The Georgia Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are co-organizing the National Science Foundation (NSF) Minority Faculty Development Workshop (MFDW) March 21 - 24 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  The workshop theme, “Engineering Faculty Success,” will offer workshop sessions designed to equip tenure track junior- and mid-level science and engineering faculty with tools and strategies to better navigate their careers.  Workshop participants come from four-year institutions from throughout the United States and represent the spectrum of engineering and science disciplines.

Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson will join MIT Provost Rafael Reif in opening the workshop. Georgia Tech Willie Pearson Jr., Professor of History, Technology and Society will serve as Monday’s luncheon keynote speaker.

The NSF Minority Faculty Development Workshop is a primary activity of the Minority Faculty Development Forum founded by Georgia Tech Professor Gilda Barabino. The purpose of the forum is to provide an ongoing mechanism to support the career development and retention of faculty from underrepresented groups. Barabino serves as the principal investigator on the grant that supports the workshop.

History of the Minority Faculty Development Workshop (MFDW) 
Evolving from the efforts of a group of chemical engineering faculty to provide and sustain a network to support their career advancement, the 2010 workshop is the fifth of a series of workshops that were held in 2001, 2004, 2006 and 2009. What began as informal get‐togethers at the primary professional meeting for chemical engineers led to a successful NSF workshop proposal and establishment of a model program for engineering and science faculty development. The MFDW is sponsored by the Engineering Directorate of the NSF.  

Minority Faculty Development Forum 
The Minority Faculty Development Forum is an online portal used to support the continued professional development, networking and research collaborations, mentoring and dissemination of resources, ideas and best practices of the growing cohort of MFDW participants. Its mission is to provide an ongoing mechanism to support the career advancement of junior and mid‐career faculty from underrepresented groups and to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in science and engineering.