Engineering Careers Online

Xavier University of Louisiana and New York University have received a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to bolster diversity among materials scientists through collaborative research and curriculum development. The award was one of eight awarded this year under NSF’s Partnerships for Research and Education in Materials (PREM) program and funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Under its PREM grant, Xavier and the NYU Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC)—one of 31 NSF-backed centers that perform interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary materials research—will develop a materials science research core at Xavier and an undergraduate materials science educational program that will introduce a materials science track within the chemistry program at the New Orleans institution. [read full article at EurekAlert!]

The National Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc. (NACME), today announced that Dr. Irving Pressley McPhail has been named its sixth President and CEO, replacing the recently retired Dr. John Brooks Slaughter. Dr. McPhail’s tenure begins immediately.

Dr. McPhail has articulated a vision for NACME and wide-ranging expectations for necessary changes in education and political institutions to help maintain American competitiveness in a global economy.

“As NACME celebrates its 35th Anniversary during 2009, we will continue to play a central role in building the overall number of underrepresented minority engineering graduates,” said Dr. McPhail. “We will continue to provide scholarships to deserving youth and we will continue to form partnerships with K-12 schools to promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. [read full article at Yahoo! Finance]

The University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) Institute for Human Development and School of Computing and Engineering announce the receipt of a $1.2 million grant (over five years) from the National Science Foundation for their proposal “Building an Alliance for New Careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (KC-BANCS): A Collaborative Model for the Inclusion of Youth and Veterans with Disabilities.” [read full article at pitchengine]