Speech to focus on need to stimulate interest in STEM fields

January 24, 2012

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Carl B. Mack, executive director of the National Society of Black Engineers, will speak at 6 p.m. Jan. 30 in the Reitz Student Union Grand Ballroom.

Mack will talk about the need to stimulate interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, fields, among African-American students. The goal is to encourage students in grades K–12 to attend college and pursue technical degrees.

He will also talk about opportunities for college students to tutor through NSBE Jr., and to volunteer in primary and secondary institutions.

Mack was born in Jackson, Miss., and is a graduate and Distinguished Engineering Fellow of Mississippi State University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.

On March 1, 2005, Mack was named as the fourth executive director of the NSBE, one of the nation’s largest student-governed organizations. His presence was immediately felt. In each of his first five years, the organization set records for membership, reaching 35,776 members in 2010, up from its previous high of 12,842 before his arrival.

To help fill the pipeline to engineering careers with greater numbers of minorities, in the summer of 2007, Mack founded NSBE’s Summer Engineering Experience for Kids, known as SEEK, Academy. To date, he has secured approximately $3 million in funding for the program, which utilizes NSBE’s collegiate engineering members to expose African-American children as early as third grade to the world of engineering. SEEK exists in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio, with plans to expand to Oakland, Calif., and Chicago.

His program at UF is free and open to the public.