9781422283257

Introduction

“Scientists dream about doing great things. Engineers do them.” As they have done in every field of human endeavor, Afri- can Americans and people of African descent from around the globe have made enormous con- tributions to engineering—often in the face of equally enormous challenges. In this volume are profiles of just a few of the most well known individuals, repre- senting many more achievers.

Using existing machines or creating new ones, engineers are problem solvers.

Despite that rich history, engineering still does not at- tract enough people of color. African Americans account for approximately 14 percent of the population, but the National Science Foundation has estimated that they rep- resent just three percent of all scientists and engineers. It’s imperative to change that situation because diversity is un- deniably crucial to innovation. Scott E. Page, a professor of complex systems, writes, “Diverse groups of people [have] more and different ways of seeing a problem and, thus, faster [and] better ways of solving it.” The accomplishments of the men and women in this book are proof of that statement and can be inspirations to future engineers of color. Find out more about joining their ranks in Chapter 9.

Introduction

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