The Pre-College Initiative (PCI) is designed to stimulate the interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. The goal is to encourage students in grades K-12 to attend college and pursue technical degrees.  PCI convention schedules include sessions, competitions, workshops, talent shows, and lots of fun for NSBE Jr. Chapters.

NSBE
205 Daingerfield Road
Alexandria, VA 22314
(703) 549-2207
www.nsbe.org

The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers Conference is the largest technical and career conference for Hispanics in the country. The Advancing Hispanic Excellence in Technology, Engineering, Math and Science (AHETEMS) held at the conference offers two and a half days of college awareness programs for Latino middle and high school students. Academic workshops, design and technical competitions are a part of the exciting event for 1,200 students from across the country – including SHPE Jr. Chapters.
A STEM teacher training series will also be offered for DC-area middle and high school teachers.

Conference Registration
Valerie Valenzuela
(323) 725-3970 ext. 109
www.shpe.org

High school girls are among the 6,000 attendees at the SWE National Conference each year. Girls attending the conference are typically a part of a program that is coordinated by SWE. Participants attend workshops and professional sessions, as well as taking part in the annual Career Fair. The National Conference is designed for professional women engineers to help them to stay abreast of changes in the industry, sharpen their craft, and develop their leadership skills in engineering.

IBMer Melba Lopez, center, helps 13 year old Brittany Fernandez, left, design a web page during an activity in the E.X.I.T.E. camp held at IBM RTP.

IBM EX.I.T.E. Camps – nominated by teachers at middle schools or counselors, IBM female volunteers run a one-week day camp designed to spark interest in math and science with middle-school girls to position them for future careers in these fields.
Since its inception in 1999, more than 4,000 girls have participated in EX.I.T.E (EXploring Interests in Technology and Engineering). Camps in more than 30 countries around the world and, following their experience, approximately 85 percent said they would pursue an engineering or technical-related degree when they go to college.
EXITE Camp participants are nominated by counselors and teachers at middle schools that have an established relationship with IBM through such community outreach programs as Reinventing Education or MentorPlace, a global program where students receive online academic assistance and career counseling by IBM volunteers. At the conclusion of the EXITE Camps, the girls will take part in the MentorPlace program by being paired with IBM employees who will mentor them during the school year.

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Student volunteer Sarika Mendu, right center, center, helps 14 year old Suneet Sandhu, left, center, design a web page during an activity in the E.X.I.T.E. camp held at IBM RTP

IBM MentorPlace (www.mentorplace.org ) – through this corporate volunteer program, IBM employees around the world provide students with online academic assistance and career counseling, while letting them know that adults do care about their issues and concerns. Participants communicate and collaborate using a secure online Web-based tool available in five languages. More than 6,000 IBMers and 7,000 students in 38 countries have participated in the program.

11 year old Aribah Shah designs a web page during an activity in the E.X.I.T.E. camp held at IBM RTP

PowerUp – a free multiplayer online game (www.powerupthegame.org ), developed by IBM to challenge teenagers to help save the planet “Helios” from ecological disaster. It is available for download in the classroom or at home, and is part of IBM’s TryScience initiative and was launched at Engineer’s Week 2008. As chair of this year’s Engineer’s Week, an annual effort to promote engineering careers to students across the world, IBM devised the 3D virtual game to engage kids and educators in engineering, energy, and diversity awareness. PowerUp aims to use the interest in fantasy virtual worlds to encourage kids to learn about engineering principles by riding over rugged mountains in buggies to build solar towers or searching through grim junk yards to repair wind turbines. They will also learn about energy conservation by the choices they make in completing their missions. The game also features non-player characters that represent a diverse cross section of the population, providing role models to encourage every young person to consider a career in engineering and acting as guides for the game. Teacher classroom curriculum is also provided.

Partnering with IBM in Education (PIE) – to encourage Hispanic students at the elementary, middle and high school levels to consider careers in science, technology and engineering and mathematics (STEM), this program provides resources to schools in support of activities and programs like eWeek, Hispanic Heritage Month, career days, TryScience, MentorPlace. Uses IBM’s MentorPlace program to enable professional mentors, university students, and K-12 students to engage in a three-way cascading mentoring relationship.

