Reaching Outside the Box for Opportunities
When Dr. Andrew Williams returned to The University of Kansas (KU) in 2017 as a faculty member in the School of Engineering, his passion for providing underrepresented minorities with opportunities to access and succeed in engineering led him to KU TRIO SES & STEM. As the current Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at KU, Dr. Williams describes his relationship with the STEM side of KU’s TRIO program as, “a no brainer. The TRIO staff are open to collaborations and want to support our students. I really like what they are doing.”
For Dr. Andrew Williams, reaching outside the box for opportunity is nothing new. He is the youngest of six children, neither of his parents earned a college degree, and as a baby, he slept in a cardboard box. Despite these early life challenges, Dr. Williams went on to become the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering with an emphasis in Artificial Intelligence (AI) from KU in 1999.
Before becoming a faculty member, Dr. Williams worked as an engineer. While working as the Senior Engineering Diversity Manager for Apple Inc., he noticed a lack of individuals from African American and other minority backgrounds entering the technology field. Troubled by this realization, he wanted to find a way to increase the number of minorities in technology.
To address the lack of diversity within the field of engineering, Dr. Williams left his industry position to pursue a faculty appointment. As a faculty member, Dr. Williams has built a career around securing funding to increase opportunities for underrepresented students to pursue education and careers in engineering. He uses his life experiences to inform his student advocacy work. His book, Out of the Box: Building Robots, Transforming Lives, showcases the resilience and strength students need to achieve their educational goals.
Dr. Williams firmly believes that recruiting and teaching diverse student populations is necessary for not only addressing the current issues within the field of engineering but also the country’s economic survival. “We have these gold mines and potential diamonds we are bypassing, and no one is really harvesting that.”
When asked what obstacles students from underrepresented backgrounds face in higher education, Dr. Williams replied, “Exposure. If you do not have an engineer in your family, extended family, or in your circle, you do not know what an engineer is. Students sometimes think I need to become a pro basketball player, an entertainer, a movie star, or a singer; but there are so many opportunities to pursue STEM and be successful.”
To ensure underrepresented students at KU have exposure to STEM careers, Dr. Williams has developed two programs designed to increase the numbers of underrepresented students in engineering — IHAWKe and KUEST ONE. Dr. Williams emphasized that underrepresented and first-generation college students need opportunities to see themselves in STEM fields. To extend the reach and impact of the KUEST ONE program, Dr. Williams once again relied on his network within TRIO SES & STEM. Through this partnership, the KUEST ONE program was introduced to KU OPTIONS and served as a collaborative sponsor for the 2018 program.
For students interested in STEM careers that are not specifically within the field of engineering, Dr. Williams relies on his collaborative partnership with KU TRIO STEM staff. He said that the impact of TRIO can be seen on the KU campus and without TRIO’s support, underrepresented and first-generation college students would be lacking in their overall STEM exposure, creating a large void, and leaving these students on their own to navigate the complicated landscape of STEM majors at KU.
The alliance between Dr. Williams and TRIO provides robust support services for prospective and current STEM students, allowing students an opportunity to think outside of the box.
