Myron Hardiman, AMIE exec director.

AMIE is a decade old this year. A lot has been accomplished since the organization was launched in 1992. Our list of corporate sponsors has grown from two to more than two dozen (see table). Our list of ABET-accredited HBCU engineering schools has grown, too, with the addition of Alabama A&M.

Our partnerships have produced some exciting results. One of the first was the 1994 creation of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Samuel L. Massie Chairs of Excellence. That program set up environmental engineering professorships and environmental research programs at the AMIE schools, and later at Turabo University in Puerto Rico.

Other partnerships have resulted in equipment donations, scholarship grants, student intern and co-op opportunities, curriculum advice and residencies at corporate venues for HBCU professors. And AMIE has added a focus on the CS/IT education that’s so important to partners like Goldman Sachs, FleetBoston and even the CIA.

AMIE is reaching more students than ever through “pipeline” programs at each of the AMIE schools, developed with the help of corporate sponsors. Each university makes contact with students in middle school, encouraging them to get the math grounding they’ll need to progress to calculus before they graduate from high school – a big advantage for beginning engineering studies in college.

Working on three fronts
What does the future hold for AMIE, and for diversity in tomorrow’s technical workforce? AMIE and its partners are working on three fronts. They’re feeding the colleges a stream of young minorities with the qualifications to study technical majors. They’re shepherding these students through their college years in a supportive atmosphere. And they’re bringing them out into the corporate world, ready to share their energy and ideas.

The economic downturn challenges corporations to sustain their commitments to support AMIE and other groups with a similar mission. The companies on our board and in our alliance have seen that it’s in their own best interests to take the long view. More committed partners are needed to join them.

How you can help
Seek out your company’s diversity council. Talk to the decision-makers. Let them know about AMIE, its accomplishments and its ongoing mission. Remind them that continuing their commitment to diversity is essential if they want to be employers of choice in a recovering economy.

Some of you will opt to play a more immediate role. Why not work with an AMIE school – or any school – to mentor a technical student, by e-mail or in person. Help us show tomorrow’s young people that success is possible, and that they can be part of it!

D/C