The Engineering Directorate seeks to strengthen the societal impact of the engineering enterprise through prudent investment in programs which foster innovation, creativity and excellence in engineering education, and in fundamental research and knowledge integration, by promoting the natural synergy between these elements. In meeting this goal, the Directorate strives to capitalize upon the rich diversity of the Nation's human resources by increasing the number of those people traditionally under-represented in the engineering profession.
Women continue to be significantly under-represented in the engineering enterprise.
While some progress has been made over the past decade, the engineering disciplines continue to have the lowest representation of women of all science and engineering disciplines supported by the National Science Foundation. Equally disturbing is that a disproportionately small number of women engineering postdoctoral graduates pursue careers in academe, thereby limiting the number of women engineering role models in academic institutions. It is recognized that societal images of engineers and engineering hamper efforts to attract women to the profession. Images which are damaging to women's progress in the field must be counteracted with positive images and role models. All candidates must be US citizens, nationals or permanent residents at the time of proposal submission.