The 2022 Advancing Minorities’ Interest in Engineering (AMIE) Conference was hosted by Tennessee State University in Nashville from Sept. 25th through Sept. 27th.

The annual conference brought together 15 members of the Council of Engineering Deans of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), students, engineering professionals, and leaders from corporations and government agencies.

The event also featured keynote speakers and panel discussions focused on this year’s theme Expanding Engineering’s Horizons through Sustainable Partnerships with HBCUs.

“AMIE is thankful for our recent conference,” wrote executive director Veronica Nelson on LinkedIn. “Two days of rich and insightful dialogue on forging impactful HBCU partnerships, strengthening the STEM pipeline for diverse talent, and ensuring corporate diversity and inclusion efforts are a true movement, not just a moment. I applaud our sponsors, partners, and HBCU Schools of Engineering for enriching the lives of students and striving to make the world a better place. We left the conference inspired and committed. Together we can make a difference.”

The speakers included HBCU presidents, chief academic officers, the 2022 Black Engineer of the Year  Theodore Colbert, and executives from Boeing, Capital One, Abbott, Raytheon Technologies, Apple, Lockheed Martin Corporation, The MITRE Corporation, General Motors, QVC, Microsoft, Google, General Dynamics Information Technology, Boston Scientific, IBM Corporation, Siemens, Northrop Grumman Corporation, and Leidos.

Attendees had opportunities to interact with the deans of the ABET-accredited HBCU Schools of Engineering.. learn first-hand about the engineering expertise being developed and leveraged at HBCUs, research capabilities of the engineering programs at HBCUs, best practices for partnering with engineering schools while networking with leaders from industry, higher education and government agencies, and how to maximize an organization’s return on investment on diversity investment via public/private partnerships.

The panel discussions included a roundtable with the deans of the ABET-accredited HBCU Schools of Engineering, sustainable partnerships in industry-academic engagements, HBCU engineering in collaboration with industry and government, engineering for the new frontier, and next-generation research projects and opportunities with HBCU Schools of Engineering.

Students from the University of the District of Columbia, Florida A&M University, and Tuskegee University also presented their “Problem Statement” and “Solution” on “How might we design a solution to improve the quality of life in the areas of Clean Water, Urban Infrastructure, Energy, Transportation or access to High-Speed Internet.”

In the fireside chat, executives discussed responsibility to the community, accessibility, and inclusion as they advance technology. The candid conversation focused on sustainability, accessibility, and social responsibility.

AMIE is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to expand corporate and government alliances with the ABET-accredited HBCU Schools of Engineering to support programs that attract, educate, graduate and place minority students in engineering and computer science careers. The 15 ABET-accredited HBCU Schools of Engineering produce over 30% of the African American engineers in the United States.