More Than a Network: How NSBE Supports and Elevates Black Engineers
The National Society of Black Engineers, or NSBE, plays a pivotal role in supporting and encouraging Black engineers and all Black students to succeed academically and professionally. NSBE has been supporting Black students for 50 years.
As we celebrate Black Futures Month, we sat down with Xaveria Azodoh, NSBE president at the University of California, Davis, and fourth-year electrical engineering major, to learn more about NSBE and its impact on Black engineers.
How did you get involved with NSBE?
I work for this program called the Ujima GIRL Project on campus. We do camps for African-American girls from middle school and high school, and we teach them STEM [principles]. I went to the NSBE conference for that and saw what NSBE was about, and the community that was built there. That's why I decided to be more interactive with NSBE.
How was NSBE first started?
NSBE was founded by six people from Purdue University [in 1975]. Their mission was just to increase the number of Black engineers as a whole because the number of Black engineers has always been low.
They wanted to form a community to help people academically and professionally, to be able to open more doors for them, and have people to talk to. It's such a close-knit community because there are not a lot of Black people in general in universities, and then adding engineering on top of it that's so scarce. It helps to have people who you are able to relate to and talk to. That's the whole point of NSBE — to make sure that people who are in this major and of the minority are successful academically and professionally.
What do you hope students get out of NSBE?
Community, because that's really important. NSBE isn't just for Black engineers — anyone's welcome. Everyone needs their resume checked. Everyone does need that professional background like how to do an interview. It's such a niche category to be in; since my first year, I've been the only Black girl in my class. I hope that they gain community and know that even though it's hard, they're not alone. If they need tips and advice from someone who they can relate to, they are always welcome to ask and we're always available to advise where we can. Seeing other people do it, it's more reassuring that you could do it.
What happens at NSBE conferences?
The biggest thing that everyone looks forward to with our conferences is the career fair. The regional conference has one day of a career fair, and the national conference has two days. That's where most people get their interviews or their internships or a full-time job.
These are companies who are looking to hire Black engineers specifically for their companies and to increase that group number in their companies. It's a great opportunity.
How can people get involved with NSBE?
People just need to attend a meeting or a conference to see the broader picture of NSBE. I don't think people really understand how helpful it is and could be for professional development because NSBE does have a professional chapter in addition to a junior chapter and a collegiate chapter. The professional chapter is a tight-knit community of people and companies that people could really benefit from.
