Although the demographics of the United States are becoming increasingly diverse with respect to race and ethnicity, we do not see that same level of diversity among faculty and graduate students in the science, engineering and mathematics (SEM) fields.   The goal of the National Science Foundation Minority Graduate Education Program is to increase the number of minority students pursuing advanced study, obtaining doctoral degrees, and entering the professoriate in SME disciplines.  In a practical sense this means increasing the average graduation rate of minority Ph.D.s from a current rate of 600 per year to 2,000 per year in the next five years of the program. 

To that end, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Education and Human Resources Directorate and the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology (CPST) are teaming with Georgia Tech to facilitate a national dialogue to increase the participation of underrepresented groups in graduate education in SME.   Our aim is to identify and disseminate the successful strategies that lead to the increased representation and retention of African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans in science, mathematics and engineering doctoral programs and careers, in particular, the professoriate. 

The workshop audience will include NSF MGE grantees, as well as leaders from higher education, corporations and foundations, and government.  The meeting format will feature keynotes, panels and breakout groups—allowing all participants to interact and engage in dialogue. 

Our first effort to present this national dialogue will take place in Atlanta, GA February 24-25, 2000.   Sessions presented at this conference will focus on perspectives from foundations on challenges and issues for minority education programs; MGE networking—highlights from MGE programs at work (in a poster-session format); the status of MGE—what does the research tells us; retention and SME departmental climate; and small group discussions/breakout groups.

Georgia Tech will hold their EMERGE (Empowering Minority Engineers to Reach for Graduate Education) workshop simultaneously. EMERGE seeks to work out a national strategy for increasing minority graduation in SME, particularly at the advanced degree level, based on networking the current minority SME alliances and programs.   EMERGE will mount an aggressive campaign to enhance inter-university communication and cooperation and to further develop undergraduate-graduate institution linkages as well as university-industry-government linkages, working toward a true national pipeline for producing minority SME graduates.  All EMERGE participants are welcome, and encouraged, to attend all of the MGE sessions.

To ensure significant dialogue on these issues, we would like each MGE institution to send a team of individuals from their institution, consisting of the MGE Principal Investigators, a graduate school dean (or representative) and several SME department chair(s) and faculty.  We also encourage each MGE institution to present posters highlighting their MGE work.  Additionally, we are inviting representatives from state departments of higher education, corporate and foundation people, and policy individuals.
 

Preliminary Agenda MGE Workshop

Thursday, February 24

1:00—1:30    Welcome

• Dr. Wayne Clough, President of Georgia Tech
• Dr. Carolyn Meyers, National Science Foundation

1:30—2:00    Setting the Stage

• Dr. Shirley M. Malcom, Head, Directorate for Education and Human Resources Programs AAAS

2:00—3:15   Perspectives from Foundations on the Challenges and Issues for Minority Graduate Education Programs

• Shirley M. Malcom, AAAS Moderator
• Christine O’Brien, National Academies, Contractor to Ford Foundation (confirmed)
• Maryrose Franko, Howard Hughes (confirmed)
• James West, Lucent Technologies (confirmed)
• Patricia Wirth, AT&T Labs (confirmed)

3:15—5:00   Graduate Working Group Session A:  Recruitment
 

• Establishing a nationwide database (cybernetwork) of top undergraduate students
• Interaction with professional societies
• Training undergraduates through undergraduate research
• Mentoring of undergraduates by graduate students and faculty

7:00—9:00  Dinner/Keynote:  Senator Max Cleland, Georgia

Friday, February 25

7:30—8:00 Continental Breakfast

8:00—8:45  The Status of MGE: What Does the Research Tell Us?
Yolanda S. George, AAAS, Moderator

• Forty Percent of the System:  The Contribution of DMOS Institutions to Diversity in SME
• Graduate Education, Peter Syverson, Vice President, Research, Council of Graduate Schools (confirmed)
• NSF Data from Women, Minorities and Persons with Disabilities—John Tsapogas, NSF (confirmed)

• Multicontextuality, Robert Ibarra, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Office of the Provost,
• University of Wisconsin-Madison (confirmed)
• From their Voices:  American Indians in Higher Education and the Phenomenon of Stepping Out, M.B. McAfee (confirmed)
• An Overview of the Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy, Human Resources Studies and Activities, Deborah Stine, Associate Director, COSEPUP (confirmed)
• WEPAN Pilot Climate Survey: Assessing the Experiences of Undergraduate Students in Engineering, Susan Metz, Stevens Institute of Technology (confirmed)

10:15—10:30  BREAK

10:30—12:15   Graduate Working Group Session B:  Retention

• Tracking graduate students through the nationwide database (cybernetwork)
• Identifying/propagating best practices
• Financing graduate education
• Planning and conducting research
• Peer and faculty mentoring of graduate students

12:15—1:30  Lunch and Keynote: Update on the National Science and Technology Council's Working Group on the 21st Century Workforce

• Arthur Bienenstock, Associate Director for Science of the White House Office and Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)

1:30—3:30  Graduate Working Group Session C:  Preparing for Future Success
Possible Topics:

• Establishing a future minority faculty database
• Preparation for careers in industry
• Preparation for careers in academia
• Faculty and industrial mentoring

3:30 - 5:00 Cluster Group Reporting Session

Saturday, February 26

8:00 - 9:00 Continental Breakfast

9:00 - 10:15 Final Graduate Working Group Session: "Institutionalization"
 Possible Topics:

• Institutional commitments
• Division of responsibilities
• Budgetary requirements
• Preparation for Workshop 2001

10:15 - 10:30 Break

10:30 – 12:00 Final Graduate Working Group Session

12:00 - 1:00  Lunch

1:00 Adjourn