African Americans in Engineering NACME Research & Policy Brief ● Vol. 1 No. 4 ● February 2011
The solution to America’s competitiveness problem is to activate the hidden workforce of young men and women who have traditionally b been underrepresented in STEM careers—African Americans, American Indians, and Latinos. John Brooks Slaughter d d f d d h k l h Engineers are critical in fueling innovation. Recent observers of international trends in engineering have paid attention to the rapid increase in the production of new engineers in large nations like China and India. But engineers’ training provides them with access to career paths that may lead away from a technical career and instead towards a managerial or leadership role. Large corporations have long recognized engineering as a critical entry-point into key industries. The long-term implications of the dearth of minority engineers were important during NACME’s [I]t takes fifteen to twenty‐ founding years in the early 1970’s 1970 s, as reflected in the remarks of JJ. Stanford Smith, Smith Vice fi five years for people to rise f l t i President of General Electric in 1972 and Senator Hubert H. Humphrey in May 1973 (see to top leadership positions in boxes). industry. So if industry is getting one percent minority engineers in 1972, that means that in 1990, that’s about the proportion that will emerge from the competition to the top leadership positions in leadership positions in industry….(J. Stanford Smith, Vice President, General Electric, Engineering Education Conference, June 25, 1972)
U.S. engineering schools produced just 579 African American engineers in 1972 with another 657 in 1973 according to Engineering Manpower Commission data (which may underestimate the actual number of degrees because not all institutions reported to the EMC). According to the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data, which are available starting in 1977, 1,385 African Americans earned engineering bachelor’s degrees in that year. In 2009, 2009 the most recent IPEDS year, year 3,096 3 096 African Americans earned engineering bachelor’s bachelor s degrees, representing 4.7% of all engineering bachelor’s degrees. African American representation among engineering bachelor’s degree recipients peaked at 5.6% in 2000 after a quarter-century climb from just 3% in 1977.
Number of Degrees Earned by African Americans by Degree Level, 1977‐2009 (Source: NACME Research and Evaluation analysis of IPEDS data via NSF WebCASPAR)
3,500
Bachelor'ss Bachelor
3,000
1,000
Master's
800
2,500 2,000
600 1,500 400
1,000
D t t Doctorates
200 0
500
Nu umber of Bachelor's Degrees
1,200
N umber of Graduate Degrees
•African Americans earned just under 5% of engineering bachelor’s degrees in 2009. •African Americans earned just under 1,000 master’s master s degrees and less than 200 doctoral degrees in engineering in 2009. •The number and percent of engineering bachelor’s degrees earned by African Americans has declined since 2005. •African American women’s share of engineering degrees has declined at the bachelor’s and masters’ levels since 2002. •African American’s inroads into doctoral degrees has been modest since the 1970s.
0
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
Women as a Percent of Engineering degrees Earned by African Americans by Degree Level, 1977‐2009
Percent of U.S. Citizen and Permanent Resident Bachelor's Degrees in Engineering Earned by African Americans, 1977‐2009, Selected Years
60.0%
(Source: NACME Research, Evaluation and Policy analysis of IPEDS data accessed via NSF WebCASPAR data system ) accessed via NSF WebCASPAR data system.)
(Source: NACME Research and Evaluation analysis of IPEDS data via NSF WebCASPAR)
Master's 50.0% Percent Women
Percent African American
6% 5% 4% 3%
40.0%
Doctorates
30.0%
Bachelor's 20.0%
2% 10.0%
1% 0% 1975
0.0%
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
I think that when we look at the poor national performance in promoting minorities to top professional leadership positions, we must look to a totally inadequate minority participation in engineering as an important part of the problem. (Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, 1973, Congressional Record,: 93rd Congress, Vol. 119, No. 80).
Median Annual Earnings, 25-34 Year Old African Americans and U.S. Workers, 2009
All U.S. Engineers (n = 2,552,896)
African Americans (n = 128,042)
(Full-time, year-round workers only)
Engineering technicians 37%
Engineers 60%
Engineering technicians 27%
Sales engineers 0.3%
Engineers 66%
Sales engineers 1% Engineering managers 6%
Engineering managers 3%
Median Annual Earrnings
Source: NACME Research, Evaluation and Policy analysis of American Community Survey Public Use Microdata, 2010.
