Diversity in Engineering Managing the Workforce of the Future (2002) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 8-16
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From page 8... ...
Americans are very sensitive to issues of equity and fairness, so the argument resonates with many people. A second argument for diversity has to do with numbers, the fact that white males are becoming a minority in the population of the United States and that, unless we include more women and underrepresented minorities in the engineering workforce, we are simply not going to have enough engineers to continue to enjoy the lifestyle we have enjoyed for the last century or so.
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From page 9... ...
We need to break this negative feedback cycle. When I speak of diversity, I mean the kind of inclusion you probably thought of instantly, that is, appropriate representation of women and underrepresented minorities.
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From page 10... ...
Our solutions have to satisfy the constraints of cost, weight, size, ergonomics, environmental impact, reliability, safety, manufacturability, repairability, power consumption, heat dissipation the list goes on and on. Finding an elegant solution that satisfies those constraints is one of the most creative acts I know.
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From page 11... ...
To quote Florman again, "it is especially dismaying to see engineers contributing to their own caricature." I can easily get a laugh out of an audience of engineers by describing them as white-socks, pocket-protector, cubicle folks. I think that caricature is one of the biggest problems keeping young people from pursuing careers in engineering, despite the fact that study after study after study has shown that both women and underrepresented minorities are attracted to professions in which they can contribute directly to the welfare of others.
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From page 12... ...
Each of them has had different life experiences. I think of these life experiences as the "gene pool" out of which creativity comes, out of which elegant engineering solutions come.
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From page 13... ...
I believe that a central factor in the declining enrollment in engineering, especially the declining enrollment among women and underrepresented minorities, is the stereotypical image of engineers. We know there are also many other problems, of course the lack of mentors, the lack of family support, the absence of role models.
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From page 14... ...
We are going to have to work on it over a long period of time. But if we don't start working on it, we're never going to break out of this destructive, negative feedback cycle.
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