Two historically Black colleges aspire to become more than just feeder schools
Historically Black colleges and universities are relative newcomers
to the science and engineering search arena. As a consequence, few
offer doctoral level programs on their campuses, which is one reason
they are not among the top tier of institutions receiving federal
science and technology research funding.
A handful of these institutions are, however, far outpacing the
competition in their production of African American undergraduates in
science, mathematics, engineering, and technology (SMET) disciplines.
This fact, coupled with an awareness about the amount of public and
private funding that is becoming available to students and institutions
that excel in this area, has inspired some HBCUs to aggressively expand
their SMET programs. Their ultimate goal is to become not just one
choice, but the first choice of Black undergraduates — and eventually
graduate students — who want to pursue degrees in these disciplines.
The following is a profile of two such institutions.
Unlikely Leaders
Despite their multi-million-dollar scientific research budgets,
when it comes to recruiting and retaining African American
undergraduates in SMET disciplines, institutions like Johns Hopkins,
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the California
Institute of Technology (Caltech) are a long way from competing with
historically Black North Carolina Agricultural & Technical
(A&T) and Florida Agricultural & Mechanical (FAMU) universities.
A&T and FAMU rank one and five respectively among the leading
producers of Black engineers at the undergraduate level. All but one
(Georgia Tech) of the leading five institutions in this category are
historically Black.