TryScience (www.tryscience.org ) – a collaboration of the New York Hall of Science, IBM, and the more than 500 member institutions of the Association of Science-Technology Centers, opens a world of discovery to students by providing online interactive exhibits, multimedia adventures, and live camera “field trips,” as well as hands-on science projects that children, parents, and teachers can do at home or in school. The site is available in nine languages (including Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish), and a kiosk version has been donated to over 175 science centers and museums in over 30 countries.

Dr. Mark E. Dean is vice president Technical Strategy and WW Operations for IBM Research. In this role, he is responsible for setting the direction of IBM’s overall Research Strategy across eight worldwide labs and leading the global operations and information systems teams. An engineer by training, Dr. Dean has over 29 years with IBM, and is an IBM Fellow. He has been central to the design of a wide range of IBM products.

Dr. Dean has held various positions in several different cities and IBM divisions. Prior to his current role, he was vice president of the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California and senior location executive for Silicon Valley, overseeing more than 400 scientists and engineers doing exploratory and applied research in various hardware, software and services areas including: nanotechnology, materials science for storage systems, data management, web technologies, workplaces practices and user interfaces.

During his career, Dr. Dean has held several engineering positions at IBM in the area of computer system hardware architecture and design in Boca Raton, Florida, Austin, Texas and Yorktown Heights, New York. He has developed all types of computer systems, from embedded systems to supercomputers, including testing of the first gigahertz CMOS microprocessor, and establishing the team that developed the Blue Gene supercomputer. He was also chief engineer for the development of the IBM PC/AT, ISA systems bus, PS/2 Model 70 & 80, the Color Graphics Adapter in the original IBM PC, and holds three of the nine patents for the original IBM PC. One invention — the Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) “bus,” which permitted add-on devices like the keyboard, disk drives and printers to be connected to the motherboard — would earn election to the National Inventors Hall of Fame for Dean and colleague Dennis Moeller.

Dr. Dean received a BSEE degree from the University of Tennessee in 1979, an MSEE degree from Florida Atlantic University in 1982, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1992.

Dr. Dean’s most recent awards include: National Institute of Science Outstanding Scientist Award, member of the American Academy of Arts and Science and National Academy of Engineering, IEEE Fellow, the CCG Black Engineer of the Year, the NSBE Distinguished Engineer award, the University of Tennessee COE Dougherty Award, member of the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame, and recipient of the Ronald H. Brown American Innovators Award. Dr. Dean was appointed to IBM Fellow in 1995, IBM’s highest technical honor. He is a member of the IBM Academy of Technology. He has received several academic and IBM awards, including thirteen Invention Achievement Awards and six Corporate Awards. Dr. Dean has more than 40 patents or patents pending.

LINDA GOODEN

At a time when women are disproportionately underrepresented among top business executives in the technology sector, Lockheed Martin’s Linda Gooden shows us the possibilities.

Gooden is Executive Vice President of Lockheed Martin Information Systems & Global Services (IS&GS) business area and an officer of Lockheed Martin Corporation.   IS&GS, which employs approximately 52,000 people worldwide and generated $8.4 billion in equivalent sales for Lockheed Martin.

Lockheed Martin is the largest provider of federal technology services in the world.
Under her leadership IS&GS provides its federal customers with information technology solutions, mission services, logistics services, energy and homeland security support, business process services, and global peacekeeping and nation-building services.

Gooden actively supports professional, academic, and civic organizations, serving on numerous executive boards including Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) International;  Information Technology Association of America (ITAA); University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering and Robert H. Smith School of Business’ Center for Electronic Markets & Enterprises; University of Maryland, Baltimore County; and Prince George’s Community College Foundation; Maryland Business Roundtable for Education; and the Executive Leadership Council.

Gooden was selected as 2006 Black Engineer of the Year by U.S Black Engineer and IT Magazine, was featured as one of Black Enterprise Magazine’s Women of Power in Business for 2006, and was named a 2006 Aiming High honoree by Legal Momentum.  She was named winner of the 2002 Federal 100 “Eagle” Award by Federal Computer Week and received the 2002 Corporate Leadership Award by Women in Technology.

She was voted one of Washington Business Journal’s “Women Who Mean Business” in 2004. Ms. Gooden also holds Dollars & Sense Magazine’s 1997 Salute to America’s Best and Brightest; and the Annual Peat Marwick High Tech Entrepreneur Award in 1994.
Gooden assumed her current position in January 2007.

