While student Camille Cruz conducted an experiment in one of Georgia Tech’s labs recently, professor Tequila Harris stood by, keeping a close watch.
Cruz, a rising junior at Tech, spent this summer working about 40 hours a week in the research lab with Harris.
In return, Harris has become a mentor to Cruz. She exposed Cruz to the nuances of research and explained what a career as a college professor entails. The mechanical engineering professor has encouraged the student to continue her education and earn a Ph.D.
Their direct relationship is a cornerstone of the Summer Undergraduate Research in Engineering/Science Program, a 10-week research program Tech designed to attract minority students to graduate school. The program, which had about 35 participants this year, is part of a broad effort by Tech to increase the number of minorities earning doctorates in engineering and science.
The University of Georgia and Georgia State University also run programs to encourage under-represented students to earn graduate degrees in math and science fields.
This is a nationwide issue — in 2008 U.S. colleges awarded 905 Ph.D.s in physics and only 12 of the recipients were black. Studies show if minority and female students were proportionally represented in math and science fields, the country’s worker shortages in those areas would no longer exist.
A key aspect of Georgia Tech’s program and the others is the intense support participants receive. Organizers said this attention is critical because there are few minority students in most science-related programs, causing many to feel isolated.
Cruz and Harris meet outside the lab several hours a week. They discuss the career path Cruz has in mind and what steps she must take to make it happen. Cruz wants a Ph.D. and plans to teach, but might also spend a couple of years working in industry.
“I’ve done research with other professors before, but it’s different with Dr. Harris because I feel like we can relate,” Cruz said. “I know she will guide me through school and my career.”
Gary May, Tech’s new dean of the College of Engineering, helped start SURE and the umbrella program, Facilitating Academic Careers in Engineering and Science, when he was a young professor at the college. FACES provides graduate students with stipends, up to $5,000 a year, and workshops to help them succeed in graduate school and careers, whether research or academia.
May earned his undergraduate engineering degree at Tech and is the first African-American to lead the engineering college. When he decided to enter academia May knew little about what a faculty member does or how to write research proposals or the process for promotion and tenure.
“I didn’t know what the heck I was doing,” he said. “The whole process and experience is mysterious and what we’re trying to do is demystify it and make it more welcoming.”
A study released last year by the Higher Education Research Institute at Cornell University found black college students are more likely to continue as science majors if they have at least one black science professor.
The Atlanta-based Southern Regional Education Board has run a program since 1993 to diversify college faculty by encouraging more minorities to earn Ph.D.s and enter academia.
The State Doctoral Scholars Program pays tuition for participants and gives them a $20,000 a year stipend.
In return, the graduate students are expected to attend school year-round and the program checks in to make sure students are keeping up their grades, director Ansley Abraham said. It usually takes five to seven years for students to complete a Ph.D. program, but those who do it with SREB’s help finish in less than five, he said.
These students may be the only minorities in their departments so the program connects them with other participants and mentors to provide support.
About 330 students are currently in the program and 569 graduated. Of those who completed the program, about 80 percent are in academia, Abraham said.
Georgia Tech ranked No. 1 last year for awarding the most engineering doctoral degrees to minority students. About 80 percent of SURE participants enroll in graduate school, with about half attending Tech, May said.
Harris stays in contact with SURE students after the summer ends. She writes letters of recommendation for graduate school applications and encourages them to continue with their summer research projects so they can have published research as undergraduates.
“There is just so much support from Dr. Harris and the graduate students and everyone else,” Cruz said. “This summer has really opened my eyes to the different opportunities I have after I get my bachelor’s.”
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