As one of the most diverse student bodies in the history of Missouri University of Science and Technology begins a new semester, the university has joined a national effort to help bring even more diversity to engineering nationwide.
Dr. Ian Ferguson, vice provost and dean of Missouri S&T’s College of Engineering and Computing, recently joined leaders from over 130 other schools and colleges of engineering in a commitment to provide greater opportunities for women and other underrepresented groups to pursue engineering careers.
The pledge signed by Ferguson and his counterparts was coordinated through the American Society for Engineering Education. It calls on universities to develop diversity plans, create at least one pre-college activity to attract a more diverse pool of students into engineering and promote partnerships with non-Ph.D.-granting colleges that serve groups that are underrepresented in engineering.
“Engineering is about seeking out and developing solutions to the grand challenges of our day, and the more that we are able to draw upon ideas from individuals of diverse backgrounds, the more able we are to come up with the best results,” says Ferguson. “It is clear that engineering has made great strides in attracting more women and traditionally underrepresented minorities to the profession, but we still have a long way to go.”
Reviewed 2015-08-25