Gary May calls Tech's performance in producing African-American engineers "phenomenal."

Georgia Tech is the top overall producer of African-American engineers in the United States, according to Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazine's annual college rankings report.

For the 2005-06 academic year, Georgia Tech was ranked No. 1 in undergraduate degrees in engineering awarded to African-American students with 120 degrees, up from 117 during the 2004-05 academic year.

Other top five degree producers at the undergraduate level are North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina State University at Raleigh, Southern University and A&M College and Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University.

"Given the growing need in our state and around the nation for talented citizens, we are proud of Tech's role as a national leader in creating and maintaining a supportive educational environment for minority students," said President Wayne Clough.

Georgia Tech is also the No. 1 producer of African-American doctoral graduates in engineering with 11, up from four the previous academic year.

Other top five producers of African-American doctoral engineering graduates are Morgan State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Florida and North Carolina A&T State University.

Georgia Tech was No. 2 in engineering master's degrees awarded to African-American students with 28, down from 29 during the previous academic year, when Tech held the top spot.

The top spot is now held by North Carolina A&T State, a historically black university. Other top five producers are Southern Methodist University, University of Florida and University of Michigan.

"These rankings are a truly meaningful measurement of Georgia Tech's continued efforts to create an educational environment where minority students can thrive," said Gary May, chair of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and founder and director of Facilitating Academic Careers in Engineering and Science. FACES is designed to encourage minority engagement in engineering and science careers.

"Georgia Tech's performance over the past decade in producing African-American engineers at all degree levels has been phenomenal," May said.

One of Tech's most successful minority recruitment projects is FOCUS, an annual event designed to attract the country's finest minority undergraduates to its graduate programs. Each year, African-American students from more than 80 colleges and universities across the nation attend the three-day series of lectures, tours, panel discussions and social events. The event, which is held annually over the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, is now in its 16th year.

In addition, Georgia Tech has a solid relationship with the historically black institutions in the Atlanta area that make up the Atlanta University Center: Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morris Brown College, Spelman College, Morehouse School of Medicine and the Interdenominational Theological Center.