Diversity Watch
Confronting A New Dilemma: Minorities in Engineering
By USBE
Apr 30, 2008, 19:54

More than six decades after Swedish scholar Gunnar Myrdal’s landmark 1944 study: An American Dilemma, new research from NACME (National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering) reveals where the United States still struggles with a dilemma of race and opportunity.

The report “Confronting the ‘New’ American Dilemma, Underrepresented Minorities in Engineering: A Data-Based Look at Diversity,” finds vast pools of minority students who aren’t prepared for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields, at a time when pursuit of careers in science and technology is a major indicator of the nation’s ability to be competitive and economically strong.

The research quantifies a growing “opportunity gap” in the number of African American, American Indian, and Hispanic students pursuing degrees and careers in science and technology. In what NACME characterizes as “the ‘New’ American Dilemma,” the report shows rates of participation of minority students in STEM fields have flat-lined, and in some cases have actually declined.

The report, “Confronting the ‘New’ American Dilemma, Underrepresented Minorities in Engineering: A Data-Based Look at Diversity,” shows that progress on this issue has been marginal, neither steady nor substantial enough for representation of minorities to reflect their overall proportion of the US population. Among other statistics, the report reveals:

• The proportion of bachelor’s degrees in engineering awarded to African Americans between 1995 and 2005 has declined. In 1995, engineering degrees accounted for 3.3 percent of bachelor’s degrees awarded to African Americans versus 2.5 percent of these degrees in 2005.

• Though Hispanics are expected to account for 25 percent of the US population by the mid-21st Century, the gap in educational attainment for Latinos/as relative to non-Hispanic whites have widened. In addition, evidence suggests that Latinos/as are losing interest in engineering and are opting to pursue other fields of study in college.
 
• American Indians comprise only 0.4 percent of engineering faculty. Lack of diversity among college and university faculties has the potential to rob minority and female students of the role models and mentors needed to improve students’ motivation to continue college.

The report also articulates a set of calls to action which include having  high expectations for young students of color, removing systemic barriers to minorities’ participation in college, developing a national STEM workforce development policy, and forming business partnerships that promote untapped talent.

According to the report, African Americans, American Indians, and Latinos constitute 30 percent of the nation’s undergraduate students, a proportion that is expected to grow to 32 percent in 2010 and to 38 percent by 2025. Yet, today, fewer than 12 percent of baccalaureate engineering graduates in this country are underrepresented minorities.

The report proposes a series of responses that include creating support groups to retain underrepresented minorities once they enter college and encouraging businesses to include recruiting minorities in their workforce development strategies.