COOKEVILLE — Three engineering organizations, the National Society of Black Engineers, the Society of Women Engineers, and Women in Cybersecurity, have partnered for a week-long event from March 22-25 to promote diversity in the engineering field.
On March 11, the student leaders from these organizations presented their plan for the event, which will be primarily virtual, to Tech’s Board of Trustees.
“The action plan to promote this mission is to travel to different districts and counties in Tennessee and talk to high school and middle school students about three things,” said Jymon Scott, a junior majoring in electrical engineering. “One being, what engineering is, because not many people are educated on what engineering is in the first place and what the discipline is and how many different categories there are that you can study. The second step is to promote Tennessee Tech and why is it a good place to come to — and really the best place to come to — if you want to study engineering. Thirdly, to promote why minorities and diversity in the workplace is very important because it brings diverse change and diverse mindsets into the world.”
When asked how Tech can improve diversity in its engineering programs, Alexis Harvey, president of the Society of Women Engineers, said, “Tennessee Tech is doing a great job. There are places that we can be doing better, but the world can be doing better. Our goal in saying that we’re minorities is to say one day that we’re not, because we’ve grown our community and network so much.”
Harvey further discussed the importance of letting student organizations know about the resources and funding available to them through Tech.
“Tech is the place you want to go if you want to make an impact, either in your community or in the country,” said Kaitlyn Carroll, president of Women in Cybersecurity. “I feel like that’s just really important.”
In addition to their week-long event, the organizations will host an on-campus event at 11 a.m. on Thursday, March 25, at Centennial Plaza to highlight opportunities for minorities in engineering at Tennessee Tech.
To learn more about this event and these organizations, contact Triston Whitescarver (National Society of Black Engineers) at tewhitesca42@tntech.edu, Alexis Harvey (Society of Women Engineers) at arharvey42@tntech.edu or Kaitlyn Carroll (Women in Cybersecurity) at kacarroll44@tntech.edu.
