October 2022

October 15th marks the end of Hispanic Heritage Month, which started on September 15th. This month we would like to highlight the SF Bay Area chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE). SHPE is a nationwide organization that supports Hispanic students and professionals to realize their full potential and positively impact the world through STEM. They run mentorship programs, organize trainings and other events, and have created a wide-reaching network to support their membership, which includes high school students in SHPE Jr. chapters, college students, and professionals. 
SHPE also has a repository of research pertaining to Hispanic people in STEM from well-established organizations, which is an excellent resource for those interested in data regarding Hispanic representation in STEM fields. Some takeaways include:

• One-third of all degrees awarded to Latinx folks in 2012-2013 came from just 2% of all institutions nationwide (less than 100 individual schools), most of which are designated Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI).
  
• From 2014 to 2016, Hispanics occupied just 8% of all Engineering jobs, compared to their 16% share of the total employed population of the US.
  

In the last 20 years, the number of Hispanics occupying science and engineering jobs has nearly doubled.