She served previously as President of Lockheed Martin Information Technology, a business unit she grew over 10 years to become a multibillion dollar business.  She was Vice President of Lockheed Martin’s Software Support Services unit from 1994 and earlier held other positions of increasing responsibility within the corporation’s Data Systems and Information Systems companies.  Prior to joining the corporation in 1980,  Gooden was employed as a software engineer for General Dynamics of San Diego in support of engineering systems.

She received her degree in Computer Technology from Youngstown State University and completed post-baccalaureate studies at San Diego State University.  She also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Maryland, University College. In 2005, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Public Service degree from the University of Maryland University College in recognition of her service to the community and to higher education.

DR. NILS J. DIAZ

Dr. Nils J. Diaz, former chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and internationally recognized scientist, has been named the Museum of Science & Industry’s (MOSI) 2009 National Hispanic Scientist of the Year. Cuban-born, Dr. Nils J. Diaz is internationally recognized for his broad expertise and contributions to nuclear sciences, reactor systems and fuels, to the regulation of nuclear facilities and radioactive materials, and to nuclear policy analysis and development.

Diaz presently serves as a commissioner of the Florida Energy and Climate Commission. He has received many national and international awards, including the Henry DeWolf Smyth 2008 Nuclear Statesman Award, awarded by the Nuclear Energy Institute, representing the nuclear industry, and by the American Nuclear Society.

Dr. Diaz was designated chairman of the NRC by President Bush on April 1, 2003 and he served as such until his retirement from government service on June 30, 2006. He was first nominated by President Clinton and confirmed by the Senate as a Commissioner with the NRC in August 1996, nominated and confirmed again in 2001, and exercised the responsibilities of the position until he assumed the Chairmanship of the Commission.

During his 40-year research career, Diaz has served as director of the Innovative Nuclear Space Power Institute (INSPI) for the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO), Department of Defense, and a professor of Nuclear Engineering Sciences at the University of Florida. From 1969 to 1996, Dr. Diaz held senior positions at universities, Boards and industry, and consulted for the US Government and other governments on civilian nuclear energy development.

For eight years, MOSI (Museum of Science & Industry) has recognized nationally distinguished Hispanic science and engineering professionals to serve as role models and mentors for Tampa Bay’s Hispanic youth. Past honorees include a former US Surgeon General, a Nobel Laureate of Chemistry, a NASA astronaut, a marine biologist, a Harvard professor of pathology and former chief of immunogenetics at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, a seismologist and former director of the Carnegie Academy for Science Education (CASE), Washington, D.C., an industrial engineer and the first Hispanic to serve as acting head of the Engineering Directorate at the National Science Foundation (NSF), and most recently, a molecular biologist and founding member of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS).

This year MOSI will present the National Hispanic Scientist of the Year Award to Dr. Nils J. Diaz during a gala award ceremony on Saturday, October 10, 2009.

The mission of the MOSI National Hispanic Scientist of the Year Award is to recognize outstanding Hispanic scientists who promote a greater public understanding of science and motivate Hispanic youths’ interest in science.

Proceeds from the event help fund more than 1,200 students from underserved communities and low-income schools an exciting day of mentoring and access to over 450 MOSI hands-on exhibits including lunch during Meet the Scientist Day. Event proceeds also help to fund MOSI’s YES! Team, an educational enrichment and vocational training program designed to help at-risk youth develop and progress in a supportive peer-group environment.

RODNEY ADKINS

Growing up, Rodney Adkins spent a lot of his free time taking things apart – TV, radio, even the vacuum cleaner. But he always put them back together.

Rod Adkins leads all of IBM’s global server and storage systems hardware and software development. He also leads the microelectronics business which includes semiconductor process technology development and semiconductor manufacturing operations for microprocessors and application specific integrated circuits used by IBM and its OEM clients.

Adkins has held a number of product development, business operations and general management positions since joining IBM in 1981. He has experience in Printers, Personal Computers, Servers, Storage and Software. Mr. Adkins has served as General Manager for Desktop Systems in Personal Systems Group; for UNIX systems in Server Group; and for Pervasive Computing in Software Group.

As a member of IBM’s Performance and Technology Teams and the Board of Governors for the IBM Academy of Technology, Mr. Adkins helps drive IBM’s corporate and technical direction. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), Executive Leadership Council (ELC), and National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). He is also a member of the board of directors for the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME), the Smithsonian Institution and Pitney Bowes, Inc.

