Research & Policy Brief
Volume 4 | Number 1 | April 2014
The National Action Council
for Minorities in Engineering,
Inc. (NACME) was founded
in 1974 to ensure American
competitiveness in a flat world
by leading and supporting the
national effort to expand U.S.
capability through increasing the
number of successful African
American, American Indian,
and Latino young women and
men in science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics
(STEM) education and careers.
NACME Alumni hold leadership
positions in industry, medicine,
law, education, and government.
With funding from corporate and
individual donors, NACME has
supported over 23,000 students
with more than $124 million in
scholarships and other support.
Currently NACME provides
scholarship support to more than
1,200 college of engineering
students through a national
network of 51 partner institutions.
NACME’s STEM education
strategy incorporates a continuum
of programs and activities from
middle school through workforce
entry. Visit us at nacme.org.
Christopher Smith
Director, Research
and Program Evaluation
[email protected]
National Action Council for
Minorities in Engineering, Inc.
440 Hamilton Avenue, Suite 302
White Plains, NY 10601
(914) 539-4010
(914) 539-4032 Fax
nacme.org
Connect with us:
6386 NACME Research Briefs v.5 04_29.indd 1
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN ENGINEERING
African Americans are underrepresented in engineering and their participation in this field has stagnated over
time. In 1997, there were 62,356 engineering bachelor’s degrees awarded in the United States and 3,077 (or
4.9 percent) were earned by African Americans1. In 2011, there were 78,099 engineering bachelor’s degrees
awarded and 3,097 (or 4.0 percent) were earned by African Americans. In addition, African Americans
represented 3.6 percent of employed engineers in 20102 and 2.5 percent of engineering faculty in 20113.
Figure 1.
African Americans in Engineering
Engineering Faculty, 2013 (3)
Engineering Workforce, 2010 (2)
Engineering Bachelor‘s Degrees, 2011 (1)
2.5%
3.6%
4.0%
13.4%
Total Undergraduate Enrollment, 2011 (1)
U.S. College-Aged Population
(18-24 Year Olds), 2012 (4)
U.S. Population, 2012 (4)
14.8%
12.3%
0.0% 4.0% 8.0% 12.0%16.0%
T
he underrepresentation of African Americans
in engineering starts at the elementary and
secondary levels of education. On the National
Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP),
which is the largest nationally representative and
continuing assessment of American students’
knowledge in various subject areas, African
American public school students rate lower than
their peers in science at 4th, 8th, and 12th grades,
as seen in Figure 2.
In addition, African Americans, on average, earn
the lowest ACT math and science scores of any
group, scoring 3.8 points below average in math,
and 3.7 points below average in science, as seen
in Figure 3.
The ACT has College Readiness Benchmarks
which are the minimum scores required for students
to have a high probability of success in creditbearing college courses. These benchmarks are
22 for Mathematics, 24 for Science, 18 for English,
and 21 for Reading. Only 5 percent of African
American test-takers reach these benchmarks in
each subject area compared to 25 percent of all
test-takers (Figure 4).
The National Action Council for Minorities in
Engineering, Inc. (NACME) employs a multilayered
Table 1.
Degrees/Awards Conferred to African Americans, 20111
North Carolina Agricultural & Tech State University
138
Georgia Institute of Technology
105
North Carolina State University at Raleigh
84
Prairie View A&M University
63
Southern University A&M College at Baton Rouge
62
strategy that aims to facilitate a pathway for
underrepresented minorities (URMs) to engineering
careers from middle school. NACME provides
scholarships to students in the form of block
grants to partner institutions across the country,
and in return asks those institutions to promote a
campus environment that embraces diversity and
inclusiveness, and provides encouragement and
support for URMs engineering students. Since
1974, 56 percent (13,101) of students supported
by NACME have identified as African American.
Table 1 displays the schools that graduated the
most African Americans in Engineering in 2011
(NACME Partner Institutions are highlighted).
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Research & Policy Brief
nacme.org
Volume 4 | Number 1 | April 2014
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN ENGINEERING (continued)
Figure 2.
Average Science Scale Scores of 4th, 8th, and 12th Grade
Public School Students, 20095
180
Figure 3.
Mean ACT Scores in STEM Subjects, 20126
30.0
160 159164
162 161 159
149149149
140
127 125 124
25.2
25.0
130 131 133
20.0
120
23.2
22.1 22.1
19.4 18.9
17.3 17.2
21.1 20.9
18.518.7
15.0
80
10.0
40
0
5.0
African
Latino
White
American
Asian/Pacific
Islander
0.0
Total
African
Latino American Indian/ White
Asian
All AmericanAlaska Native Students
n 4th Grade n 8th Grade n 12th Grade
n Mathematics n Science
Note: Score ranges from 0 to 300
Note: Scale ranges from 1 to 36
Figure 4.
Percentage of Students Meeting ACT College Readiness Benchmark Scores, 20127
80
77%
72%
76%
62%
60
54%
49%
36%
44%
36%
31%
16%
15%
7%
0
42%
38%
32%
46%
31%
25%
24%
22%
20
47%
35%
52%
40
67%
62%
13%
15%
11%
5%
African American
Latino
American Indian/
White
Asian
Alaska Native
n Mathematics n Science
Policy Considerations
Federal policies are needed to help advance the cause of
African Americans and other underrepresented groups in
engineering. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand [D-NY] introduced
S. 1178: Educating Tomorrow’s Engineers Act in 2013 to
promote engineering for all students in kindergarten
through 12th grade education. This bill calls for states to
incorporate engineering design skills and practice into their
academic content standards and academic achievement
standards and assessments in science by the 2016-2017
Endnotes
1. N
ACME analysis of Integrated Postsecondary Education
Data System (IPEDS) accessed via National Science
Foundation’s WebCASPAR database system, October,
2013.
2. S
ource: Finamore, J., Foley, D.J., Lan, F., Milan,
L.M., Proudfoot, S.L., Rivers, E.B., & Selfa, L. (2013).
Employment and Educational Characteristics of
Scientists and Engineers. National Center for Science
and Engineering Statistics, NSF 13-311.
6386 NACME Research Briefs v.5 04_29.indd 2
All Students
n English n Reading n All Four Subjects
school year, and requires states to reserve 10 percent
of the grant they receive under the Teacher and Principal
Training and Recruiting Fund program to award
competitive grants to entities with expertise in STEM
fields to develop and provide professional development
and instructional materials for STEM education in their
state8. For more information on how to support this bill,
go to https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/
s1178#overview.
Christopher Smith
Director, Research
and Program Evaluation
[email protected]
All of NACME’s Research
& Policy Briefs can be found
on our website at nacme.org/
research-publications
3. S
ource: Yoder, B.L. (2011). Engineering by the Numbers.
Accessed online at www.asee.org in August, 2013.
7. C
ollege Board, 2012. 2012 College-Bound Seniors: Total
Group Profile Report. New York, NY: The College Board.
4. N
ACME analysis of population projections from U.S.
Census, 2012.
8. S
. 1178--113th Congress: Educating Tomorrow’s
Engineers Act. (2013). In www.GovTrack.us. Retrieved
February 24, 2014, from http://www.govtrack.us/
congress/bills/113/s1178.
5. N
ational Center for Education Statistics, 2012. Digest of
Education Statistics, 2011.
6. A
CT Profile Report, National (Graduating Class 2012).
Accessed online at www.act.org.
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