Cornell University Seeks to Boost Retention of Black Students in Computer Science
Two seniors have formed Underrepresented Minorities in Computing at Cornell, a club that seeks to support and inspire students of color in computer and information science. Faculty have received grants to offer a four-week summer program to rising sophomores in computer science.
Report Examines Recruitment and Retention of Black Students in Physics and Astronomy
According to the report from the American Institute of Physics, "The persistent underrepresentation of African Americans in physics and astronomy is due to the lack of a supportive environment for these students in many departments, and the enormous financial challenges facing them."
New CUNY Program to Help Minority Entrepreneurs Learn Emerging Technologies
The City University of New York has announced the creation of an emerging technology mentorship program that targets 250 small businesses owned by veterans, minorities, and women throughout New York City.
Xavier University of Louisiana Debuts a Physician Assistant Degree Program
This new program makes Xavier one of four colleges in Louisiana, one of two in New Orleans, and one of only three historically Black colleges and universities in the nation to offer a physician assistant program. Xavier University now offers 12 master's degree programs.
IUPUI Seeks to Boost Research Opportunities for Underrepresented Students in Neuroscience
The new program includes a summer bridge program and a first-year science seminar that introduces students to neuroscience. The program also provides paid research opportunities, making it possible for students to conduct research in lieu of a paid job off-campus.
Penn State’s Program to Increase Black Doctoral Students in STEM Meets With Success
About half of all Millennium Scholars at Penn State have gone on to be accepted in doctoral degree programs in STEM fields. The first two are expected to receive their Ph.D.s this coming spring.
Eighteen HBCUs Get Grants From the Defense Department to Buy Research Equipment
The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded $23.2 million to minority-serving institutions as part of the fiscal year 2019 Department of Defense Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions Research and Education Program.
Georgia State Program Seeks to Boost Number of Black Male Teachers in STEM Fields
The U.S. Department of Education estimates that just 2 percent of teachers are Black men. A new initiative at Georgia State University is seeking to encourage more Black men to become teachers in STEM disciplines.
The University of Florida Has the Most Black Women Faculty in Engineering
According to the American Society for Engineering Education, a nonprofit dedicated to engineering education, the seven Black women faculty members in engineering are the most among the 338 four-year degree-granting engineering schools in the United States.
The First Black Woman to Earn a Ph.D. in Nuclear Physics at Florida State...
A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Kalisa Villafana decided at the age of 12 that she would be a physicist.
University of Wisconsin Looks to Raise Number of Black Students in Chemistry Doctoral Programs
The University of Wisconsin-Madison has partnered with the American Chemical Society to train more students from underrepresented groups in chemical research. The goal is to increase the number of these students in chemistry doctoral programs.
Liselle Joseph’s Milestone Achievement at Virginia Tech
Liselle Joseph was awarded a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg. She is the first woman from an Eastern Caribbean nation to earn a Ph.D. in the field.
University of Maryland Baltimore County to Expand Meyerhoff Scholars Program to California
The Meyerhoff Scholars program is recognized as one of the most effective models in the country to help inspire, recruit, and retain underrepresented students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees in STEM disciplines.
University of Massachusetts Partners With the University of South Africa
The University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the University of South Africa have signed a memorandum of understanding that will establish a framework for future research, faculty, and student exchanges between the two universities.
Harvard University Making Strides In Faculty Diversity
Since 2004, tenured-track appointments at Harvard University are up 54 percent for underrepresented minorities, which is particularly striking since the overall number of tenure-track faculty has decreased by 18 percent over the same time period.
Texas Tech Medical School Will No Longer Use Race as a Factor in Admissions...
This is the first agreement reached between the Trump administration and a college to forgo using race as a factor in the admissions process.
Black Role Models Play a Large Role in STEM Retention Rates for African American...
According to the research, Black women earn only 2.9 percent of all STEM bachelor's degrees in the United States. This is far below the rate of White women, despite the fact that White women and Black women are equally likely to express an interest in STEM fields at the beginning of their college careers.
University of Alabama at Birmingham Faculty to Train Nursing Students in Jamaica
The University of Alabama Birmingham School of Nursing has partnered with the World-Health Organization Collaborating Center at the University of West Indies-Mona Campus in Kingston, Jamaica, to improve how they train nursing students by using simulators.
Four Black Scholars With Current Ties to Academia Elected to the National Academy of...
According to an analysis of the new membership list by JBHE, there are six Black scholars among the 86 new members of the National Academy of Engineering. Thus, Blacks make up 7 percent of the new members. A year ago, there were three African Americans among the 83 new members of the Academy.
