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For immediate release:
March 27, 2006

Carnegie Mellon's Arielle Drummond To Manage Graduate Program at National Conference

Carnegie Mellon students Joanna James, Royce Francis and Arielle Drummond are playing key roles in the upcoming National Society of Black Engineers convention in Pittsburgh.

PITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University doctoral student Arielle Drummond is managing the graduate school fair at the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) conference March 29 to April 2 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh.

"The main focus of this year's graduate school conference is to promote excitement and confidence among students for completing advanced degrees and engaging successfully in full-time careers,'" said Drummond, a Ph.D. student in Carnegie Mellon's Biomedical Engineering program. "Working on the conference has been both a challenge and a real eye opener," said Drummond, who will join more than 12,000 students and technical professionals expected to attend the event designed to encourage black students to become engineers.

Blacks only make up about 36,000, or 2.6 percent, of the 1.4 million working engineers in the U.S., even though they represent roughly 12 percent of the overall population, says the NSBE.

Kurt Larsen, an assistant dean of undergraduate studies at Carnegie Mellon's College of Engineering, said the NSBE provides an incredible vehicle for the university's students to explore a myriad of career and educational opportunities. "I'm excited that this year's national convention is in Pittsburgh. And I'm very proud to be part of the role that Carnegie Mellon is playing to make this conference a memorable experience," Larsen said.

Carnegie Mellon will play a major role in the NSBE conference by participating in the graduate school and college fairs, and by hosting a game design competition, pre-college workshops and campus visits. Some of the university's latest research projects will be displayed during the career fair, including intelligent robot teams and Grace, a social robot.

The NSBE, with more than 17,000 members, is one of the largest student-run organizations in the country with more than 300 chapters on college and university campuses, and more than 80 alumni extension chapters and interest groups in the U.S., Asia, Canada, Africa, England and the Caribbean.