U.S. Army gives $3.5 million to pre-college engineering camps for minorities
By Consulting Specifying Engineer Staff -- Consulting-Specifying Engineer, 5/8/2008 12:00:00 AM MT
The U.S. Army Research Office (USARO) will support a series of pre-college engineering summer camps held at nine universities across the country to foster an interest in engineering among high school students. The program, UNITE, serves historically underrepresented and disadvantaged populations by helping students prepare for engineering careers. While each UNITE site’s program is unique to its local area, all consist of 4- to 8-week summer camps that are structured around academic courses and hands-on activities. The nine universities conducting UNITE summer programs for 2008 are: Florida International University, Morgan State University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, New Mexico MESA, Savannah State University, Texas Southern University, University of Delaware, University of Detroit-Mercy, and University of New Orleans. In the 20 years of the program’s existence, UNITE has reached more than 7.000 students. Of those, 55% are female, 53% are black, and 54% of those in college choose to pursue engineering.
