2021 Women of Color | CONFERENCE - VOL. 21, NO. 2

DTX IS THE FUTURE OF WOMEN OF COLOR STEM CONFERENCES

TOP STEM WINNERS AT WOC STEM DTX 2021 OVER 600 RISING STARS AND TECHNOLOGY ALL-STARS

the

2021

technologist of theyear MEI CAI, Ph.D. Director, Battery Cell Systems Research Chemical & Materials System Laboratory General Motors Research and Development

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contents VOLUME 21 NUMBER 2 FALL 2021

cover

30| The 2021 Technologist of the Year

Get to know the 2021 Technologist of the Year, General Motors’ Dr. Mei Cai

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WOMENOFCOLOR | FALL 2021

www.womenofcolor.online

CONTENTS FOR TODAY’S CAREER WOMEN IN TECHNOLOGY AND BUSINESS

features

departments

24| The Future of

06| Take Five

WOC Conferences is DTX! Learn all about the new experience the Women of Color Conference is bringing to you

Claudia Morales has been with Bell Textron for nearly 28 years. Find out how

she worked her way through the company and became a STEM education champion

26| Passing the Torch

2020 Technologist of the Year

(Ret.) RADM Sylvia Trent-Adams,

Ph.D.,RN, FAAN Shares her

experience as the Top Award Winner

10| She Thrives

Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young discusses her career journey and the challenges that she faced from a very young age in Georgia

12| By the Numbers

This is Women of Color By the Numbers. Get to know the Women of Color community better with these quick stats

16| A Matter of Facts

36| Meet the 2021

Women of Color STEM Awardees

58| Meet the 2021

Matter of Facts explores the impact of COVID-19 on the careers of women in academic sciences, engineering, and medicine

20| Global Sisters in Innovation

Yufang Hou is a trailblazing member of the research staff at IBM. Learn more about her career so far and how she is giving back

Women of Color Technology Rising Stars, All-Stars, and Finance Leaders 78| My Health

Learn some tips on how to manage stress in your daily life

80| Last Word

2020 WOC President’s Award winner Adrienne Somerville shares her

thoughts on the topic of “Identifying your Talent and Maximizing Your Position”

www.womenofcolor.online

WOMENOFCOLOR | FALL 2021

› 3

PUBLISHER’S PAGE

Career Communications Group’s

Reset to Rise featuring WB’s “100 Years of Working Women” For Today’s Career Women In Technology & Business

I

n the summer of 2020, the Department of Labor commemorated the 100th anniversary of the United States Women’s Bureau (WB). When the agency began collecting data in 1920, it recorded 8,179,017 women in the labor force. The top occupations included teachers, stenographers, clerks, farm laborers, cashiers, and cooks.

In 2019, the bureau found that the 10 occupations employing the most women in America included teachers, nurses, secretaries, cashiers, customer service reps, retail salespersons, managers, and waitresses. The total number of women in the labor force was 79,457,808.

According to the most recent Women in the labor force data book, women’s involvement in the labor market has changed over the past several decades. From 1970 to 2018, the proportion of women ages 25 to 64 who held a college degree quadrupled.

The educational attainment of women ages 25 to 64 in the labor force has risen. In 2018, 44 percent of women ages 25 to 64 held a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 11 percent in 1970.

In 2018, women accounted for 52 percent of all workers employed in management, professional, and related occupations. Although the majority of women were registered nurses (89 percent) or elementary and middle school teachers (80 percent), more than 60 percent of accountants and auditors were women, 37 percent of lawyers were women, 27 percent of chief executives were women, and 19 percent of software developers were women.

Women accounted for more than half of all workers within several industry sectors: financial activities (53 percent), education and health services (74 percent), leisure and hospitality (52 percent), and other services (54 percent). However, women were substantially underrepresented in agriculture (26 percent), mining (14 percent), construction (10 percent), manufacturing (29 percent), and transportation and utilities (24 percent).

College women had a labor force participation rate of 49.7 percent, and high school students accounted for 24.6 percent. Of the 9.5 million veterans in the labor force, women made up 12 percent. Of the 16.1 million women with disabilities in 2018, 2.9 million, or 17.8 percent, participated in the labor force.

