Growing a Multi-Cultural Engineering Workforce: An Aiche and Nsbe Strategic Partnership

The adequacy of the United States science and engineering workforce has been an ongoing concern for more than 60 years. And yet, the nation’s colleges and universities are failing to produce a sufficient number of engineering graduates to meet the burgeoning demand for technical talent, a critical labor force gap that is exacerbated by a retiring Boomer technical workforce and changing demographics. This imbalance, particularly in key sectors threatens the future economic competitiveness of the U.S., our quality of life and our national security.

One obvious opportunity to increase the number of engineering graduates from every segment of the domestic population to maximum participation levels in all areas of this burgeoning sector. AIChE and the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) have answered the call by developing a strategic partnership to increase the number of graduates from underrepresented populations by supporting collegiate chapters to collaborate to improve academic outcomes of diverse chemical and biological engineering students in college.

This talk outlines the elements of the partnership, and suggests engagement strategies colleges of engineering can leverage NSBE and AIChE collegiate chapters to improve their ability to recruit, educate, retain and graduate engineers who are currently underrepresented among all graduates. This presentation also introduces a learning ecosystem that demonstrates how NSBE chapters are successful at fostering academic self-confidence, institutional integration, positive identity development and effective learning strategies.