University of Minnesota Partners With the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences
Under the agreement, University of Minnesota faculty members and graduate students will travel to Africa to serve as lecturers and to mentor students. Officials hope that the new partnership will funnel African students to graduate programs in mathematics at the University of Minnesota.
Illinois Schools Collaborate to Launch STEM Tech Camp for Teens From Underrepresented Groups
Southern Illinois University Carbondale and the Illinois Institute of Technology have partnered with the Oakland-based Kapor Center to launch the Illinois SMASH Academy, a 5-week, all-expenses paid STEM summer camp for high school students from underrepresented groups.
The CUNY School of Medicine is a Leader in Producing Minority Physicians
In 2018, the Association of American Medical Colleges cited the City University of New York School of Medicine as the fifth top medical school in the country for recruitment of Black and African-American students, exceeded only by the four historically Black medical schools.
Thomas Edison State University Launches the Journal of Women and Minorities in Technology
The new publication will be an open access journal that provides quality peer-reviewed articles written by academic and professionals in the fields of aviation, nuclear technology, cybersecurity, and information technology. The articles will provide technical and soft-skills information aimed at helping women, African Americans and professionals from other underrepresented groups succeed in these fields.
Study Finds Academic Engineering Remains Largely the Domain of White Men
The study found that 82 percent of the deans at the nation's 300 or more accredited engineering schools are men and 74 percent are White. For faculty, only 2.3 percent of all faculty at accredited schools of engineering are Black.
Two American Universities Help Build Dental Surgery Program in Rwanda
The African nation of Rwanda has a population of more than 12 million. Yet there are only 40 registered dentists in the country. A new program established with the assistance of scholars at Harvard University and the University of Maryland aims to help reduce the shortage.
The First Cohort of E.E. Just Postgraduate Fellowships in the Life Sciences
Bianca Marlin is a postdoctoral researcher in neuroscience at Columbia University in New York City and Elizabeth Ransey is postdoctoral researcher in neuroscience at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
Clemson Aims to Increase the Number of Black Ph.D. Students in Chemical Engineering
Clemson University will recruit these students from its own master’s and undergraduate programs as well as at historically Black colleges and universities throughout the South.
African Americans Making Slow Progress in Engineering Degree Attainments
A new report from the Association of Public Land-grant Universities found that Blacks earned 3.9 percent of all bachelor's degrees in engineering in 2016. They received 2.2 percent of all master's degrees awarded in engineering fields and 1.9 percent of all Ph.D.s in engineering that year.
Johns Hopkins Partners With Two HBCUs to Increase Diversity in Biomedical Professions
Johns Hopkins University, Morgan State University, and Coppin State University have established the Academic Success via Postdoctoral Independence in Research and Education program, an intensive effort that bridges engineering, medicine, and biology for translational research that address challenges related to human health.
New Scholarships for Mississippi State Engineering Students From Underrepresented Groups
Southern Company, one of the leading energy companies in the country, has made a gift to Mississippi State University that will help students from underrepresented groups pursue an engineering degree at the university's James Worth Bagley College of Engineering.
University of Southern California’s New Program to Boost Diversity in STEM Graduate Education
The Inclusive Graduate Education Network (IGEN) will partner the School of Education at the University of Southern California with over 30 professional organizations to increase diversity in STEM doctoral degrees.
Sylvester James Gates to Lead the American Physical Society
Dr. Gates, Ford Foundation Professor at Brown University, has been named to the presidential line of the American Physical Society, a nonprofit organization that represents more than 55,000 physicists worldwide. Dr. Gates will serve as vice president in 2019, president-elect in 2020, and president in 2021.
Mark Dean Is the New Leader of the College of Engineering at the University...
Professor Dean, who holds three of the nine patents in the earliest development of the personal computer, joined the faculty at the University of Tennessee in 2013. Earlier, he was chief technology officer for the Middle East and Africa for IBM.
Howard University Makes Great Strides in Gender Diversity in Engineering
At the College of Engineering and Architecture at Howard University, 43 percent of students who earned engineering degrees in 2016 were women. This is more than double the national average. The percentage of women assistant professors in the college increased from 9 percent in 2015 to 39 percent today.
Levi Thompson to Be the Next Dean of College of Engineering at the University...
Dr. Thompson is currently the Richard E. Balzhiser Collegiate Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan. He also serves as the director of the Hydrogen Energy Technology Laboratory at the university.
Three African American Men to Be Inducted Into the National Academy of Engineering
Two of the three new Black members of the National Academy of have current academic affiliations. They are Lynden A. Archer, the James Friend Family Distinguished Professor of Engineering at Cornell University and Gary S. May, the chancellor of the University of California, Davis.
