Business
Creating a New Generation of African-American Tech Entrepreneurs
Christopher Smith, a doctoral student in biomedical engineering, looks at stem cell samples through an inverted microscope in a lab at the Johns Hopkins University. PHOTO/Patrick Semansky/AP
The numbers of African Americans going into the fields now collectively referred to as STEM — science, technology, engineering and math — are not just disappointingly low: They are shocking statistics, according to panelists at Wharton’s recent Whitney M. Young, Jr. Memorial Conference.
The level of discrepancy is startling,” said Irving Pressley McPhail, a speaker on a panel titled, “The New Digital Divide.” McPhail has been the president at three community colleges and is now president and CEO of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering. “When you have young people who have not had the requisite courses in science and math, it is not difficult to see that you are not going to have many going into the STEM work force,” McPhail noted. “We have a tremendous amount of work to do with parents and teachers, not just the students themselves.”
But panelists observed that connecting young people with mentors is just as important as making sure they receive formal training in science and engineering fields. “My parents were entrepreneurs. We were not rich, but we had a corner store in Miami,” said Chris Bennett, co-founder and CEO of Central.ly, which helps businesses with their websites and social media outreach. He noted that his mother, who also worked for telecommunications company Bell South, “made sure I knew how to use a computer by the time I was in second grade. And since my family was in business, I learned that early on. I sold lollipops when I was a kid, then concert tickets later on and books when I got to college.”
