Summit at Stanford addresses how to attract
underrepresented-minority students to careers in science and technology
Officials from historically black colleges and universities
around the country gathered on campus last week to share ideas about how to
encourage students, especially underrepresented minorities, to pursue careers
in STEM fields. Stanford President John Hennessy and Dean of Engineering Jim
Plummer were among the speakers.
BY TOM ABATE
Inspire students to dream, then help them learn by doing and
they will embrace science, technology, engineering and math, Stanford President
John Hennessy told officials from 17 historically black colleges and
universities (HBCU) who met on campus Thursday.
The visiting educators were taking part in the United Negro
College Fund's HBCU Innovation Summit, aimed at finding ways to get more young
people, particularly underrepresented minorities, to pursue careers in science,
technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. The first-of-its-kind gathering
brought together leaders from institutions such as Spelman College, Clark
Atlanta University and Howard University that have traditionally focused on
educating African Americans.
The program, which ended with a Friday afternoon visit to
Google, was organized in part by the National Center for Engineering Pathways
to Innovation (Epicenter) and the Stanford Center for Professional Development,
both at Stanford University, with support from the National Science Foundation,
among other funders.
Hennessy, who spoke at a breakfast session at the Jen-Hsun
Huang Engineering Center, briefly recounted the career story of the building's
namesake, who started his education at Oregon State University, took Stanford
classes to burnish his engineering and business skills, and founded the chip
company Nvidia – achieving personal fortune and eventually becoming a
benefactor to Stanford Engineering.
"We try to create opportunities for students to think
creatively, to think outside the box," Hennessy said, abandoning the
podium to get closer to 80 educators facing him in a semicircle of tables and
chairs. "We think that kind of skill can be built in any person who has
the drive, who has the excitement, who wants to change the world."
Dean of Engineering Jim Plummer spoke after Hennessy, and
focused on the nuts and bolts of attracting students to STEM fields. For
starters, he urged his fellow educators to help change common practices that
have unintentionally turned students off, such as asking high schools students
to declare their interest in STEM careers.
"We actually lose a lot of young people who could be
potential engineers and potential scientists and potential mathematicians
because they are asked to make that choice as seniors in high school,"
Plummer said.
Stanford admits students to the university at large and lets
them choose majors later, Plummer noted. Once students are on campus, outreach
programs seek to attract them to STEM fields. Plummer offered several examples
of such "pathway" initiatives, including Introductory Seminars, an
array of 200 courses that allow freshman and sophomores to take small classes
taught by Stanford faculty.
This fall, for example, computer science Professor Yoav
Shoham is teaching a freshman seminar titled Can Machines Know? Can
Machines Feel? Plummer said. "If I were a freshman, that would be
an interesting seminar."
Other examples include summer courses that allow
undergraduates to build a jet engine and a program that offers them entry-level
positions in Stanford research labs. Plummer said such experiences whet
students' intellectual appetites and give them extra incentive to take the
difficult courses in math and science they would need to succeed in STEM.
Plummer and Hennessy both talked about Stanford
Engineering's Hasso Plattner Institute of Design, or d.school, which gives
students with backgrounds in engineering, business and social sciences a chance
to collaborate on projects. Hennessy cited one d.school team that took a class
titled Design for Extreme Affordability, in which students were
challenged to find a way to help premature infants in poor countries where it
was tough to find a $25,000 incubator to keep them warm. The students'
solution, Hennessy said, was to create a baby sleeping bag with an easy-to-heat
wax insert that could keep these at-risk infants warm for up to eight hours at
a cost of just $25.
"That's the kind of social entrepreneurship we're
talking about," Hennessy said.
Professor Tom Byers, co-director of the Stanford Technology
Ventures Program and director of Epicenter, introduced Hennessy and Plummer in
his capacity as a co-host of the various summit activities.
"I'm ecstatic," said Rose Glee, director of the
office of technology transfer at Florida A&M University. "The ideas
and the best practices I'm hearing about, and the synergy of sharing all this
with my colleagues, has made this such an energizing experience."
At a time of increasing awareness of the need to boost
minority representation in STEM fields, the gathering was designed to show how
historically black colleges and universities can help.
"Thirty-three percent of recent African American STEM
PhDs received their undergraduate degrees from HBCUs, and eight of the 10 top
colleges whose African American graduates went on to get PhDs in science were
HBCUs," said Michael L. Lomax, president and chief executive officer of
the United Negro College Fund.
Summit attendees exemplified what HBCUs are already doing to
channel their students into STEM careers. Senior Associate Vice Chancellor
Curtis Barnabas Charles of Fayetteville State University described the Center
for Defense and Homeland Security at his institution, which is near the
military complex at Fort Bragg, N.C.
The center focuses on the fact that tens of thousands of
Defense Department scientists and engineers are nearing retirement. "We
cannot outsource national security jobs," Charles said. "To us,
that's a market for our students."
The summit also afforded HBCU educators a chance to make
connections that will benefit their students.
Eric Sheppard, dean of the School of Engineering and
Technology at Virginia's Hampton University, said he hopes to create ongoing
relationships that will allow him to place his students in graduate study or
industrial programs. With about 5,000 students, over 90 percent of them black,
Sheppard is seeking outside assistance to incubate his 130-person
undergraduate-only engineering program.
"I need to get my students into the pipeline,"
Sheppard said.
Tom Abate writes about the students, faculty and research
of the School of Engineering.
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