Abstract: Current Challenges

As a country recently admitted to the EU (March 8, 2003), Malta is currently facing many challenges and opportunities. Since its admission to the EU, Malta has been working to meet the standards that the EU requires of all of its members, including a minimum of twenty percent RES by 2020. Also, with its strategic geographic location in the Mediterranean Sea, Malta plays an important role in terrorism prevention. This set of circumstances provides Malta with room for a surprising amount of political power for such a small nation. What is Malta doing to create RES, what have they done to prevent terrorism, and how has their recent situation affected their power in global politics since their admission to the EU.

Abstract: Humanitarian Engineering

The vision statements, missions, and practices of Engineers Without Borders USA were devised with the intention to help developing countries escape impoverished conditions and lend hope for the future of all humankind. In this essay, I show how EWB-USA has clearly proven that an engineer can make a remarkable difference in people’s lives by helping disadvantaged communities meet their basic needs through the creation of more efficient ways to obtain clean water, power, sanitation and education. Today, an engineer involved with EWB-USA challenges the negative stereotypes many US engineers face today. Unfortunately, the ratio of engineers involved with EWB compared to “the rest” leads to concern, but can society be confident that the humanitarian awareness EWB demonstrates will influence future engineers? It is important that the general population makes sure the large gap in the ratio decreases because, after all, engineers have the power to make permanent changes.

Academics and Students Look to Influence Egypt's Transition

Academics and Students Look to Influence Egypt's Transition
http://chronicle.com/article/AcademicsStudents-Look-to/126353
Feb 13, 2011
By Ursula Lindsey

Even as Egyptians marked the collapse of President Hosni Mubarak's government with wild celebrations, professors and students—who played a vital role in the historic uprising—have begun planning for the future. While academics are focusing their expertise on the political-transition process and encouraging the authorities to carry out long-overdue educational reforms, student activists are vowing they will continue to organize and agitate until their demands are met. ... Read more

HBCUs Are Not Segregated Institutions

http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/historically-black-colleges-and-universities-are-not-segregated-institutions/
Feb 12, 2011
by Marybeth Gasman

What is it about Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) that gets under some people’s skin? All too often, I receive calls, e-mail messages or comments on blog posts from those who think that HBCUs are “vestiges of segregation,” promote racism, segregate Black students, and should not exist. These same individuals fail to understand that the United States has Historically White Institutions (HWIs) as well—many that are still very, very White in terms of student, faculty, and administrative make-up. ... Read more

Latino Women in Engineering: Annotated Bibliography

1. De Welde, K., Laursen, S., Thiry, H. Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). 10 February 2011.

This is a fact sheet compiled by the Florida Gulf Coast Univeristy and the University of Colorado Boulder. The article takes a look at the education of the women, the employment opportunities, and tries to explain the why there are so few women in engineering. Some of these explanations include class climate, lack of role models, and poor preparation. I will be looking at these explanations to further evaluate why Hispanic women lack role models and why they funnel out of STEM fields.

I found this article while searching Cal Poly’s Poly Cat database. I searched Latino women in engineering and I received multiple articles on statistical analysis.

2. Lewin, David I. Across the Gender Divide: Diversity Among Engineers. Mechanical Engineering-CIME. Oct 1993. Pp 34.

This article summarizes a study made by the Society of Women Engineers, one of the biggest engineering clubs for women, which revealed that only 4.1% were from an underrepresented minority groups. In addition, the survey reveals that there is a higher concentration of minority women in the fields of chemical and environmental engineering. It is interesting to note why these two fields have a higher concentration and why latino women decide to enter these fields, rather than, for example, mechanical engineering. These statistics provide information that could further my research as to why Hispanic women are so underrepresented in engineering fields.

3. Towns, Marcy H. Where are the women of color? Data on African America, Hispanic, and Native American faculty in STEM. Journal of College Science Teaching. March-April 2010, p.8

The National Science Foundation provided statistics on the representation of women of color. These include Asian, African American, Hispanic and Native American women. The article emphasizes that the lack of role models for these women builds barriers and effects the self-esteem of the women in STEM fields. In addition, it evaluates reasons why women tend to lack role models, such as the importance of a family to a latino women, the overall mentality that these women should stay at home and let their husbands be the bread winners, and the poor education latino women receive during middle and high school.

4. Moreno, Susan and Muller, Chandra. Success and Diversity: The Transition through First-Year Calculus in the University. American Journal of Education, Vol. 108, No. 1. The University of Chicago Press. 02 Oct. 2011.

