New young students, staff and faculty have a unique perspective and tremendous energy that, if properly harnessed, can have a dramatic impact on the organization. Including students, staff and faculty together in teams also breaks down hierarchical barriers and brings new energy and ideas from the student body. At many universities, the energy and dedication of students to the health of the enterprise is an underutilized resource. It is always essential to network. Staff, faculty and administrators can work to ensure that there are adequate informal and formal networking opportunities for underrepresented students, staff and faculty.
Isolation is one of the major causes of attrition from the engineering pipeline.
In addition, we must use networks to nominate women and people of color for prestigious awards and honors and key leadership positions. Such recognition will go far to enhance diversity in the engineering work force. There is a host of literature on both mentoring and the impact of mentoring with respect to underrepresented groups 3-5 . This literature is extensive, and we will not attempt to replicate it here. We often overlook the responsibility of the mentee in a successful mentoring relationship.