The National Science Foundation has provided a $2 million grant to the University of San Diego Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the school announced Thursday.
“This is an exciting opportunity to transform engineering education to meet the social, technological and environmental challenges of the 21st century,” said Chell Roberts, dean of the USD engineering school.
The five-year grant is part of the NSF “Revolutionizing Engineering Departments” project to develop student engineers who pursue projects for social justice, economic development and sustainability.
USD said it will try to attract more women and members of underrepresented groups to engineering, develop new courses tying technical concepts to global issues and change the culture of engineering education.
“Solutions and innovations for the world require a diverse group of engineers,” Roberts said. “This grant will help change the demographics of engineering students and help us attract a more diverse faculty.”
The Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering has nearly 500 students, 28 percent of whom are women. The percentage is higher than the national average, but Roberts said he thinks the school can do better.
“Our goal is to increase women engineering students to 50 percent and significantly increase our population from underrepresented groups,” Roberts said.
— City News Service