April 2009
Greetings from WISE Director Cinda-Sue DavisI know that we are all looking forward to graduation at the beginning of May. This is particularly true for me, since I have the extraordinary opportunity to serve as co-host for Dr. Freeman Hrabowski III, President of the University of Maryland Baltimore-County (UMBC) as he receives an honorary degree from the University of Michigan. Dr. Hrabowski is a prominent African American education serving as UMBC President since 1992. Among his many accomplishments, he is the founder of the UMBC Meyerhoff Scholars Program which encourages and supports students from diverse backgrounds to become leading research PhD. scientists and engineers. Now in its twenty-first year, the Meyerhoff Scholars Program has 600 alumni across the nation and 300 students enrolled in graduate or professional programs. Michigan has several Meyerhoff students enrolled in our graduate programs and one Meyerhoff alumna, Dr. Omolola Eniola-Adefeso, is a faculty member in Chemical Engineering. It is particularly appropriate for Dr. Hrabowski to be recognized by the University at this time. In the summer of 2008, the College of Engineering launched the Michigan STEM-Academy, based on the Meyerhoff model. Forty-seven diverse incoming first year CoE students attended an intensive 6-week summer program followed by freshman year academic coaching and support programs. These students have done extremely well with fall semester grades were well above the class average. About half of the M-STEM students have corporate internships this summer and the remaining students will be doing research projects on campus. We are currently in the process of selecting the next cohort, who will start in June of this year. Professor Guy Meadows, Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, is the faculty director of M-STEM while Derrick Scott, Director of the Multicultural Engineering Programs Office, and I serve as co-administrative directors. We also get an enormous amount of help from staff in several CoE Student Affairs offices, including the Engineering Learning Resource Center, the Engineering Advising Center, the Scholarship Office, and the Engineering Career Resource Center. The State of Michigan, now more than ever, is in desperate need of highly skilled workers, particularly in science, engineering, and other technical fields. The M-STEM Academy is one small effort towards achieving that goal. It is a great honor to recognize Dr. Hrabowski, who has provided so much leadership and inspiration in this area, at the 2009 spring graduation. To all of our WISE women who are graduating in May, we wish you all the best and hope that you stay in touch! |
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