Engineering Outreach Efforts Continue as Budget Fears Grow

Date: February 9, 2004
Contact: Chris Sutton ( chris@ea.ucla.edu )
Phone: 310-206-0540

UCLA’s Center for Excellence in Engineering and Diversity (CEED) is continuing to plan a range of student enrichment programs despite fears that funding for the Center's outreach efforts will be eliminated due to the state's fiscal crisis.

Hundreds of Los Angeles-area students attended Tech Day Nov. 21.

“We are still working through University of California system efforts like the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) program to reach more than 1,200 pre-college students in the community,” said Rick Ainsworth, director of CEED, which operates in the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's 2004-05 state budget proposal, issued January 9, calls for the elimination of all remaining state funding ($33.3 million) for UC's programs working with K-12 schools and students to improve academic performance and college preparation, particularly in educationally disadvantaged areas. These programs were cut 50 percent in the 2003-04 budget, and the Schwarzenegger Administration already has implemented a mid-year cut of $12.2 million to these programs.

Despite the cuts, the Center has announced plans to stage a science and engineering exhibition called Tech Day this spring, after a similar event in November drew more than 1,100 middle and high school students.

Ainsworth said he was inspired to create Tech Day after reading a white paper written by Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The paper, titled “The Quiet Crisis: Falling Short in Producing American Scientific and Technical Talent,” calls upon policymakers to integrate traditionally underrepresented groups into the technical workforce.

Jackson’s paper describes a growing gap between the nation's need for engineers, scientists and other technologically skilled workers, and its production of them. If permitted to continue, Jackson argues, it could undermine America’s current global leadership.

“As I read the paper,” said Ainsworth, “I began to think about how to respond to this quiet crisis. There is a rapidly growing imbalance between the supply and demand of technically skilled workers, and it will have a far-reaching impact on our nation’s economic security and well-being. So how can we find ways to increase student achievement in science, engineering and math?”

CEED currently administers several programs that help urban, educationally disadvantaged and underrepresented students achieve success in math, science and engineering. The programs are funded by the MESA organization and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and operate within UCLA’s School of Engineering. They include career days, summer workshops, mentoring programs and teacher training sessions. Tech Day, the Center’s most recent outreach event, built upon the Center’s earlier efforts.

“Tech Day was the culmination of our response to this quiet crisis – bringing business, faculty, and students together in one place, to begin building the necessary connections that lead to a skilled, home-grown work force,” said Ainsworth.

Nearly two dozen California-based corporations, research institutes and student groups staged work shops and demonstrations on topics such as the nature of static charges, air-to-air refueling of planes, space travel and robotics. Tech Day was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center and co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) and MESA. UCLA’s Institute for Cell Mimetic Space Exploration and the California NanoSystems Institute were among the research centers that participated.

Student builds miniature glider during interactive workshop at Tech Day.

CEED programs adopt the view that the sooner children are inspired to learn math and science, the greater their opportunities to excel in engineering at the university level. More than 1,200 middle and high school students from 24 schools were involved in CEED programs last year, and 42 teachers received stipends for their participation.

Roughly 230 undergraduate engineering students are involved with CEED. Some lead summer enrichment programs. Others travel to local schools and assist teachers in their math and science classes. Still others mentor freshmen when they first arrive at the university. Most see their involvement as a rewarding experience that helps them to evaluate their own career plans while helping others in their community.

The objective, say CEED administrators, is to engender a sense of community and acceptance for young African American and Latino students to convince them that pursuing a university degree in engineering or the sciences is a viable option for them.

“By focusing on leadership, team building and other values to raise confidence, we want to awaken a sense of one’s potential and to encourage planning for the future,” said Ainsworth.

On average, 40 CEED students graduate with BS degrees in engineering each year, and CEED alumni are currently engineering faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania, Oregon State University, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

University of California outreach programs account for a substantial share of new UC freshmen, particularly among underrepresented minority students. For example, 35.8% of African American and 46.6% of Latino students from California's public schools, who enrolled in UC in fall 2002 as freshmen, had been involved in UC's outreach programs.

This reflects the dramatically changing ethnic diversity of California's high school graduates. By 2010, Latino students will comprise the largest segment of the graduating class. Also by 2010, Latinos and African Americans will make up nearly half of California's high school graduates.

But according to Ainsworth, CEED’s programs are much more than just recruitment efforts.

“They are really student and teacher development programs,” said Ainsworth. “We want to increase the number of engineers, scientists and technologists. We’re all about science, math and engineering achievement.”

Center administrators feel a sense of urgency in their mission.

“We need to address this crisis now,” said Ainsworth. “Or twenty years from now America could be importing all of its engineers from other countries, or shipping all of these high-tech jobs overseas.”