Gearing Up for Civil Engineering Review of a Summer Institute for Increasing Under-Represented Students in Civil Environmental Engineering

摘要

The numbers of female and minority students enrolled in engineering schools havebeen increasing slowly within that previous two decades, however there is still arelatively small percentage drawn to the field of civil engineering. As a consequence,there is a need to educate young people about the profession to encourage underrepresentedindividuals to appreciate the contributions of engineers and encouragethem to become civil engineers. The summer institute held at the University ofAlabama in Huntsville consisted of bringing middle school students, to the campusfor a week of interactive science and engineering experiences. The strategy of thisprogram was aimed at producing students who know "how to find out" and "how toexamine and evaluate evidence." The participants gained knowledge about the roleof engineers in society, as well as practiced applying simple science concepts tosolve design problems.