Inspiring Minorities To Enter The Stem Pipeline Through Nsbe Jr.

The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) is the largest student managed organization in the United States. It was founded in 1975 and now serves over 10,000 collegiate members at over 300 colleges and universities across the country. NSBE’s mission is to increase the number of culturally responsible black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally, and positively impact the community. NSBE also has a large professional membership of approximately 3000 alumni members and a significant pre-college membership that ranges from grade seven to grade twelve. The goal of these NSBE Jr. chapters is to inspire young minds to pursue science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) as fields of study when entering college. With its Pre-College Initiative (PCI) program, NSBE aims to aid the entire engineering pipeline by preparing highly motivated and skilled high school students for the rigors of a university-level math, science, and engineering curriculum. As part of an NSF GK-12 program, the Georgia Institute of Technology implemented NSBE Jr. chapters at two high schools in metro Atlanta, both with under-represented minority enrollments of over 95%. One is a Math and Science Magnet school, and the other is a Performing Arts Magnet school. Both NSBE Jr. chapters have now been in existence for at least five years, and have flourished with leadership by Georgia Tech graduate students. This paper will describe the activities implemented at these two different types of schools and will track the NSBE Jr. membership over time. This tracking includes reporting on which majors the NSBE Jr. students chose when entering college, and hence whether the two chapter have met NSBE’s goal of helping to inspire students to enter STEM fields.