Workshop on Improving the Diversity of Faculty in Electrical and Computer Engineering (iREDEFINE ECE)

作为一个领域，电气和计算机工程(欧洲经委会)的问题是，在本科生、研究生和教授各级，妇女和代表不足的少数群体的参与缺乏多样性。该项目旨在利用一个独特的机会，将欧洲经委会系主任与妇女和代表不足的少数族裔研究生聚集在一起，以帮助使欧洲经委会教员多样化。项目小组，包括欧洲经委会部门负责人和欧洲经委会部门负责人协会(ECEDHA)领导人，提议举办iREDEFINE年度讲习班，重点是增加美国欧洲经委会终身教职跟踪教师或博士后职位的W-URM人数。IREDEFINE利用ECEDHA年会和ECEXPO提供的独特环境，创建一种激励和准备W-URM研究生在美国大学寻求教职职位的机制。这一独特的机会是由于参加这次活动的欧洲经委会系主任高度集中，他们中的大多数人都致力于增加其教员的多样性。为期两天的讲习班将与ECEDHA会议重叠。第一天将专门介绍欧洲经委会教员的生活和职业生涯，不同类型学校的信息，如何为成功的学术职位面试做准备的提示，有效教学技巧的信息，寻求研究资金的信息，如何与业界建立联系，以及如何建立信心和谈判技巧。第二天将与ECEDHA会议的第一天同时举行，所有iREDEFINE与会者将可以进入所有会议会议。这一天将提供一次身临其境的体验，讨论欧洲经委会教职员工心目中的问题，如最新的技术和研究趋势、最新的教学创新，以及为解决关键问题所做的努力，例如缺乏多样性和招生趋势的变化。IREDEFINE与会者将向欧洲经委会部门主席展示他们工作的海报，这将使他们有机会与他们在求职期间将接触的人密切互动，并练习他们前一天学到的一些技能。招贴会将为讲习班与会者、欧洲经委会主席和行业附属机构举行招待会，这将提供更多的联系机会。除了研讨会外，还将建立一个指导计划，以延伸到研讨会之外。将在第一次提出后对该项目进行评估和微调，以最大限度地发挥其影响。这一努力将对欧洲经委会领域产生重大影响，从而对技术的未来产生重大影响。通过提供榜样，使教员多样化将有助于加强欧洲经委会学生群体的多样性，从而使欧洲经委会工作人员多样化。由于欧洲经委会是技术发现的主要推动者，一个更加多样化的实践者/教育者人才库将导致对技术创新及其如何为社会服务的新视角。拟议的项目将成为提高科学、技术和经济管理学科总体多样性的潜在模式。

As a field, Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) suffers from a lack of diversity in the participation of women and underrepresented minorities (URM) at the undergraduate, graduate, and professorial levels. This project aims to capitalize on a unique opportunity to bring ECE department heads together with women and underrepresented minority (W-URM) graduate students to help diversify the ECE faculty. The project team, including ECE department heads and the ECE Department Heads Association (ECEDHA) leaders, proposes iREDEFINE, an Annual Workshop focused on increasing the numbers of W-URM holding tenure track faculty or postdoc positions in ECE in the US. iREDEFINE capitalizes on the unique environment provided by the ECEDHA Annual Conference and ECExpo to create a mechanism to motivate and prepare graduate W-URM students for pursuing faculty positions in US universities. The unique opportunity arises due to the high concentration of ECE department chairs attending the event, most of whom are invested in increasing the diversity of their faculty. The two day Workshop will overlap with the ECEDHA Conference. The first day will be devoted to providing a glimpse of the life and career of an ECE faculty, information on different types of schools, tips on how to prepare for a successful academic position interview, information on effective instructional techniques, information on seeking research funding, how to build connections with industry, and how to build confidence and negotiating skills. The second day will coincide with the first day of the ECEDHA conference and all iREDEFINE attendees will have access to all conference sessions. This day will provide an immersive experience on the issues that are on the minds of ECE faculty, such as the latest technology and research trends, the latest teaching innovations, and efforts to find solutions to key problems, such as lack of diversity and shifting enrollment trends. The iREDEFINE attendees will present posters on their work to the ECE department chairs, which will give them the opportunity to closely interact with the very people they will be contacting during their job search and also practice some of the skills that they learned the day before. The poster session will feed into a reception for Workshop attendees, ECE chairs and industry affiliates, which will offer further networking opportunities. In addition to the Workshop, a mentoring program will be established to extend beyond the workshop. The project will be evaluated and fine-tuned after the first offering to maximize its impact.This effort will have a significant impact on the field of ECE and as a result the future of technology. Diversifying the faculty will help enhance the diversity of the student population in ECE by providing role models, and thus diversify the ECE workforce. As ECE is a major enabler in technological discovery, a more diverse practitioner/educator pool will lead to new perspectives on technological innovation and how that serves society. The proposed project will serve as a potential model for improving diversity in STEM disciplines in general.