Policymakers should take steps to produce more minority students capable of becoming engineers and scientists, including supporting new math and science academies, improving the quality of teaching among disadvantaged student populations, and working harder to reshape children’s beliefs about what scientists do on the job, a new report argues.
Those recommendations from the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering Inc., a White Plains, N.Y.-based organization that seeks to cultivate talent in that area, were culled from ideas put forward by industry representatives, academics, philanthropic leaders, and others at a symposium held May 27-29 in Vienna, Va.