The American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) convened an action-focused summit on diversity in engineering on April 2-3, 2003. The event was hosted by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in Washington, DC, with financial support from the GE Fund, Intel Corporation, Lucent Technologies, AT&T, and the National Science Foundation. Engineering societies, whether or not they are members of AAES, were invited to send the appropriate volunteer and staff person who are leading the organization's diversity programs to participate in the summit.

The goals of the summit were to:

1. Present the status and discuss engineering societies' current and proposed initiatives in the areas of diversity and gender equity.

2. Present the business community's interest in facilitating connections between engineering society initiatives around diversity and gender equity for increased leverage and impact.

3. Facilitate discussion to identify and explore common goals and potential linkages between existing initiatives as well as possibilities for future collaborative ventures.

Feedback from the summit was overwhelmingly positive, and plans are underway for a follow up meeting and potential ongoing activities.