This paper reports on a very successful workshop held in March 2009 at North Carolina A&T State University under the sponsorship of the National Science Foundation (NSF). The workshop sought to address the building of meaningful bridges among minority institutions and research-intensive universities in the United States, in emerging areas of engineering research. This was the first such workshop that the NSF has sponsored under the initiative of diversity in engineering research. The 205 attendees represented 56 universities and 15 corporations; 62 faculty and administrators from minority institutions and 66 faculty and administrators from majority universities attended and participated in the workshop. The workshop included 3 plenary talks by two provosts of leading universities and the head of the Engineering Directorate at NSF. The program also included presentations on successful research partnerships in six areas, four panel discussions (with Deans and Associate Deans as panelists) addressing K-14 education relevant to research, research partnerships, research at minority institutions, and industry partnerships. This paper reports on the planning, conduct, and important outcomes of this workshop. PLANNING FOR THE WORKSHOP Planning for the workshop began immediately after the workshop sponsorship award was received from the National Science Foundation in August 2007. The following committees outlined in the proposal were constituted: Arrangements Committee, Technical Committee, Report Committee, Invitees and Publicity Committee, and Conference Operations Committee. The members chosen for these committees were administrators, faculty, and staff drawn from the College of Engineering and the Division of Research. A website (http://www.eng.ncat.edu/event/NSF2008/nsf2008.htm ) was also set up for the workshop. VENUE The venue for the main events in the program were a set of four buildings on the campus of NCA&T. The buildings were chosen to enable the participants to see the students and researchers at NCA&T in their usual setting; this was further enabled by the fact that classes were in session at the time of the workshop. The luncheon was arranged in a large cafeteria catering to students, again to enable the participants to see the student population. The housing for the participants, the reception, and banquet was arranged in the Proximity Hotel in Greensboro, NC. This hotel is currently one the top five American green buildings and was built to get the US Green Building Council (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) platinum rating. This hotel was chosen to reflect the futuristic vision for research partnerships that this workshop sought to provide.