The University of Texas saw the need to develop Engineering Programs to retain the Latino students they admit. These programs heavily influence the performance of calculus in the first year of engineering students. The results suggest that in order to increase the number of students choosing STEM fields, administrators must seek ways to increase students’ participation in calculus each semester. These students will excel in calculus if they receive appropriate support. The reason for targeting calculus rather than another subject is due to the fact that calculus is a pre-requisite for most quantitative fields, and most first year engineering students are required to take calculus within their first year. The first year for most of these students are difficult to transition, therefore it is important to target calculus.

Diversity in Engineering-- Abstract and Annotated Bib

Annotated Bibliography/Abstract

Mariel Emanuel

ES:410

2/9/10

ABSTRACT:

Lack of diversity in the engineering field is not only unfair; it is affecting the quality of the science/products being produced in America. For this reason exactly it is crucial to increase diversity, creativity, and “individual diversity” within engineering in order to tackle the multiplicity of issues and problems that are arising in this century. U.S. values, cultures, and interests are constantly being altered and due to this new problems are arising that must be addressed by STEM researchers. In order to most beneficially address the variety of new problems that are currently facing humanity; we must include an assortment of researchers with diverse backgrounds, views, and perspectives. Change is inevitable; however, whether we confront it justly or not is up to us.

1. Nelson, Donna J. "A National Analysis of Minorities in Science and Engineering Faculties at Research Universities." 31 Oct. 2007. Web. 9 Feb. 2011. .

-This is a very important and detailed article. It takes a very in depth look at the lack of diversity in STEM fields and how this is exhibited through the tenure track and positions of professors at research universities. Not surprisingly what the report found is that the higher you get up the tenure track the less women and people of color you will find. The author is calling for a “Great Crew Change” because as a society we are facing more and more new problems and in turn we need new diverse/creative engineers/scientists in order address the plethora of new issues. The author explains that U.S. values, cultures and interests are changing and so our STEM researchers must be representative of this. I think that this is a very helpful article because it is a very recent and critical account on the lack of diversity in the field.

2. Busch-Vishniac, Illene J. "CAN DIVERSITY IN THE UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING POPULATION BE ENHANCED THROUGH CURRICULAR CHANGE?" Begell House Inc. 2004. Web. 10 Feb. 2011. .

-I specifically like this article because it focuses directly on how changing curriculum for undergraduate engineering would help increase diversity. The article actually calls for a whole new curriculum that is directed towards inclusion and working together rather than exclusion. The author explains why we need diversity in a variety of ways and actually discusses why we need diversity in STEM fields in terms of economics and business. I specifically like this article because it is radical in the sense that it calls for a whole new curriculum, and does not want to try and work under the current patriarchal paradigm at all.

3. Foor, Cynthia E. "" I Wish That I Belonged More in This Whole Engineering Group:" Achieving Individual Diversity." Apr. 2007. Web. 9 Feb. 2011. .

-This article focuses specifically on one woman/racial minority engineering student and her personal account with trying to achieve her “individual identity” in engineering. The author discusses how engineers need to utilize their “individual identity” in their work instead of assimilating with the others in the engineering “group”. The idea of “Critical Cultural Theory” is discussed and how this particularly theory effects Inez (the woman engineer). I think that this article will be particularly useful for me because it based upon interviews with one woman and I want to conduct interviews as well. This has helped me generate ideas about things I want to try and explore with the individuals during interviews.

4. Wulf, WM A. "NAE Website - Diversity in Engineering." NAE Website - Home. Web. 10 Feb. 2011. .

-This article is very important because it comes from the National Academy of Engineering and it focuses on some of the crucial reasons why we need diversity in engineering—other than to be fair. The author discusses how engineering is actually a very creative profession…however, this aspect of the career has been sort of neglected at the societal and individual level. The author explains that “breadth of experience in an individual is essential to creativity and hence to good engineering”. This point is crucial because breadth of experience can only be incorporated when we have engineers that come from different places and different life experiences. “We and our output are both impoverished without that diversity” (WM Wulf).

5. Anderson, Lisa. "CiteSeerX — Recruitment And Retention Programmes To Increase Diversity In Engineering." CiteSeerX. 21 Aug. 2002. Web. 9 Feb. 2011. .

- This article focuses solely on the lack of women in engineering and attempts at recruiting women to join the field. The study started in 1989 when Ryerson University wanted to try and find ways to encourage women to become engineers. The university started a program called “Discover Engineering” which conducted primary high school workshops and summer camps centered on teaching women about engineering. The workshops and summer camp proved to be successful. I am particularly interested in this article because it shows fun and innovative ways to teach women about engineering. This type of recruitment and education about engineering is crucial because it is fostering creativity and in turn hopefully making diverse, creative individuals more interested in the subject.