Board on Diversity and Outreach awards record amount in grants

Mary James Legatski
ASME Public Affairs

The Board on Diversity and Outreach (BDO) recently awarded $24,115 in grants to 19 ASME student sections through its Diversity Action Grants (DAG) Program. This year's grant total is the largest one-year funding provided through the DAG Program since its inception.

The DAG program funds projects that promote diversity within the student section, foster career development for minority and women engineers, and build partnerships with other minority and women's engineering societies on campus.

ASME student sections receiving grants for the 2003-04 academic year include Boise State University, $570, for a one-day event (co-sponsored by the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers) to promote engineering and technical careers among Hispanic junior high school students; California State University, $1,500, for its second "Minds in Motion" celebration of math, science and engineering; California State University, Los Angeles, $1,500, for a one-day program for 20 junior college students to be held in conjunction with National Engineers Week; California State University, Northridge, $1,500, for its "Young Engineer Day" to promote awareness of engineering among ninth and 10th grade minorities in economically disadvantaged communities; Drexel University, $1,500, for its "Engineering Scholarship Application Training" (co-sponsored by the Society of Women Engineers and the National Society of Black Engineers) for inner-city high school minority students to raise awareness of opportunities to fund engineering education; and Georgia Institute of Technology, $1,500, for Diversity Day outreach events targeting high school females and minorities in the Atlanta area.

Other ASME student sections chosen include Lake Superior State University, $1,225, for a mobile engineering workshop (co-sponsored by SWE) that will travel to a minimum of five high schools to provide information on engineering; Lamar University, $1,500, for "Engineering Scholarship Application Training" (co-sponsored by SWE and NSBE) for inner-city high school minority students to raise awareness of opportunities to fund engineering education; North Carolina A&T University, $1,500, for a two-day "Math to Engineering" program focusing on local high school freshman science classes; Princeton University, $900, for mentoring the Trenton Central High School's FIRST robotics team (with NSBE); Tufts University, $1,500, for the development of an after-school engineering club (co-sponsored by SWE) for fourth- to eighth-grade girls at three Boston-area schools; and the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, $1,500, for its second annual USMA Engineering Exposition providing outreach to local and regional middle and high schools.

Also receiving grants are the University of Guanajuato, Mexico, $1,500, for a poster contest for female high school students modeled on the Old Guard competition; the University of Hartford, $1,500, for its "Engineering for All" program focusing on local high school students to demonstrate what engineers do and the skills they acquire through education; the University of Miami, $500, for "Build It," an impromptu design competition to raise awareness of mechanical engineering in inner-city high schools; the University of Nebraska, $650, for an event co-sponsored by NSBE and SWE to promote engineering to women and minorities; the University of Wisconsin, $1,340, for a luncheon with representatives from industry, faculty and female engineering students to raise the visibility and comfort level of women on campus; Virginia Tech, $1,500, for its Seventh Annual Engineering Perspectives conference; and Western Michigan University, $930, for the "Bronco for a Day" design competition for local high school students.

Promotion for the 2004-05 DAG Program will begin late this summer. The application deadline is Nov. 1.

For more information, visit www.asme.org/communities/diversities/bdo/dag.html, or contact Mary James Legatski in the ASME Washington Center at legatskim@asme.org.

 

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