UB's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and over 100 North American universities have signed onto a White House effort to bring greater diversity to the science and technology fields.
"We know that a diverse population of engineers and scientists working on a problem will yield better outcomes, better results," said Dr. Liesl Folks, Dean of UB's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
"The best data on this comes from the U.S. Army."
In a conversation with WBFO, Dr. Folks recalled her initial days studying science in college. She credited her university with providing an atmosphere that helped her become the first female to earn a PhD. in physics at the institution in 20 years.
Folks believes some prospects are unnecessarily intimidated by the engineering field.
"I don't that its as different from other work environments as people imagine. I do think in this day and age it's very fast-paced so it's not good for people who want to take a very, very long time to resolve a particular problem, perhaps."