Tyrone D. Taborn CEO and Chief Content Officer

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VOLUME 21 | NUMBER 2 EXECUTIVE OFFICE Tyrone D. Taborn, CEO and Chief Content Officer Jean Hamilton, President and CFO

Alex Venetta, Associate Publisher, Manager of

Partner Services

Eric Price, Vice President, Recruitment and

Professional Training EDITORIAL AND CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Rayondon Kennedy, Managing Editor Lango Deen, Technology Editor Ada Romano, Editorial Assistant Deborah Greengold, Communications Specialist Michael Fletcher, Contributing Editor Gale Horton Gay, Contributing Editor Garland L. Thompson, Contributing Editor Roger Witherspoon, Contributing Editor

Beverly Wladkowski, Art Director Bryan Davis, Digital Director Rachael DeVore, Digital Channel Manager

Courtney Taborn, Digital Marketing Manager

Stacy Bowles, Digital Platform Development Manager GRAPHIC DESIGN

CORPORATE AND Dr. Gwendolyn Boyd, CCG Alumni Committee ALUMNI RELATIONS Chair and President

Dr. Eugene DeLoatch, Chairman, BEYA Alumni Group

Vice Admiral Walter J. Davis, USN (Ret)

National Chair, BEYA Military Alumni

Oliver “Bo” Leslie, Retired Program Manager,

Historically Black Colleges and Universities/

Minority Institutions, The Boeing Company

Monica E. Emerson, Women of Color STEM

Conference National Chair

Matt Bowman, CCG Military Program Manager

Stars and Stripes Committee Executive Director/

Chief of Staff for VADM Walt Davis, USN (Ret.)

Ty Taborn, Esq., Corporate Counsel SALES AND MARKETING Gwendolyn Bethea, Vice President, Corporate Development

Kameron Nelson, Account Executive

Katrina Shaw, Sales Support Assistant

Jay Albritton, Social Media Specialist JOBMATCH AND STUDENT Ashley Turner, University and Professional DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS Relations Development Manager

Rod Carter, Recruitment Specialist, College Relations

Shelia Richburg, College Coordinator CONFERENCE AND EVENTS

Ana Bertrand, Conference Coordinator Jennifer Roberts, Customer Success Manager Brandon Newby, Administrative Assistant Toni Robinson, 360 MMG Rutherford & Associates, Conference Partner

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Women of Color (ISSN 1937-0555) is a publication for today’s career women in business and technology. Women of Color magazine invites letters to the editor about any topics important to our readership. Article queries and letters should be sent to: CCG – Women of Color magazine, Editorial Department, 729 E. Pratt St., Suite 504, Baltimore, MD 21202. No manuscript will be returned unless accompanied by a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Women of Color magazine cannot be responsible for unsolicited art or editorial material. Subscriptions are $13/year. Please write to: CCG – Women of Color magazine, Subscriptions, 729 E. Pratt St., Suite 504, Baltimore, MD 21202. Copyright © 2021 by Career Communications Group Inc. All rights reserved.

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TAKE FIVE

by Lango Deen ldeen@ccgmag.com

Leading by example through her countless hours of volunteering C

laudia Morales earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial and systems engineering from the Monterrey Institute of Technology in Mexico and a master’s degree in industrial engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Over the past 28 years, Morales has worked in various roles at Bell Textron Inc. Her accomplishments include leading requirements and testing of quality systems during the company’s Business Systems Modernization project, developing computer applications, and solving system issues that prevent inspectors and factory workers from doing their jobs.

However, in a recent interview, Morales said that her proudest accomplishment is balancing work and family life. A quality manager at Bell describes Morales as “a living example of the company’s values,” which include “thrilling customers, acting swiftly and decisively, finding a better way, and lifting each other.”

Morales is one of the most dedicated members of the Bell Education Outreach Committee. For years, she has promoted science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) initiatives for middle and high school students. In addition, she has helped rally volunteers for nearly every Bell education and STEM event.

“Even more significant is the fact that Claudia leads by example in her countless hours of volunteering at nearly all of these events,” said a senior technical fellow at Bell Engineering.

