> Recent studies conclude this is not a “pipeline” problem — qualified candidates can be found. Really wish they'd provided a link to the stud(y|ies). There certainly exist qualified people of all stripes, but are there enough to meet a population-level representative size?
The pipeline problem for blacks begins before the age of 4 when their IQs are measurably lower than whites and stay that way for life. This is well known and has been studied to death. Any talk about education or whatever at school age or above is ultimately futile because you can't improve IQ in a lasting way. Some researchers attribute it to cultural parenting techniques or the environment or other things. But, fundamentally, to get black engineers, you need to solve that pre-school disadvantage.
Maybe the best you could do is identify the gifted children and move them to a suitable environment. But not all of them - only those who actually have potential, otherwise the problems caused by their lower ability peers will continue to drag them down.