UA Hosts Workshop to Introduce Minority Faculty to Engineering

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Science faculty members from historically black colleges and universities nationwide are visiting The University of Alabama campus to attend a three-week engineering workshop.

Hosted by Drs. Viola Acoff and Mark Weaver, both professors of metallurgical and materials engineering in the UA College of Engineering, the summer workshop is funded with a National Science Foundation grant. It introduces the field of materials science and engineering to faculty and educators from historically black colleges and universities.

The workshop is scheduled for June 1-20 and is at no cost to attendees.

The goal of the workshop is to provide HBCU faculty with the ability to inform their students about the discipline of materials science and engineering. Participants will also be urged to make their students aware of employment and graduate school opportunities in the field.

“At most Historically Black Colleges and Universities, the discipline of materials science and engineering is virtually unknown at the undergraduate level,” said Acoff. “The workshop has been developed to address this void and to help introduce HBCU faculty and educators from all science disciplines to the field of materials science and engineering.”

The format of the workshop is patterned after an introductory course in metallurgical and materials engineering, taught to students in UA’s College of Engineering. Workshop attendees learn about materials science through traditional and non-traditional lectures, laboratory projects and tours of local material manufacturing plants.

This year, participants will be attending from:

Allen University
Benedict College
Bennett College for Women
Elizabeth City State University
Florida Memorial University
Hampton University
Jackson State University
Johnson C. Smith University
Lane College
Langston University
Lincoln University
Medgar Evers College
Miles College
Mississippi Valley State University
North Carolina A&T State University
Savannah State University
Shaw University
Tuskegee University
University of the Virgin Islands
Wiley College

In 1837, The University of Alabama became one of the first five universities in the nation to offer engineering classes. Today, UA’s fully accredited College of Engineering has more than 1,900 students and over 100 faculty. In the last seven years, students in the College have been named USA Today All-USA College Academic Team members, Goldwater scholars, Hollings scholars and Portz scholars.