National Society of Black Engineers: I AM STEM

  To ensure a capable and skilled technical workforce, the Cal Poly Pomona (CPP) collegiate chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) is working to support students seeking certifications/training, access to career fairs, and professional development. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) is suffering from a talent shortage as old, male, and caucasian workers exit the workforce. To remain competitive and keep innovation progressing, a new era of diverse workers must be nurtured to combat the current decline. By uplifting women, minorities, low-income, first-generation college students, first-generation immigrants, and LGBTQIA, we can pool talented members to create new advancements. 

  This academic year we have two academic conferences that provide opportunities for workshops, competitions, research exhibitions, professional development, networking, and a career fair hosted by Fortune 500 companies. The Fall Regional Conference (FRC) is hosted at LAX Hilton from November 17th thru 20th, and National Convention from March 22nd thru 26th. Are goal is to carry a dozen CPP NSBE members to both conferences to explore full-time hiring opportunities, develop connections with recruiters from graduate schools, compete in hackathons/debates/entrepreneur pitches/research exhibitions/academic bowls, and work on legislation expanding minority initiatives.

   The #SayItLoud&ProudImAnEngineer fundraiser goal is to raise $10,000 to cover registration, flights, hotels, and rideshare for Nationals and FRC students with a GPA of 3.0 STEM majors, have participated in K-12 outreach events, and have attended three mandatory professional development opportunities. Excess funds will be used to reimburse students that gain technical certifications like the Fundamentals of Engineering and incentives for students that have shown solid academic excellence or support to the engineering community of CPP.