了应对增加未被充分代表的群体参与工程学的挑战，全国黑人工程师协会、美国印第安人科学与工程学会、西班牙裔专业工程师协会和女性工程师协会组成了50K联盟，这是一个由40多个组织组成的合作组织，致力于将授予妇女和少数族裔的学士学位数量从每年30,000个增加到2025年的50,000个，增幅为66%。50K联盟正在利用集体影响框架开发一种基于证据的方法，以推动管理决策、改进、信息共享和集体行动，以取得成功。50K联盟于2016年4月首次召开，聚集了代表13个专业协会的83名工程界领导人和70多万名成员，11所领先工程学院的工程学院长、少数族裔工程学院长和工程管理人员中的女性，以及代表全球6个行业的企业合作伙伴。就下列共同议程项目达成了共识：1)本科生的支持和保留；2.)公众意识和营销；3.)K-12支持；4.)社区学院联系；5.)文化和气候。该联盟将鼓励成员组织开发新的项目并扩大现有项目以实现目标。联盟将使用共享的指标来跟踪进展：AP®微积分完成率和高中毕业率；本科新生保留率；社区大学转化率和授予的工程学学位数量。50K联盟将发展集体影响框架的其他要素：基础设施和有效的决策程序，将成为侧重于数据管理、通信和传播的骨干组织；持续沟通系统，包括Basecamp、网站、年度工程计分卡、WebEx主办的会议和召集；以及相辅相成的活动，如方案、课程、研讨会、网络研讨会、讲习班、宣传活动、政策举措和机构能力建设努力。美国国家科学院的研究《扩大代表不足的少数群体的参与：十字路口的美国科技人才》建议，专业协会应将招募和留住代表不足的群体作为组织目标，并通过与其成员、学术机构和资助机构合作开展新的举措来实施旨在实现这一目标的计划。虽然这些类型的组织现在以各种方式合作，但关系是一对一的。50K联盟首次将专业协会、工程学校和行业聚集在一起，考虑哪些相辅相成的活动可以最有效地鼓励来自代表性不足群体的学生完成微积分并从4年制工程项目毕业。

Jobs are growing most rapidly in areas that require STEM knowledge, causing business leaders to seek skilled American workers now and in the near future. Increase in the number of students pursuing engineering degrees is taking place but the percentages of underrepresented students in the engineering pipeline remains low. To address the challenge of increasing the participation of underrepresented groups in engineering, the National Society of Black Engineers, the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, and the Society of Women Engineers have formed the 50K Coalition, a collaborative of over 40 organizations committed to increasing the number of bachelors degrees awarded to women and minorities from 30,000 annually to 50,000 by 2025, a 66% increase. The 50K Coalition is using the Collective Impact framework to develop an evidence-based approach that drives management decision-making, improvements, sharing of information, and collective action to achieve success. The first convening of the 50K Coalition in April, 2016, brought together 83 leaders of the engineering community representing 13 professional societies with over 700,000 members, deans of engineering, minority engineering and women in engineering administrators from 11 leading colleges of engineering, and corporate partners representing six global industries. Consensus was reached on the following Common Agenda items: 1.) Undergraduate support and retention; 2.) Public awareness and marketing; 3.) K-12 support; 4.) Community College linkages; 5.) Culture and climate. The Coalition will encourage member organizations to develop new programs and scale existing programs to reach the goal.The Coalition will use shared metrics to track progress: AP® Calculus completion and high school graduation rates; undergraduate freshmen retention rates; community college transfer rates and number of engineering degrees awarded. The 50K Coalition will develop the other elements of the Collective Impact framework: Infrastructure and effective decision-making processes that will become the backbone organization with a focus on data management, communications and dissemination; a system of continuous communication including Basecamp, website, the annual Engineering Scorecard, WebEx hosted meetings and convenings; and mutually reinforcing activities such as programs, courses, seminars, webinars, workshops, promotional campaigns, policy initiatives, and institutional capacity building efforts. The National Academy of Sciences study, Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America's Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads recommended that professional associations make recruitment and retention of underrepresented groups an organizational goal and implement programs designed to reach that goal by working with their membership, academic institutions and funding agencies on new initiatives. While these types of organizations work together now in a variety of ways, the relationships are one-on-one. The 50K Coalition brings together, for the first time professional societies, engineering schools, and industry to consider what mutually reinforcing activities can most effectively encourage students from underrepresented groups to complete calculus and graduate from 4-year engineering programs.