The Grainger College of Engineering
Materials Science & Engineering

Diversity

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

The Department of Materials Science and Engineering at The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is committed to fostering a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment for their students, faculty and staff. Our department is best equipped to tackle society’s most challenging scientific and technology problems when we combine insight from a variety of perspectives, personal experiences, and backgrounds.

Our commitment

An important goal of the department is to encourage the application, enrollment, engagement and thriving of a diverse community of students. MatSE at Illinois is proud that the number of women undergraduate and graduate students has reached nearly 30 percent of our student body. Similarly, more than 35 percent of MatSE at Illinois faculty are women.

Our department is involved in various activities to continuously strengthen efforts to increase the diversity of our community as highlighted below:

  • MatSE at Illinois faculty is directly involved in individually advising students as well as student societies, such as Material Advantage and Keramos.
  • Faculty and staff are deeply engaged and lead a variety of outreach activities at The Grainger College of Engineering, including the Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering Programs, female-focused summer camps for high-school and middle-school students, such as GEMS and Mid-GLAM, respectively, and a MatSE after-school academy. GEMS hosts high school students in the summer for a week of fun activities in materials. Mid-GLAM is similar but is devoted to middle school students. Both GEMS and Mid-GLAM recruit several undergraduate and graduate helpers each year. MatSE after-school academy (ASA) takes places in the fall and consists of a series of online outreach activities to local schools. ASA also recruits student helpers.

  • Dow (DEI) Award: Funded through a generous donation from Dow, the $500 award recognizes efforts and initiatives of current MatSE undergraduate students to increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the department. Up to two awards will be given per year. It is due in February.

Graduate students

  • MatSE at Illinois advertises faculty job opportunities in avenues to attract a diverse pool of applications. MatSE at Illinois reviews faculty applications with respect to their scholarship and demonstrated commitment to DEI as stated in The Grainger College of Engineering’s DEI statement.
  • MatSE at Illinois takes care to invite a diverse body of applicants to campus interviews. The department is proactive in putting forward attractive offers and has an excellent track record in accommodating dual careers. Junior and mid-career faculty are supported with formal and informal mentorship programs. The faculty development committee provides thorough assessment and feedback yearly.

  • The MatSE department at lllinois coordinates a yearly Rising Stars Workshop together with CMU, MIT, and Stanford aiming to enhance the diversity of future faculty in material.

  • MatSE at Illinois takes special care to ensure that job descriptions do not include requirements that could potentially exclude those from under-represented groups.
  • Supervisors ensure that under-represented staff are tasked with recruiting faculty and students in a way that is commensurate with their job responsibilities and workloads.
  • Promotions and annual reviews are managed with parity among all staff. Exit interviews are completed for all staff, but special care will be taken to inquire about an under-represented staff’s input on MatSE at Illinois’ diversity culture.

  • MatSE at Illinois’ DEI Committee brings faculty, students, researchers and staff together to engage with recruitment efforts at the department, college and campus, and together they develop strategies to achieve our DEI goals.

Resources

 

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Key Diversity Leadership

IDEA Institute   OVCDEI

Contact Us

For answers to your questions about diversity within the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, contact Erica Malloch (emalloch@illinois.edu).