Building community and supporting one another: BU’s National Society of Black Engineers
By Patrick L. Kennedy
The world still needs diverse engineers. Without a variety of perspectives in the room, engineers limit themselves and run the risk of hatching incomplete solutions or even harmful technologies, from pulse oximeters that don’t work on Black skin to facial recognition systems that fail to distinguish Black people.
So more Black students are needed in engineering schools, but the challenges to enrollment and retention haven’t disappeared overnight. That’s why it’s crucial for those students to build community and support one another through college and beyond—and that’s the role played by the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). Founded in 1975, NSBE’s mission is “to increase the number of culturally responsible Black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally, and positively impact the community.”
“I believe NSBE serves a vital purpose today, particularly given the current political climate and the challenges faced by Black students in higher education,” says Jeremiah Somoine (ENG’27), internal vice president of Boston University’s NSBE chapter—which last year won NSBE’s Region 1 (Northeast) Chapter of the Year award.
The impact of those political headwinds is not imaginary. After the U.S. Supreme Court banned race-conscious admissions, the proportion of Black students enrolled in BU dropped from 9 percent for the Class of 2027 to 3 percent for the Class of 2028. “At BU, where the Black student population is diminishing, NSBE plays an essential role in creating a space for connection, empowerment, and representation,” says Somoine.
Being a minority in higher education can be an isolating experience. And an already rigorous academic curriculum is all the more challenging for students—no matter how much they excelled in high school—who are the first in their families to attend college.
“We have a huge first-generation population,” says Raheeq Ibrahim (CAS’25), president of BU NSBE, which has expanded beyond engineering to encompass computer science and other STEM fields. “They didn’t have STEM mentors in their communities, so if we can provide that for them, that’s pretty important.”
We’re all in this together
Every Tuesday evening, an average of 78 members gather for a BU NSBE study hall in the Computing & Data Sciences building. (The chapter boasts 156 members.) There, upperclassmen mentor younger students, going over concepts in programming and engineering design, helping them think through problem sets and spreadsheet analysis.
Ibrahim remembers well her first Tuesday night study hall as a freshman. “This was the first time I actually had a community of people who looked like me and were also interested in the same field as me,” she says. Now Ibrahim is one of the seniors paying that mentoring forward. “There have been numerous times when we had to convince our members not to drop out of college or drop out of their major. That’s a big focus. Making sure they know that we’re all in this together, we all struggle sometimes, and that first bad grade on a test, it’s not the end of the world.”
Upperclassmen are in turn mentored by NSBE alumni, and club officers reach out to alumni and other engineering professionals to arrange for students to tour companies and for recruiters to visit campus.
“I am consistently impressed by the maturity and professionalism of the executive board, flawlessly coordinating and running events as well as securing funds for the chapter,” says STEM Pathways Director Hailey Gordon, who is an advisor to BU NSBE. “The chapter is invested in ensuring that all members succeed academically and professionally.”
The e-board also coordinates travel to regional and national NSBE conferences. Last fall, BU NSBE members even attended two conferences the same week—15 members went to the NSBE fall Region 1 conference in Stamford, Connecticut; while another 28 made it to AFROTECH™, a Black-focused tech and investment convention, in Houston.
On top of that, the chapter organizes volunteering and social events, often jointly with other Boston-area NSBE chapters, as well as a networking night in partnership with BU’s chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.
Launching careers
“I would not have gotten through engineering school if it were not for NSBE,” says Keith Clinkscales (ENG’84), who went on to a long private-sector career in quality assurance management and is today an operational excellence guru and the director of strategic planning and performance management for Palm Beach County, Florida. In his spare time, Clinkscales was instrumental in creating NSBE’s Professionals arm. He became the first chapter president of what is now NSBE Boston Professionals and eventually served as national chairperson of NSBE Professionals. He received a NSBE Lifetime Achievement award in 2018.
In addition to those Tuesday night study sessions, the skills workshops, and the camaraderie, Clinkscales counts NSBE conferences as critical. “A conference can be life-changing,” he says. “Somebody might be thinking, ‘I’m going to drop out or switch majors,’ but then they go to their first NSBE conference. When you walk through the convention center doors, you’re seeing all these people of color that are studying engineering. It’s a community of people going through the same struggle as you, and you’re like, ‘I can do this!’”
More than that, conferences provide opportunities for students to meet with industry recruiters. Last year, at least 21 students landed internships, or full-time job offers as a direct result of NSBE conferences and networking events. Employers include Netflix, Merck, Pratt & Whitney, Schneider Electric, and Bloomberg.
“That’s why it’s such a big deal for us,” says Ibrahim. “Our members have to make the case for missing class to travel. Is it really that important to go to this conference? Clearly, it is, when a significant number of students come back with job offers.”
Clinkscales can attest to that. “My whole career was launched from NSBE,” he says. As a senior, “I walked away from a NSBE national conference with three offers—no, four,” he says. “And almost all of my friends in NSBE got their jobs the same way,” starting out at top firms like Raytheon, Digital, IBM, and Compaq. “So through NSBE, I got my first job, I gained leadership skills, I made lifelong friendships,” he adds—and he met his wife, Alyson Clinkscales (ENG’84).
In September, Keith and Alyson Clinkscales returned to BU for Alumni Weekend, and at the BU NSBE reception, Keith spoke about his journey. “His energy was just crazy,” says Ibrahim. “Everybody loved him.”
Returning to his student launching pad as an elder statesman was “surreal,” says Clinkscales. “That was a tear-jerker for me.”
The BU NSBE annual awards gala takes place on April 19. Speakers include Keith Clinkscales, NSBE CEO Janeen Uzzell, and BU President Mellisa Gilliam. Visit www.bunsbe.org for more info.