Our mission is to increase the number of culturally responsible, Black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally, and positively impact the community.
The Society of Black Scientists and Engineers (SBSE) is a student-run organization at Stanford University that is a chartered member of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). NSBE consists of over 260 chapters and over 13,000 members, making it the largest student-run organization in the country. SBSE, chartered in 1973 by Professor Clayton Bates and a few Stanford University graduate students, is dedicated to fulfilling the mission of NSBE: to increase the number of Black engineers and scientists who excel academically, succeed professionally, and positively impact the community. As a NSBE chapter, we also seek to promote the NSBE National Directives each year.
SBSE continues a long tradition of programs on Stanford University’s campus geared towards the successful recruitment, retention, and graduation of talented and enthusiastic Black scientists and engineers. These programs include:
- Weekly Study Nights
- BYTES Weekly Workshops
- Engineering and science incentive programs
- Weekly corporate presentations and networking opportunities
- Pre-College Initiative (PCI)
- College Track
SBSE is primarily concerned with supporting the interests of Black students and other traditionally underrepresented minorities pursuing degrees in science and engineering at Stanford University, and it occasionally coordinates and partners with the three other diversity engineering groups on campus—the Stanford Society of Latino Engineers (SOLE), the American-Indian Society of Engineers and Scientists (AISES), and the Society of Women Engineers (SWE)—to organize major events such as the annual Opportunity Job Fair.
We specifically aim to address the underrepresentation of certain minority groups in science and engineering, but we are also addressing our country’s faltering status as a global symbol of innovation and technology by fostering the growth of dozens of engineers every year.