UA Hosts HBCU Faculty for Materials Science Workshop

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.–The University of Alabama College of Engineering will host its fifth annual Introduction to Science Faculty to Materials Science and Engineering workshop June 5-24, 2005.

The workshop, which is free of charge, provides faculty members and educators from Historically Black Colleges and Universities with a thorough introduction to materials science and engineering. The program allows HBCU faculty to educate their current and future students about the discipline of materials science and make them aware of employment and graduate school opportunities in the field of materials.

The goal of this program is to increase the enrollment of African-American students in materials science and engineering throughout the country, making these fields accessible to those who it may not have been accessible to otherwise.

“Since the faculty at colleges and universities serve as mentors to the students they teach, faculty who teach at HBCUs are targeted for this program because they come into contact with more African-American students on average than their counterparts at non-HBCU institutions,” said Dr. Viola Acoff, professor of metallurgical and materials engineering and one of the creators of the program. “By introducing the HBCU faculty to the materials field, it is our goal that they will educate the students they teach about the materials field also.”

The workshop begins with a traditional lecture in the morning, followed by a group-style cooperative learning session to develop computer-assisted learning skills. Afternoons will alternate between industrial facility visits and hands-on laboratory activities, ranging from metal casting and mechanical testing of materials in tension to the processing of ceramics and polymers.

The materials science workshop was made possible through a grant from the National Science Foundation. Dr. Mark Weaver, associate professor of metallurgical and materials engineering, also was instrumental in the creation of this program.