ASNE needs you to Broaden Participation in Engineering
Organizing & Expanding Mentoring through Synergy & Heart
The proposed Maritime Engineering Mentoring & Experiences (MEME) program will connect young engineers in high school,
college and early career to mentors that are at the next stage in the STEM pathway as well as diverse national
experts. This hub will ensure there are academic supports for these mentoring experiences to ensure that these
interactions not only provide agency and role models, but boost self-efficacy in reading for information,
mathematics, science classes and the engineering design process. By partnering with technology companies, we can
ensure these efforts are scaled nationally while being easy to access. This program will be transparent, welcoming
and publish regular to support our partners and the broader STEM community.
Understanding NSF's Broadening Participation in Engineering
This National Science Foundation grant program has four tracks to encourage long-term improvements in the
diversity
across engineering disciplines. In their words, "The BPE program seeks to strengthen the future U.S. Engineering
workforce and catalyze research innovation by enabling
the participation of all citizens in STEM, thus reflecting the diversity and true intellectual capacity of the
Nation's
population."
We are focused on the new Track 3 which focuses on creating Inclusive Mentoring Hubs, abbreviated "IMHubs". The
heart
of a successful IMhub is investigating promising approaches by building of previous mentoring and
STEM-accessibility
research. Their vision is to create a mentoring program that allows everyone interested to participate and build
from this foundation. We think ASNE free outreach tools and strong mentoring network creates the type of firm
foundation that they seek. According to the RFP:
An IMHub is expected to offer free access to mentoring and
networking opportunities; provide professional development programs for members to participate in; and
coordinate institutional and organizational involvement in order to curate, develop and expand mentoring
programs. IMHub activities could include participation in curriculum-based modules focused
on engineering as a career; grant writing (NSF proposal preparation); entrepreneurship; transitioning
between
academia
and industry (or government); and mentor/mentee training and skills development. IMHub activities may also
include
structured individual professional development (IPD) assignments for those who plan to enter, or who have
recently
entered, the engineering workforce or academia (such as engineering graduate students, postdoctoral
researchers
and
early career faculty). Although IMHUbs proposals can leverage or build upon existing mentoring resources, it
is
recommended that such activities also be creative, innovative and distinct in their approach.
Overview of ASNE's Proposal
ASNE has been focusing energy on mentoring programs through our symposia, NEJ, PEP and FLEET; now we are
creating a vertical mentoring connections from high school through engineering leaders of diverse backgrounds.
We
are calling on our members and industry partners to commit to becoming mentors for early-career professionals
and/or
collegiate engineers. We are engaging out PEP mentors/professors to engage with industry mentors and provide
updates
and engineering insights for high schools. These high schools will be engage in naval engineering through FLEET
and
directly engage with collegiate and professional mentors directly, through social media, and via print
resources.
In particular, we are building a proposal to tie together these stakeholders in an inclusive engineering
profession.
- High Schools and Students; (see the High School Section)
- K-12 Educators and Practitioners; (see the High School Section)
- University and College students, faculty and leaders; (see the Colleges Section)
- Small Businesses and Industry Professionals; (see the Mentors Section)
- Retired naval engineers looking to give back (see the Mentors Section).
If you would like to see the LOI we pulled together in early December, please click
here.
How Professionals and Organizations can engage with MEME
We need more mentors, and we also would welcome more partners that can help improve the scale of this initiative.
We
are
reaching out to social media platforms and other networking methods to create a strong connection between all
mentors and mentees involved. We know that many of corporate supporters also have active mentoring groups that
engage K-12 students. If you would like to explore how your company could support this effort, please email our
grant development team.
Benefits for joining the MEME network:
- This research-focused mentoring program will contribute greatly to knowledge of mentoring at different critical
periods of an engineer's development.
- You will directly engage with students and young professionals that are passionate about engineering, and in
need of your guidance.
- This network will support your mentoring with educational components and scalable technology to maximize your
impact.
How K-12 Schools and Students can engage with MEME
Our mentors will be able to share our free video game, FLEET, with your classroom so you can engage in
standards-aligned engineering education. These mentors will also share their journeys in live presentations and
through reading texts that are curated with text-based questions as seen in SAT/ACT exams. We will give your
students access to these nationally-reknowned veteran engineers and near-peer collegiate mentors. These
mentoring
experiences will include pre- and post-academic activities that will allow students to synthesize these messages
with their life experiences through writing activities. Given the national outreach of our collegiate outreach
and
our symposia programs, we can also provide free access to professional, aspirational engineering experiences
(see Past ASNE Symposia for examples).
Benefits for joining the MEME network:
- Connection to collegiate engineering teams to provide near-peer support of students considering engineering.
- National speaker events with diverse engineering leaders providing examples of possible careerpaths.
- Local engineers providing direct mentorship from your local corporate community.
- Educational resources linking these mentoring experiences to increased self-efficacy in STEM content areas.
- Reading resources with text-based questions that share mentors' stories in ways that prepare students for
achievement tests.
How Colleges can engage with MEME
We are reaching out to our PEP teams, and looking to recruit more for the 2022-2023 school year. Colleges will be
in
a unique situation of receiving mentoring and support from the veteran engineers and corporate mentors. In
addition,
you will be able to passively and actively mentor students in schools/districts which commonly attend your
school.
Passive mentorship will come from sharing via social media your PEP boat progress so these students can see the
long-term engagement successful engineering requires. Your active mentorship can include livefeeds of your
design
presentation, sharing your STEM pathway via recorded videos, and describing key academic skills that allowed you
to
persist as an engineer.
- University of Pittsburgh
- Wake Forest University
- University of Michigan - e-Jetski
- North Carolina A&T - Water Aggies
- Old Dominion University
- Princeton University - Papillon Rouge
- Texas A&M
- University of Kentucky
- Tennessee Tech
- Johns Hopkins University
- Michigan Solar Sea
- Virginia Tech
- University of Washington - Bothel
- Widener University
- University of Georgia
Benefits for joining the MEME network:
- Receive mentoring from corporate leaders and young professionals to ensure smooth transition to the workforce.
- Share your school's STEM story with high school students looking to become engineers.
- Contribute to research efforts that strengthen and magnify the impact of STEM mentorship models.
- POSSIBLE: We are considering providing professional development that is focused on the first-year pitfalls that
sometimes sidetrack students.