$70,000 $60,000 $50 000 $50,000 $40,000 $30,000 $20,000 $10,000 $0 Male
Male
Female
Total U.S. All U.S. Workers
Median Annual Earnings, Engineers by Age-Group, 2009
•African Americans in the U.S. engineering workforce are more likely to be technicians and less likely to be managers.
(Full-time, year-round workers only) Source: NACME Research, Evaluation and Policy analysis of American Community Survey Public Use Microdata, 2010.
25‐34 Median Annual Earn nings
•Salaries of African American engineers, regardless of sex are far higher than those for African American sex, workers, in general. •The average African American male engineer aged 2534 earned $63,000 annually. •The average African American female engineer aged 25-34 earned $64,000 annually.
35‐44
45‐54
55‐64
$100,000 $90,000 $80,000 $70,000 $60,000 $50,000 $40,000 $30,000 $20,000 $10,000 $0 African Americans
•2.5% of the nation’s 24,369 tenured/tenure track engineering faculty were African American in 2009 (ASEE 2010).
About the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc. (NACME) Since its founding 37 years ago, NACME has stayed true to its mission: To insure American resilience in a flat world by leading the national effort to expand U.S. capability via better engagement of African American, American Indian and Latino 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 22,000 students with more than $124 million in scholarships and other support. Currently, NACME provides scholarship support to more than 1,300 college engineering students through a national network of 50 partner universities. NACME has also been engaged in a middle school through community college strategy to increase the number of underrepresented minority students i STEM di in disciplines. i li engineering. i i htt // http://www.nacme.org.
Female
African Americans
•African Americans represent 5% of the U.S. engineering workforce … but account for 12% of the overall U.S. workforce.
3M AT&T, Inc.
Male
Engineers
•There were 128,042 African Americans in four types of engineering jobs in 2009.
NACME’s goal: An engineering workforce that looks like America.
Female
All
African Americans
Male
Board of Directors IBM Corporation Intel Corporation
BAE Systems Inc. Bechtel Corporation BP p.l.c. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Chevron Corporation Cisco Systems, Inc. Deloitte & Touche LLP Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc. Cravath, Swaine & Moore
ITT Information Systems Johnson Controls, Inc. L-3 Communications Corporation Lockheed Martin Corporation Malcolm Pirnie, Inc. Marathon Oil Company Merck & Company, Inc.
Eaton Corporation
National Academy of Engineering Northrop Grumman Corporation Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Inc. Polytechnic Institute of New York University Procter & Gamble
EMC Corporation Entergy Corporation Exxon Mobil Corporation Florida A&M University Ford Motor Company G General l El Electric ti C Company Hewlett-Packard Company
Raytheon Company Shell Oil Company The Boeing Company The Dow Chemical Company United Parcel Service, Inc. U i University it off TTexas, El P Paso Xerox Corporation
DuPont Eastman Kodak Company
All
Female
Corporate Council Americas Styrenics LLP New York Power Authority Dominion Resources Occidental Petroleum Corporation Emerson PPG Industries Foundation EOG Resources Praxair, Inc. Fluor Corporation PSEG Services Corporation General Motors Georgia-Pacific Hess Corporation Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. Motorola Foundation
Research In Motion Rockwell Collins Skanska USA Civil Northeast Jacobs Engineering Group, Inc. Sonalysts
MSA
Symantec
Underwriters Laboratories, Laboratories Inc Inc. Molex
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Acknowledgements: This brief was completed by Lisa M. Frehill, Ph.D., NACME Director of Research, Evaluation and Policy (
[email protected]). The author is grateful for comments provided by the NACME Research and Policy Advisory Council: Linda S. Hagedorn, Iowa State University; Shaun Harper, University of Pennsylvania; Gary S. May, Georgia Institute of Technology; Jose Moreno, California State University, Long Beach; Watson Scott Swail, Educational Policy Institute; and Bevlee A. Watford, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
