GE will reportedly invest up to US$100 million over ten years to the next ten years to increase the diversity of young people in engineering.
The Next Engineers program will initially take place in Cincinnati, Ohio and Greenville, South Carolina, Stafford, UK, and Johannesburg, South Africa and focuses on providing students ages 13 to 18 with ‘hands-on exposure to engineering concepts and careers’, according to GE. Engineering degree scholarships will also be available. Plans are for the company program reach more than 85,000 students in around 25 cities internationally.
‘Engineers are critical to building a world that works, but diverse populations are woefully underrepresented in the field,’ said Linda Boff, president of the GE Foundation an independent charitable organization funded by the company. ‘GE employs thousands of engineers around the globe and we’re committed to providing the resources that will inspire the next generation of engineers and innovators wherever their careers take them.’
According to GE, 20% of engineers in the US are from underrepresented populations, while in the UK, women earn 17% of undergraduate degrees in engineering. In South Africa, 11% of registered engineers are women.
For more information and to apply for programs, go here.
This story uses material from GE, with editorial changes made by Materials Today.
