This year the Donor Recognition and Student Awards Ceremony at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering continued the college’s long-standing tradition of bringing together many generous friends with the students who directly benefit from their support. Meeting with the donors for the first time is always emotional for the recipients who are so thankful for the funding and the donors who get to see the warm smile of a promising young person getting to pursue his or her dream.

Recent National Science Foundation (NSF) reports indicate that underrepresented minority science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) associate and full professors occupy just eight percent of senior faculty positions at all four-year colleges and universities, and only about six percent of these positions at the nation's most research-intensive institutions. With steady growth in minority groups that is changing the U.S. population mix overall, minority representation in academia is not keeping pace.