ABSTRACT
The Inclusive Engineering Consortium (IEC) planned a full-day workshop for its members in March 2020 to test ideas developed within the organization to more fully and productively engage joint PWI-MSI teams in the US education and research enterprise. The IEC is a novel collaboration among nearly 20 MSIs, most of whom participated in an NSF funded multi-year, engineering education project. This new organization was built on the idea that this collaboration can be leveraged and moved to the next level to provide higher capacity building at each of the consortium members. The hypothesis is that there are windows of opportunity open through establishment of research and educational collaborations between its MSI members with PWI research-intensive institutions. This is especially true since its member institutions serve a unique population of minority students. The IEC is developing the infrastructure and programs to facilitate collaborations between faculty, students and staff in its member departments, based on lessons learned from the previous educational program and, more generally, on the Science of Team Science. It is also addressing how best to build a different type of team structure with PWIs, industry, and other external constituencies. For each type of partner, a process is being defined and tools are being addressed. The purpose of the planned workshop activities was to test the collaboration process and tools by actively engaging partner faculty with PWI department heads and other faculty. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the original plan to hold an in-person workshop. There was no choice but to transition to an environment where interactions, engagement, and networking could still be achieved, albeit virtually. Discussion topics were developed for a series of online, mini-workshops, to be held over several months, with contents and aims similar to the original project. The notable exceptions related to the switch to online education experienced by all partners when their campuses closed in the spring and the urgent need to address anti-racism in engineering education. The overall IEC vision is to be a collaboration of Minority Serving Institutions Working as One to Advance the ECE Enterprise. It is organized as a virtual super department with broadly based strengths in education, scholarship and service. Collectively, it can function as the equal of any ECE program, accomplish more and have a greater impact on its students, faculty and staff through access to resources and opportunities not available individually. It is essential that both its partners and representatives of PWIs work together to realize its grand vision of research and educational collaboration of teams from its partners working as equals with faculty, staff and students from PWIs. This workshop series is a major step in testing out ideas developed within the organization to more fully and productively engage joint PWI-MSI teams in the US education and research enterprise;graduate more and better prepared minority engineers;increase efficiency and productivity at MSIs;and develop a sustainable and effective infrastructure to support minority students, faculty and staff at all universities. In time, the group will grow and the model being developed can be replicated and implemented for other disciplines. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021