RT Journal Article ID 0e19b121603f0805 A1 Su, Lester K. T1 Quantification of diversity in engineering higher education in the United States JF Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering JO JWM YR 2010 FD 2010-09-29 VO 16 IS 2 SP 161 OP 175 K1 engineering diversity K1 engineering workforce K1 undergraduate education K1 gender diversity K1 racial diversity AB Amid the general understanding that the ranks of engineering education manifest insufficient gender and racial diversity, there has been only superficial discussion of any specific data describing diversity in engineering education. This paper draws on government-compiled statistics on population and earned bachelor’s degrees to explore the representation of women and minorities among college graduates in engineering. The data show that the issues of gender diversity and racial diversity in engineering education are fundamentally different. Underrepresentation of blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans among engineering graduates can be almost fully attributed to the comparatively low rates of overall degree attainment in those groups, and is symptomatic of the larger problem of insufficient diversity in higher education in general. The underrepresentation of women, in contrast, is a problem that is specific to engineering education. This suggests that the problem of gender diversity is more likely to be amenable to targeted efforts on the part of engineering departments and schools than is the problem of racial diversity. PB Begell House LK https://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/00551c876cc2f027,69ab3d9d13586e06,0e19b121603f0805.html