Center for Engineering Diversity Turns 30

The Center for Engineering Diversity (CED) turns 30 years old this year. In that time, it has grown from a small program of support services for underrepresented engineering students into a multifaceted center offering all of the academic, social and professional opportunities students may need to succeed in a very rigorous field.

CED’s mission is to provide scholastic, personal, and professional growth to students who are traditionally underrepresented in engineering.  Those students include African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans. Many of those who declare engineering majors will be introduced to CED long before they enter USC.  If they take advantage of CED’s services, they will make important connections that could help them academically and/or professionally.

That’s the beauty of CED.  Its programs span the pre- and- post-USC years and its recipients usually form lifelong friendships and business connections in the process.  
    
“There’s no getting around it, engineering is a very rigorous major,” says Louise Yates, associate dean for Admission and Student Affairs. “We are always looking for ways to attract students with diverse backgrounds to this field, but at the same time, we are also trying to retain them and give them the tools they need to succeed and graduate.”
    
According to the students, a few  “signature” programs — Summer Bridge, Shadow Days, the Corporate Dinner and reFROSHer — are among the most popular.  Most of these programs are works in progress. They’ve evolved over the years, built on content, sometimes shifted emphasis to match industry’s changing needs, as well as the interests and talents of each incoming class.  But they all have lasting power, a universal appeal, because they get results.

Summer Bridge

Summer Bridge is one of those signature programs and among the oldest of the Center programs. Founded in 1980 as a non-residential program, it turned into a two-week residential experience years later to immerse the incoming class students in the day-to-day realities of pursuing an engineering major at USC.  
 
“It’s designed to help students ease through the transition from high school to college and help them adjust to college life,” says Traci Thomas-Navarro, CED director. “We are also interested in preparing them as much as we can for the academic challenges of engineering.”
    
During the two-week program, students are given a general introduction to USC and enroll in two or more academic courses, usually in math and physics.  They are also given many opportunities to meet with upper classmen, young alumni and industry representatives, faculty and CED staff to gather information about the school, the major and the industry.
    
“It’s the best,” says Carlos Arredondo, a freshman majoring in mechanical engineering.  His Summer Bridge roommate, Daniel Lind, agrees.  “Without it, I wouldn’t know anyone,” says the first-year mechanical engineering student from Florida.
    
The opportunity to make new friends is a big part of the community-building process. Students will also participate in important team-building exercises, industry tours, social outings and orientation.  By the end of the second week, Thomas-Navarro says, many of these students have found their new roommates for the first year at USC and learned more about the field of engineering.

reFROSHer

ReFROSHer is a relatively new event, created by CED’s Assistant Director David Martinez.  The Saturday workshop reunites Summer Bridge students and first-year engineering students who did not attend Summer Bridge.
    
The focus is to give students an overview of the engineering major, what they can expect later in graduate school, as well as information about all of the academic and co-curricular opportunities available to them at CED.  “This is really to tell them about the academic experience and what lies ahead in terms of job prospects,” Martinez says.  “In addition, we talk about graduate school and what they should be prepared to do to get in.  We want to plant the seed in their minds early.”
    
Martinez invites upper classmen to the event, as well as young alumni, and puts together industry or alumni panels for the daylong workshop. He asks sophomores to speak to the freshmen about summer internships because it’s more difficult to find one after the first year of school.   “I want them to give the students some insight into how they got their internships; whether they did an intern program or were just good at networking,” he says.

Corporate Dinner   

Students also enjoy CED’s Corporate Dinner.  Ask Dawn Carter, senior manager of university programs at Amazon.com and a transfer student herself.  Carter served eight years on CED’s industry advisory board, helping to develop and orchestrate aerospace industry-university events like this.  
    
“These industry events are an opportunity for students to interact in an inclusive environment with companies” she says.  “This interaction starts in their freshman year and can be continued all the way through the undergraduate years.  Not many companies give kids access for four or five years while they’re working on their degrees.”
    
CED students also get an opportunity to participate in a mid-year corporate luncheon, which provides them an opportunity to interact with industry partners over lunch. During the meal, they learn what opportunities are available at specific companies, such as Boeing, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Lockheed Martin and Qualcomm.

Shadow Days

Just about every undergraduate engineering student knows about Shadow Days.  “It’s one of the first questions I get from new students,” Martinez is quick to point out.  
    
Held during spring break, the program allows students to spend a day “shadowing” a working engineer. The event usually includes about 10 companies and draws about 35 engineering undergraduates, all going off to different companies in the Los Angeles area to learn what professional engineers do every day.

The kids love it.   
    
“One student went to Raytheon last year and now he works there,” Matinez says with a smile.      
    
Sunita Deb, a senior biomedical engineering major, fell in love with Amgen, a biotechnology company headquartered in Thousand Oaks, CA, after shadowing a biomedical engineer last year.  

“I got a summer internship in global medical writing that summer (2005) and kept the cards of all the people I worked with, so I could contact them again,” says the identical twin, whose sister is a USC chemical engineering major.  “The internship helped me to define the kind of a job I wanted, which is something you don’t really get until you’re in the workplace,” she said.  “So now I know where I want to work and what kind of work I want to do.”
    
Established in 1975,†CED has a long tradition of outstanding commitment to diverse students in engineering.† CED designs, implements, and collaborates on various student-centered activities to increase†student persistence within the Viterbi School of Engineering.† CED offers its services to the entire†USC community and maintains a focus on the†retention and graduation of African American, Hispanic, and Native†American students in engineering.  CED alumni who take a special interest in the center’s mission and many programs are encouraged to become actively involved. CED alumni serve as role models and coaches for engineering students who are carefully choosing their career paths within the discipline.  Alumni support comes in the form of time, energy, and resources to help deliver professional and academic workshops for the students.  Interested alumni may fill out an information form online at http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/ced/alumni.htm.
    
For information about the Viterbi School Center for Engineering Diversity, visit http://viterbi.usc.edu/students/undergrad/ced/.


-- Diane Ainsworth