The National Science Foundation (NSF) has given an ASSIST grant to the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) and six other minority professional engineering society partners for the purpose of bringing more diversity to the engineering professorate.
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AISES will be tasked with attracting early-career faculty, graduate students, and post-doctoral professional Native Americans working in any field of engineering. The efforts of AISES are intended to help those individuals develop professionally and network within the engineering sector.
AISES will bring as many as 40 of those individuals to the AISES National Conference over the next four years. The travel expenses incurred by the chosen individuals will be funded using up to $2,000 in funding per individual. While at the conference the chosen individuals will participate in various professional develop-oriented workshops. The workshops will include exercises in understanding academic career opportunities, promotion and tenure, grant proposal writing and the related review process. The participants will also learn how to best work through academia as Native American engineers.
The society will pursue the assistance of Native leaders in academia and federal funding to help support the endeavor.
Partnering with AISES are: Great Minds in STEM (GMiS); MAES, Latinos in Science and Engineering (MAES); National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE); Advancing Chicano/Hispanics & Native Americans in Science (SACNAS); Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE); and Society of Women Engineers (SWE).
Applications to receive an ASSIST travel grant to attend the AISES National Conference Nov. 19-21 are due Oct. 22. Click here to apply.