experience such as building advisor/advisee relationships, leveraging collegial networks and selecting good lab environments.

The ACME web-based system was designed by MIT EECS PhD candidate Eric Brittain, who studies educational technology. The system is used for managing and tracking goals specific to achieving graduate degree milestones. Users can also share comments and personal and peer progress.

According to Walcott, a specialist in robotics, the ACME program has broad applications for any graduate student body since support and goal setting are universal challenges. Students participating in ACME have specialized in disciplines including aeronautics and astronautics, architecture, biology, chemistry, computer science, mechanical engineering and operations research.

The theme of the AAAS meeting, "Science and Technology from a Global Perspective," emphasized the power of science and technology as well as education to assist less-developedsegments of the world society. The meeting also focussed on ways to improve partnerships among already-developed countries and spur knowledge-driven transformations across a host of fields including global issues such as climate change, health, energy, environment, development, and education as well as frontiers in fundamental and applied science.

A major obstacle for minority students completing graduate degrees in science and engineering is a lack of support system. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the Academy of Courageous Minority Engineers (ACME) - a group designed to retain and enhance the experience of minority graduate students by facilitating and supporting programming geared toward completion of graduate degrees in multiple disciplines including electrical engineering, computer science, media arts and sciences, biology, and urban studies. While support or accountability groups are