In honor of Engineers’ Week (Feb. 22—26), the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) will celebrate by launching a series of activities and online campaigns promoting African Americans in engineering.
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During the start of Engineers Week, the NSBE will feature on its homepage (at www.nsbe.org) content about black engineers and the various subgroups in NSBE, including the society’s Special Interests Groups, collegiate and NSBE Jr. membership, and NSBE Professionals.
The “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day†event will feature LaTisha Durham, a computer and systems engineer who has worked extensively with the Naval Air Systems Command. Durham will interact with girls across NSBE’s website and social media to encourage them in engineering and STEM studies and career paths.
Be 1 of 10,000, is another campaign to increase the number of
black engineering graduates. Visitors to the campaign’s landing page can take a pledge to help NSBE meet its 10-year goal for U.S. colleges and universities which is to graduate 10,000 black engineers annually, with bachelor’s degrees by 2025.“Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to raise a generation of black engineers,†says NSBE’s national chair, Neville Green. “In order to achieve our collective goals, we must collaborate with partners who are also passionate about the topic,†Green says. “It is our hope that this cooperation with our partners to increase the number of black engineering graduates will fill a critical void in the nation’s workforce,†Green concludes.
NBSE also strives to raise awareness on how urgent STEM education is for the African American community. STEM jobs are projected to grow by 953,200 between 2012 and 2022, a growth rate that is 30% higher than that of the overall workforce. Yet this demand will be met with a projected shortfall of 1 million STEM workers over the next decade, according to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (2012).