Alfred P. Sloan Foundation University Center of Exemplary Mentoring (UCEM)

MIT has received a major grant -- one of only three awarded nationally -- from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to create a “University Center of Exemplary Mentoring” (UCEM) that will focus on the recruitment, retention, and academic success of underrepresented minority doctoral students in four departments in the School of Engineering: Biological Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Chemical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.

The MIT UCEM will carry out strategic and customized recruitment strategies tailored to the four participating departments, as well as a structured program that addresses key barriers to retention and educational success consisting of academic support, mentoring, and personal and professional development opportunities.

The UCEM will be an attractive incentive for prospective students thinking about matriculating to MIT.

A team of faculty from the four participating departments -- Leslie A. Kolodziejski, professor and graduate officer of electrical engineering and computer science; David Hardt, professor and graduate officer of mechanical engineering; Patrick Doyle, associate professor and graduate officer of chemical engineering; and Forest White, professor and graduate officer of biological engineering -- as well as Eboney Hearn, assistant dean for diversity initiatives in the Office of the Dean for Graduate Education (ODGE) will serve as the governing body for the UCEM. In addition, the team will leverage Institute-wide efforts focused on community, equity, inclusion, and diversity through physics professor and Institute Community and Equity Officer Edmund Bertschinger, as well as through Blanche Staton.