Center for Broadening Participation in Engineering
About the grant
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s Center for Broadening Participation in Engineering is funded by the NSF’s Broadening Participation in Engineering (BPE) Program Track 4 (Award # 2217780).
Goals
The goal of the Center for Broadening Participation in Engineering is to increase the enrollment, retention, and advancement rates of Hispanic students (especially Latinas) in engineering education, with a larger goal to broaden the participation of Hispanics (especially Latinas) in engineering careers. These increases will strengthen the STEM workforce of the future.
We propose to attain this goal through addressing inequities along the engineering career continuum:
- The social/family system (socio-economic status, cultural relevance, family support, early exposure, role models, etc.),
- The education system (capacity building, academic preparation, curriculum, pedagogy, opportunities for scholarships and funding), and,
- The professionalization system (professional and career development, leadership development and research, internships and employment, professional connections/networking, and mentoring).
This project seeks to supplement NSF’s goal of creating and sustaining a diverse and capable workforce by reducing or eliminating inequities in the engineering career continuum.
Education
The Center for Broadening Participation in Engineering proposes addressing inequities along the engineering career continuum by educating faculty on best practices in curriculum & pedagogy, while providing students with opportunities for scholarships, with funding to attend conferences, and with training on how to become advocates for themselves. Through rigorous academic preparation, we seek to build capacity in the engineering workforce of the future.
