Diversity
Diversity brings a wide range of perspectives to the classroom, and a diverse educational community encourages students to search for new ways to solve problems—and to consider the impact of projects across cultural lines and international borders. We value diversity in our department, and we're committed to providing a supportive environment for all members of our community. We work actively to ensure recruitment and participation from underrepresented groups.
Students
UW Materials Science and Engineering takes considerable pride in being able to recruit and retain a diverse group of students. National studies have indicated the crucial need to focus on training women and underrepresented minorities in engineering, to meet the future technical workforce needs of the country. In addition, recruiters consistently tell us that they want a diverse work force, so we've aligned some of our recruitment efforts with programs that focus on enhancing the student diversity in science and engineering.
The University of Washington is a national leader in such programs. In particular, we have worked closely with Math, Engineering, and Science Achievement (MESA), Women in Science and Engineering (WISE), the Minority Science and Engineering Program (MSEP), and Disabilities, Opportunity, Internetworking, and Technology (DO-IT). MESA, WISE and DO-IT have all received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring.
Our efforts to increase diversity have yielded measurable results. In recent years, approximately, 25% of our undergraduate degrees were awarded to women, and almost 20% of our current undergraduate students are underrepresented minorities. UW Materials Science and Engineering has the highest percentage of underrepresented minority students in the College of Engineering, and we earned the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers' 2004 recognition award.
At the graduate level in the last three years, 26% of our MS and 33% of Doctoral degrees have been awarded to women, and currently 33% of our graduate students are women. The department uses prestigious scholarships (including Marsh, ARCS, Go-MAP, and Nanotech Early Bird) to recruit women and underrepresented minority graduate students. Currently, 8% of our grad students are under-represented minorities, and we're developing a coordinated approach with the College of Engineering to recruit under-represented minority students.
Faculty
UW Materials Science and Engineering is committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse faculty. In faculty searches since 1998, we have used the College of Engineering's Toolkit to ensure a diverse pool of candidates. Most recently, we have also worked with the NSF-funded ADVANCE program, a collaboration between the Colleges of Engineering and Arts and Sciences. Currently, two of our ten tenure-track faculty members are women, and one of the female faculty members holds the department's prestigious Kyocera Chair—one of only three Kyocera Chairs in Materials Science and Engineering in the country.