Maintaining Competitiveness Requires Diverse Workforce - News - Quality: "The crisis is exacerbated by the inadequate number of underrepresented minority students who are prepared to study engineering and technology at the college level, says the NACME. Ross Wiener, principal partner, The Education Trust, says, “Only 32% of American high school students will graduate from high school with the skills they need to succeed in college or work. Only one of five students of color will leave high school ready for college.”

“Minority students represent a significant resource pool for the engineering and technology workforce,” says Dr. John Brooks Slaughter, NACME’s president and chief executive officer. “Of 659,000 minority high school graduates in 2003, only 26,000 had the requisite preparation in science and mathematics to qualify for admission to study engineering or technology at the college level.”

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