EMC, Raytheon seek to inspire minority students

The decline in engineering and science graduates in the U.S. is not a new issue. Erin Motameni, senior vice president of Human Resources at EMC, says EMC has recognized the downward trend for 15 to 20 years and has been actively involved in efforts to slow and reverse it.

EMC has pursued a multi-tiered approach by people from across the organization, she says, to promote STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education, starting at the top with Chairman and CEO Joe Tucci. Tucci has made STEM education a key focus as a member of the Governor's council on education in Massachusetts. He also served as chair of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable's Education Taskforce, which led to the release of a report called "Tapping America's Potential" back in 2005. The report highlighted the need for more STEM graduates in the state.

EMC's community involvement organization sends engineers and resources to local schools and sponsors math and science events to promote STEM education. Teams from EMC's Corporate Diversity and Inclusion group and HR also have STEM-related initiatives, Motameni says. And EMC's staffing and university recruiting organizations have explicit strategies and programs to assure the company is recruiting women and underrepresented minorities, including African Americans, American Indians, and Latinos, into its candidate pools.

EMC recently developed a presentation called "Two Strings to Your Bow: Keeping Your Options Open" to stimulate discussion among high school students on why they need STEM skills. Specially-trained EMC employees will begin presenting the program to area schools this fall.

The company also began partnering with the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME) nearly two years ago, contributing to the organization's scholarship fund. This year, it began hosting NACME-sponsored college interns. Two NACME-sponsored students gained some hands-on engineering experience at EMC during their summer break. EMC also keeps a database of NACME scholarship recipients for future hiring prospects, Motameni notes.

Activities in Massachusetts, California, and North Carolina

While the college intern program is geared toward encouraging students already pursuing engineering degrees, other EMC efforts in communities near its facilities in Massachusetts, California, and North Carolina seek to reach students at the middle and high school levels to help shape their views of science and math.

In Massachusetts, EMC has been providing resources and volunteers to the Worcester Public Schools since 2003 to foster interest in math and science. While the partnership isn't geared specifically to underrepresented minorities, Vicki Grisanti, senior manager of community involvement at EMC, says EMC focuses on Worcester because it is a very diverse community located near its headquarters. Worcester also tends to underperform academically compared to the rest of the state.

EMC provides volunteer assistance in the classroom at Worcester's North High School. It also sponsors district-wide programs such as the VEX Robotics Competition, where students build robots to compete with their peers at regional, national, and international competitions.

Last March, EMC took part in Worcester Innovation Month, a series of activities targeted at middle school students to spark interest in math and science. Fifteen EMC volunteers joined counterparts from Intel Corporation, Abbott Laboratories, and the University of Massachusetts in activities promoting STEM.

EMC also partners with Citizen Schools to enable employee volunteers to participate in after-school programs for lower-income middle school students, guiding them in engineering and science projects. Earlier this year, volunteers helped students build a crystal radio. Worcester middle school students toured EMC's manufacturing facilities in June. EMC plans to expand the Citizen Schools partnership to include locations in North Carolina and California.

In California, EMC supports the San Jose State University Mathemathics Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) program, which encourages students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to become interested in engineering and science. Under the program, EMC adopted a middle and high school there, providing volunteers and sponsoring MESA Day.

And in North Carolina, EMC is the corporate partner of the Academy of Information Technology (AOIT) program at Wake County's Apex High School, which introduces students to career opportunities in IT. It also sponsors the North Carolina Council of Teachers of Mathematics regional competitions.

"The main focus of our relationship with schools is how we can best use EMC's talent to encourage more students to go into engineering," Motameni says. "At the end of the day, having the best minds in our company and in the industry is what we think is a differentiator for EMC."

Raytheon develops modeling tool

While Raytheon provides volunteers and resources to support math and science initiatives in communities where its employees work and live, it took its STEM efforts to a whole new level recently with the launch of a new tool to analyze the issues of STEM education.

The defense contractor developed the modeling and simulation tool, known as the U.S. STEM Education Model, to help policy-makers, educators, and researchers understand the complex nature of the U.S. education system, according to Mark E. Russell, VP of Engineering, Technology, and Mission Assurance at Raytheon. It hopes to identify potential solutions that could increase the number of STEM college graduates.

The program looks at approximately 200 variables to gauge whether a student is likely to graduate with a STEM degree. It also looks at factors such as teacher-student ratios and class sizes, dropout and graduation rates, gender differences in STEM, and teacher and STEM industry salaries.

Raytheon also provides a math-focused, interactive website exclusively for middle school students. Called MathMovesU.com, the program engages students by linking math with activities kids are passionate about, such as fashion, music, and sports.

Corporate involvement is key

Glenn Arnold, director of program management at EMC's Storage Software Group, knows firsthand the difference STEM outreach programs can make in inspiring minority students to go into engineering. He says he had no idea engineering was a career option for him until some Georgia Institute of Technology students came to his high school in Atlanta to speak in the mid-1970s.

"That was a real eye-opener for me," he says. "I saw programs on other kinds of professions but not on engineering."

Arnold went on to graduate with high honors from Georgia Tech and earn a degree in physics from Morehouse College.

Now, the seven-year EMC veteran mentors at his alma mater, does some recruiting for EMC, is active in the National Society of Black Engineers, and has done volunteer work in the classroom.

"I think it's important to get to kids earlier rather than later," he says. "You lose potential engineering students in the middle schools."

Arnold praises EMC's increased focus on addressing the need for more underrepresented minorities in engineering and its work to promote STEM education. "I think the fact that executives are involved in the process—especially Howard Elias' (president of EMC Global Services) work with NACME—is very important. It's a big positive to have that level of engagement," he says.

He also expresses hope that corporations will take steps to bring more women and underrepresented minorities into the workforce to avoid the skills crisis that threatens U.S. competitiveness. "As corporate America makes measurable strategic efforts to do this, it will be successful," he says.