Adkins has been recognized as a leader in information technology – the 2007 Black Engineer of the Year, National Academy of Engineering election in 2005, Top Blacks in Technology since 2004, and Professional Achievement in Industry in 1996. In 2002, Fortune magazine named Mr. Adkins one of the 50 Most Powerful Black Executives in America. He also earned the Golden Torch Award for Lifetime Achievement in Industry from NSBE in 2001.

Adkins earned a B.A. degree with emphasis in Physics from Rollins College as well as B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.

*Stay tuned for more role models in STEM!

The trip began in Compton Woodley Airport in Los Angeles, not too far from her hometown of Inglewood and ended in Newport News Va. on July 14th. She piloted a single-engine Cessna from the west coast to the east coast with several landings and takeoffs in between her arrival in Virginia.

She made 11 stops in between California and Newport News and during each stop she met with members of the Tuskegee airmen who were the inspiration for her trip. The Tuskegee airmen were African-American pilots who flew airplanes during World War II and never lost a mission during a time when many people with prejudiced views did not believe that African Americans had the skills and abilities to fly planes. A retired airman Tuskegee airman Levi Thornhill, 86, accompanied Anyadike for every mile of the entire trip

The Tuskegee Airmen’s heroic and universally successful missions through dangerous enemy territory put that myth to rest, just as Anyadike has also put to rest some beliefs about young girls being able to fly with the best of them. According to a recent news article, Kimberly faced some doubters but did not give up on her dream.

“I’ve been underestimated a lot since I am girl. There have been a lot of male instructors who will be like, just sit back and I will do this and I will be like no, watch me. I can do this, you know,” Anyadike said.

She learned to fly at age 12 as a student of Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum in Compton. A program began by Robert Petgrave, a Hollywood stunt pilot 12 years ago to provide young people with a positive outlet.

Flying seems to be a family affair for Anyadike as she follows in the footsteps of her sister Kelly, 17, who became the youngest African-American woman to fly four solo planes in one day.

Anyadike plans to continue to do amazing things and looks to become a private pilot as well as a cardiovascular surgeon. She plans to attend Harvard University or Stanford and is already taking college classes in Los Angeles. She studies dance, can read music and is learning to play several instruments including the piano.

Without a doubt, there is no limit to how high she and young people can fly when given the right opportunities.

While some feel like green-tech may be somewhat of an oxymoron many are considering it the wave of the future. Of course this doesn’t mean that everyone will be driving hybrid vehicles and eating vegetarian in the near future. It does however mean that those considering careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields will have considerably more leaning toward healthier options for you and the planet in pursuing your trade.

The California Green Corps represents one of the many new programs designed to take advantage of theses green careers and train California residents ages 18-24 as construction workers, salesperson, scientists, engineers, energy analysts, computer technicians and other jobs that will prepare them for the 21st Century workforce. California expects to create 83,000 green jobs over the next two years.

Earlier this year President Barack Obama named California activist and leading proponent of green economy jobs, Van Jones, as his special advisor on green jobs. Obama recently signed into law the Stimulus Package that included billions of dollars for green jobs, training and incentives designed to push the nation further and further away from dependency on fossil fuels – more commonly known as petro, gas, petroleum, and black gold.

Green jobs and a green economy are both the present and the eventual future. According to information from the Joint Venture Silicon Valley Network and Silicon Valley Community Foundation “green-tech jobs have grown 23 percent from 2005 to 2007.” Additionally investment in Silicon Valley clean-tech companies increased 94 percent over the previous year.

One recent news article by Reuters noted that in an otherwise bleak economy, only healthcare and clean energy were bright spots. The story also points to a recent study by University of Massachusetts and the Center for American Progress determining that “the economic stimulus and the climate-change bills would generate $150 billion a year in clean-energy investments, netting 1.7 million new jobs annually.”

Although there are critics who say that green jobs are not the answer and will maybe not grow as fast as some optimistic predictions, most believe that the genie is out of the bottle and the only way to go either at a slow pace or fast pace will be green.

The question is how do you find a green job or even determine what one is?  Well, practically every area of science, technology, engineering, and math fields and careers have green job components. Navigating your way through school or this growing universe is best done by searching online, talking to colleges about “green” and “environmental” majors and the ways technical learning can be molded to take advantage of these new green opportunities.

A good website to visit is Yahoo Green: http://green.yahoo.com/blog/greenpicks/123/finding-the-green-job-of-your-dreams.html, where you can check out different sites and career possibilities for green and green tech jobs of the future.

