"In recent years, many more minorities and women have entered America's lecture halls as members of the undergraduate and graduate student body," said Dr. Donna J. Nelson, associate professor, Oklahoma University, and lead researcher. "The unfortunate reality, however, is that these students are not making it to the front of the lecture hall as professors, particularly in the science and engineering disciplines."

  Among the study's findings:

  -- In the physical sciences and engineering disciplines, chemical
     engineering has the highest representation of minorities in
     full professorship positions - at just 4.9 percent.
  -- Women from underrepresented groups are nearly nonexistent
     among faculty in the physical sciences and engineering
     departments at research universities.
  -- No Native American faculty was found in the top 100 civil
     engineering departments.
  -- Minorities comprised 7.9 percent of electrical engineering
     Ph.D. recipients from 1996 to 2005, yet only 4.0 percent of
     current assistant professors drawing on that hiring pool are
     minorities.
  -- Minority students often can achieve a B.S. or Ph.D. without
     ever having been taught by an underrepresented minority
     faculty member in that discipline.
  -- From 2000 to 2005, Blacks increased from 10.6% to 12.5 % of
     computer science B.S. recipients, but Black faculty in the
     "top 50" computer science departments, the students' role
     models and mentors, only increased from 0.3% in 2002 to 0.8%
     in 2007.

"Now more than ever, the nation's changing demographics demand that we include all of our citizens in science and engineering education and careers," said Dr. Irving Pressley McPhail, executive vice president and COO, National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, Inc. (NACME). "For the U.S. to benefit from the diverse talents of all its citizens, we must grow the pipeline of qualified, underrepresented minority engineers and scientists to fill positions in industry and academia."

The survey results were released October 31, 2007, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. The complete report can be viewed by cutting and pasting the following URL into a web browser: http://cheminfo.chem.ou.edu/faculty/djn/diversity/Faculty_Tables_FY07/07Report .pdf