Employers are attempting to hire and retain scientists and engineers from diverse backgrounds. Colleges and universities are coming under pressure to produce a more diverse population of graduates. This pressure will be felt all the way down the educational ladder. Even though there is a great deal of knowledge available about how to attract and retain women and minorities into science and engineering and current programs have often had measurable success, there have neither been enough programs nor enough resources applied to mobilize an effective national effort.
Information is scattered and hard to find.
Very little comparative data on programs and techniques is easily available. There are no flexible communication links for business people, academics, program administrators or students to connect with individuals or groups around these issues. The coming connectivity and ubiquity of the Internet in corporate, government and educational realms gives us the opportunity for change. We are proposing to use the Internet to create a sustainable national resource, a diversity collection , to ensure a diverse and competitive science and engineering workforce for the 21 st century. Successful recruitment and training models.