Walter Lee is a graduate student in the Engineering Education (doctorate) and Industrial & Systems Engineering (masters) departments. He serves as a program assistant in the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity (CEED) where he is responsible for teaching the Galileo residential community seminar course; directing the Student Transition Engineering Program (STEP); mentoring a group of African-American first year students; and assisting with various other recruitment and retention activities.
He received a BS in industrial engineering and a minor in sociology from Clemson University in 2010. During his undergraduate years, Walter was actively involved in numerous campus activities. He served as a programs for educational enrichment and retention (PEER) mentor and tutor, a support service for minority students provided by the College of Engineering and Science (CES); became an industrial engineering ambassador for the College of Engineering and Science; joined and served as the director of education (2008-09) and vice president (2009-10) of the Pi Alpha Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.; and participated in numerous undergraduate research projects.
In addition to his work with CEED, Walter serves on the College of Engineering Diversity Committee. His research focuses on diversity and retention in undergraduate engineering programs. He intends to stay actively involved in research while gaining experience in teaching and working with numerous academic support programs on Virginia Tech’s campus. When he has free time, Walter can usually be found in the gym playing basketball – he’s also a member of the club basketball team.
Walter’s career goal is to make an impactful contribution toward ensuring that all engineering students have an opportunity to be successful. If he accomplishes this goal, he believes his presence will have positively influenced the engineering community. He intends to accomplish this goal by becoming a professor and developing and implementing research-based interventions that serve to increase the number of underrepresented students earning STEM degrees; this is why he is adamant on focusing his own research, teaching, and leadership experiences on better understanding and improving the systematic efforts to diversify and increase the retention rates in engineering programs throughout the country.
Walter considers Dr. Bevlee Watford a mentor. Dr. Watford is the founding director of CEED and has been able to positively impact students throughout her career. It is Walter’s hope that he will continue benefiting from working alongside her and be able to have a very similar impact as his career progresses.