Starting Sunday, the ISU chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers will conduct events in honor of NSBE week and Black History Month.

Benjamin Peart, sophomore in industrial engineering and academic excellence chair of NSBE, said the organization meets once a week on Tuesday nights and has been planning for the event all year.

“It’s a way for us to get information about us to the ISU community, and hopefully we’ll attract people to the social events,” he said.

NSBE week will kick off Sunday with a social event that will include a dodgeball game.

A presentation will be given Monday to the Black Student Alliance about black engineering and science. Starting Tuesday and continuing until Friday, an information table will be set up in the Union Drive Community Center from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. A general assembly meeting will discuss NSBE history Tuesday in 1213 Hoover Hall.

On Friday the group plans to have an alumni lunch, which will bring in black engineering alumni.

“The alumni lunch is a time we’re able to recognize them,” said Kimberly Williamson, freshman in industrial engineering and freshman outreach chair of NSBE. “We will be able to talk with them about their experiences.”

The week will end with an expo for Ames Middle School students on Saturday. The expo will include demonstrations and activities to help middle school students see the fun side of engineering and help encourage them to go to college.

“We’re going to the middle school, because that’s about the time when you get a feel for what you want to do for the rest of your life,” said Nuku Doamekpor, sophomore in aerospace engineering and PR/publications chair of NSBE. “We want to open up students to engineering and show them how it affects day-to-day life.”

Peart said this week of events is to help inform the ISU community about NSBE and to try to get people involved with the organization by coming to the social events.

“We go to conferences, do fundraisers and are involved in the community,” said Eli Branch, senior in civil engineering and programs chairman of NSBE.

“We volunteer at the First United Methodist Church and at the Boys and Girls Club. We also volunteer in the national event, Walk for Education, where we go to lower-economic neighborhoods and promote education and going to college.”

Besides community and national involvement, Branch said NSBE strives for academic and technical excellence and recruitment.

“The mission of NSBE is to increase the number of culturally responsible black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community,” said Peart.

NSBE is the largest student-run organization in the world, with chapters in Canada and Africa.

“NSBE isn’t just for blacks and engineers,” Doamekpor said. “It’s for anyone who believes in the mission and wants to see a culturally diverse atmosphere in the places they work.”