This award will allow 54 undergraduate students to participate at the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) annual meeting in order to enhance students, graduate school and academic prospects, as well as to connect students with engineering educators. Specifically, this grant will provide travel funds for undergraduate students, both from 2-year and 4-year colleges and graduate students, to participate in the SHPE 2012 annual meeting (November 14-18, 2012, Fort Worth, TX) for three purposes: (1) to allow students to participate in the SHPE annual undergraduate and graduate technical paper and poster competitions; (2) to allow students to participate in graduate school and young investigator workshops, through the GEM GRAD Lab and Graduate Institute of the SHPE conference; and (3) to connect students and Hispanic Engineering faculty in order to open opportunities for postdoctoral positions, Research Experiences for Undergraduates, and research collaborations.
By fostering the participation of 54 undergraduate students at Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) annual meeting, the program supported by this award has the the potential to become an important, large-scale, activity to increase the number of Hispanic engineering faculty numbers in the United States, as it consists of a multi-tiered approach starting with undergraduates and moving all the way up to current faculty members.
The purpose of the SHPE 2012 Graduate Program was to increase the participation of Hispanic undergraduate students, graduate students, and Engineering faculty, in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) annual meeting in order to enhance students’ graduate school and academic prospects, as well as to connect students with engineering educators. Specifically, this grant provided travel funds for undergraduate students, both from 2-year and 4-year colleges and graduate students, to participate in the SHPE 2012 annual meeting (November 14-18, 2012, Fort Worth, TX) for three purposes: (1) to allow students to participate in the SHPE annual undergraduate and graduate technical paper and poster competitions; (2) to allow students to participate in graduate school and young investigator workshops, through the GEM GRAD Lab and Graduate Institute of the SHPE conference; and (3) to connect students and Hispanic Engineering faculty in order to open opportunities for post-doctoral positions, Research Experiences for Undergraduates, and research collaborations. This SHPE Graduate Program has been organized around three main objectives and interconnected activities: 1. The development of a network of Hispanic engineering faculty that can serve as mentors for each other in order to promote their advancement. Specific Activities: Encourage participation in SHPE conference graduate activities as judges for the technical paper and poster competitions, speakers in research symposia at the conference, speakers and panelists in Graduate Institute and GRAD Lab workshops, and participants in the annual Faculty Dinner at the conference. Also, the establishment (which just happened last year) of a SHPE Young Investigator Award, to reward achievements in engineering for the Assistant Professors. 2. The development of activities for graduate students to promote careers in academia. SPECIFIC ACTIVITIES: (1) The Graduate Institute, which constitutes a special set of workshops and activities that run concurrently with the SHPE conference. (2) The graduate technical paper and poster competitions to allow students interactions among each other and among professionals in their fields. 3. The development of activities for undergraduate students to promote graduate education. SPECIFIC ACTIVITIES: (1) The GRAD Lab, which is a GEM Consortium program that is schedule during the SHPE meeting and enhanced with connections to the faculty and the Graduate Institute participants. (2) The undergraduate technical paper and poster competitions to allow students interactions among each other and among professionals in their fields. The graduate activities at the SHPE annual meeting has the potential to become the single most important, large-scale, program to increase the number of Hispanic engineering faculty numbers in the United States, as it consists of a multi-tiered approach starting with undergraduates and moving all the way up to current faculty members.
