Professor Tsu-Jae King Liu, E3S faculty and Chair, Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Department at UC Berkeley, and Dr. Sharnnia Artis, E3S Education and Outreach Director, conducted information sessions at three (HBCUs), Norfolk State University, Morgan State University and Howard University, to kick off the U of California, Berkeley-HBCU Program: Pathways to the Science & Engineering Doctorate. The three sessions were attended by a total of 130 students and faculty of the hosting institutions.
This new program, funded by the University of California Office of the President, will support undergraduates from HBCUs to undertake research at UC Berkeley and their home institutions. The program’s vision is an increase in the enrollment of African-American graduates from the HBCU partners to engineering and physical science doctoral programs at UC Berkeley or other UC campuses, fueled by a strong pipeline of undergraduates who have been inspired by their research experiences.
The Center for E3S is one of four NSF funded centers that will host HBCU students as summer interns. The other centers are three NSF Engineering Research Centers: Center for Integrated Access Networks (CIAN), Center for Translational Applications of Nanoscale MultiFerroic Systems (TANMS), and Center for Nanomanufacturing Systems for Mobile Computing and Mobile Energy Technologies (NASCENT). Nine faculty members of UC Berkeley’s Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Department, who are associated with the four NSF centers, will be welcoming students from HBCUs beginning in Summer 2015.