STEM
The Need for Greater Focus on Promoting Engineering Among African Americans
Despite Progress over Last 30 Years, Number of African Americans Earning Engineering Degrees and in Engineering Careers Still Lag
he National Action Council for Minori- ties in Engineering, Inc. (NACME), the leading resource of research information on the status of minorities in engineering education and employment, recently re- vealed its newest study “African Ameri- cans in Engineering.” The study examines the current state of African Americans pursuing engineering degrees and work- ing in engineering fields. According to NACME’s research using
T
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
(IPEDS) data, 3,096 African
Americans earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering in 2009. In 1977, 1,385 Afri- can Americans earned engineering bach- elor’s degrees. The study also found that:
„ African Americans earned just fewer than 1,000 master’s degrees and less than 200 doctoral degrees in enginee- ring in 2009.
„ The number and percent of enginee- ring bachelor’s degrees earned by African Americans has declined since 2005.
„ African American women’s share of engineering degrees has declined at the bachelor’s and masters’ levels since 2002.
„ African American’s inroads into doc- toral degrees have been modest since the 1970s.
“The study reinforces what we at
NACME refer to as the “New” American Dilemma: the relative absence of African Americans and other underrepresented minorities entering engineering fields, said Dr. Irving Pressley McPhail, Presi- dent and Chief Executive Officer of NAC- ME. It is especially troubling that this situation exists at a time when countries such as China and India are rapidly in- creasing the ranks of engineers. We need more attention to the participation of Afri-
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can Americans in engineering, not less, to this field.” The NACME Director of Research and
Evaluation also analyzed the 2010 Ameri- can Community Survey which indicated that African Americans represent 5 per- cent of the U.S. engineering workforce, but account for only 12 percent of the overall U.S. workforce. African Ameri- cans in the U.S. engineering workforce are also more likely to be technicians and less likely to be managers. “Engineering drives innovation, and at a time of economic challenges and height- ened global competition, we, as a nation,
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need to do more to promote education across the STEM fields, and in particular, expand the ranks of engineers in African American and other underrepresented communities,” added Dr. McPhail. “NAC- ME is working with business leaders, gov- ernment officials and academia to recog- nize the disparity of minorities studying engineering and entering the workforce, so that we can join together to ensure a more robust and for a diverse workforce that reflects our population.”
Source: The National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc. (NACME)
The Black E.O.E. Journal
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