Mentoring at the UK Center for Applied Energy Research and the UK College of Engineering

The Center for Applied Energy Research (pictured) and the College of Engineering of the University of Kentucky, currently host a research center-based mentoring program designed to increase the number of African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans graduating with engineering degrees and pursuing academic careers. Watch this short video for an overview of the UK CAER.

Given that a disproportionately low fraction of minority students graduating with engineering degrees go on to become faculty, minorities are underrepresented in faculty positions.
In order to address this issue, the Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER) and the College of Engineering of the University of Kentucky (UK) have established a research center-based mentoring initiative with funding from the Broadening Participation in Engineering program of the National Science Foundation.
This mentoring program, which is available to incoming African American, Hispanic or Native American engineering students at both the undergraduate and graduate level, has 3 main goals:
1. To motivate African American, Hispanic and Native American students to choose engineering and help them graduate with engineering degrees
2. To help these students acquire the skills they need to become engineering professionals, academics, leaders and role models
3. To investigate if mentoring in research centers offers advantages over mentoring in traditional engineering departments
Students joining the initiative are matched with a research mentor at UK CAER as well as with an academic counsellor and a faculty advisor at the UK College of Engineering.
Helped by these individuals and by a number of resources at the University of Kentucky, participating students acquire and develop the skills – from study, research and communication proficiency to teaching, management and outreach expertise – needed for an auspicious entry into the field of engineering.
Please visit the webpage dedicated to this program on the NSF website for additional information.