Fortunately many people are moving past those outdated myths and opening the doors to rewarding careers in the STEM fields through girl power and the Summer Institute in Science, Technology, Engineering and Research better known as the SISTER Program at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

According to the program’s director Terri Patterson, SISTER “started maybe 20 years ago with a group of women that worked at the Goddard space flight center who decided to get together because they wanted to do something for the girls and they came out of human resources, science areas and the equal opportunity office.”

Since that time SISTER has brought together at least 20 girls each summer for a week for the purpose of increasing the awareness of and providing opportunities for middle school girls to explore non-traditional career fields with research scientists, mathematicians and engineers.

“We get scientists, (and) engineers and they come in and do different projects and different experiments,” said Patterson. “We have Dr. Aprille Ericsson-Jackson (an aerospace engineer) that comes in and builds rockets with them and they launch their rockets. Then we have another lady that comes in Dr. Betsy Pugel and she does the liquid nitrogen program with girls and for the last two years we’ve been working with Lehigh a college in New Jersey. So, we do an experiment with them and use video teleconferencing with them.”

The program is held during the fourth week of June and is free to all participants. Applicants must be in the 7th or 8th grade and have at least a B average in math and/or science. It’s not a residential program, so applicants and parents are responsible for their own accommodations, but the program is open to young women from anywhere. A lot of the participants come from the Maryland and Greater Washington, D.C. area but they also draw participants from other states including New York and North Carolina.

For Patterson the great part of the program is seeing the young women going on to careers in science, engineering, technology or math and watching them return as role models. “For the last eight years, I’ve been running the program,” said Patterson (and) “its been very rewarding to see the girls as they get older and the many girls that are in the science and math fields,” she said.

For additional information, contact Terri Patterson, Office of Higher Education 301-286-4398 or Marion Carson, Equal Opportunity Program Office (301) 286-0628

MITES represents six tough weeks of academic study, enrichment activities, excitement and fun on the Cambridge Massachusetts campus of MIT. Promising high school juniors interested in science and engineering careers can receive full scholarships to this summer program that in some senses is as competitive to get into as it is for students to gain acceptance to MIT itself.

Over the past 33 years of the program, 34 percent of the students who participated in MITES while in high school were accepted into MIT. During each of the last two years, 40-50 MITE students entered MIT following high school. While the University notes that MITES is not MIT and getting accepted into one does not guarantee acceptance or rejection by the other, getting into MITES will look good on your resume if you decide to attend another of the top technical colleges or universities around the nation. Students who attend MITES also enroll in Stanford, Columbia and Harvard University to name a few.

Seeing the need for more scientists and engineers of color and from other underrepresented groups, the MITES program attempts to instill in its participants the self confidence and experiences necessary for them to be successful at any top science or technology school.

They focus on helping students acquire a high knowledge of the subjects that they study and top level cognitive and analytical skills that will help them as students and in their professional careers. They also familiarize students with the skill sets necessary to excel in high-level mathematics and sciences while exposing them to a new network of friends. MITES students bond and remain in contact as members of a noteworthy and highly distinguished alumni group.

In order to find out about the MITES program, students should talk to their science teachers, principals, and guidance counselors. Also visit the website http://web.mit.edu/mites  to see how you can apply for the program online. Be sure to use all the resources at your disposal and ask questions – maybe students from your school have already been accepted to MITES and are a part of the alumni network? Maybe you can organize a representative of the program to visit your school and provide a presentation.

While the program does not discriminate, it does focus on traditionally underrepresented groups in the sciences and engineering such as certain ethnic groups. A different criterion is used to ensure that there is a diverse pool of students and certain factors can help with your application including:

*If you would be the first in the family to attend college;
*If there is an absence in the individual’s family of science and engineering backgrounds;
*the individual’s high school has historically sent less than 50 percent of its graduates to 4-year colleges;
*the applicant attends a school that presents challenges for success at an urban elite university (e.g., rural or predominantly minority); and/or
*the individual is a member of a group that is under-represented in the study and fields of science and engineering (African American, Latino or Native American).

MITES likes to look deeper into candidates to see what type of obstacles they have faced and overcome as additional factors in an overall application process that should show ability and bright promise in engineering, science, or technology. Students should not only feel that they will benefit from the program, but also that they can contribute something to the program in terms of attitude, enthusiasm, different perspectives, culture and character.

On top of that, you must be a citizen of the United States and pull together letters of recommendations, essays, extracurricular activities and PSAT or SAT test scores.