Over the past five years, Morales has led the STEM+M Planning for Bell Day, helped mentor students for the company’s Vertical Robotics Competition, and coordinated school camps and tours throughout the year.

In addition, she put together a day called Re-Connect, where Bell employee resource groups came together to showcase what they do. During this event, the Bell Education Outreach group signed up over 100 employees interested in giving their time and talents to promote STEM at local schools.

Caludia is married to Dr. Gilbert Morales. The couple has four children: Giselle, a speech pathologist at an Claudia Morales Supplier Quality Assurance Systems Staff Specialist Bell Textron, Inc.

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www.womenofcolor.online

elementary school; Melissa, a pediatric cancer center nurse; Anthony, a MET engineer at Oklahoma State University; and Oscar, a Purdue Boilermaker majoring in mechanical engineering.

Recently, a physics and engineering high school teacher recognized the many hours the Moraleses worked with students for FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) events.

In one school, Claudia helps apply for grants for the FIRST Robotics Team. She encourages students to volunteer to assist with the annual drone competition that Bell hosts and helps find judges and volunteers. She also helps coordinate meals when the team travels for matches. In addition, Morales and her husband find ways to take care of the financial aspects for the group without seeking reimbursement.

“Sometimes children need to see that many years ago, I was just like them, playing tag and making mud pies,” Claudia said in a recent interview. “They need to see that working hard, setting ambitious goals, and never losing sight of education can truly change your life. Being with students who are eager to learn energizes me. I had great mentors during my K-12 years who inspired me and motivated me to pursue a career in STEM,” she said.

The mentors who inspired Morales included dance instructors, sports coaches, teachers, and her family members. Claudia grew up in a modest house with a small library with books stacked from floor to ceiling.

Her childhood toys ranged from Lego sets to Barbie dolls, microscopes, and electronic kits. She developed a passion for math and science in elementary school.

“Looking back, I was born an IE (industrial engineer),” She said. “I was always looking for ways to make things easier and more efficient and getting everything and everyone organized.”

Her parents have different educational backgrounds, but they believed in the value of hard work, education, and paying it forward. After completing 6th grade, Claudia’s father dropped out of school to earn a living by selling goods through his grocery store. On the other hand, her mother managed to leave her hometown to pursue a college education.

www.womenofcolor.online

“Even more significant is the fact that Claudia leads by example in her

countless hours of volunteering at

nearly all of these events,” said a senior technical fellow at Bell Engineering.

“As the previous principal of Saint Maria Goretti Catholic School, and now the head of Nolan Catholic High School, I have had the honor of supporting Claudia’s ideas, passion, and dedication in establishing long-term, sustainable programs in our schools,” writes Leah Rios.

“Claudia has developed and implemented basic engineering concepts into complex and engaging worlds of collaborative experiences for students of all different backgrounds and ages. Offering training opportunities and coaching for the adult leaders has been the key to reaching more students while also igniting creativity and encouraging a sense of community as the core of both the elementary, middle, and high school programs she has implemented. She has established these programs that have grown students individually, not only in the FIRST Lego League for younger grades and what has now become our state-of-the-art high school engineering and robotics programs, but she has connected and offered support for our teachers with in-class instruction for our general education classrooms as well.” 

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SHE THRIVES

From Rural Augusta to Leading the Nation’s Agriculture Department G

rowing up in rural Augusta, GA, Dr. Chavonda JacobsYoung developed an early curiosity about how the world works, showing an interest in people, plants, and nature. The curiosity she exhibited at a young age was the driving force for a successful STEM career, leading her all the way to her recent nomination as chief scientist for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) by President Joe Biden.

Jacobs-Young discovered a love for STEM as an elementary school student when her mother gifted her a science tool kit filled with experiments and a microscope.

As her teachers began to recognize her talent for STEM, they placed her in advanced STEM courses early on.

By the time she reached high school, she was selected to participate in a special program to introduce minorities to engineering (the South East Consortium for Minorities in Engineering, or SECME).

“I realized that a profession in engineering was a perfect fit,” recalls Dr. Jacobs-Young. “It spoke to the part of me that wanted to understand how things worked and how I could fix or even enhance the most complex of projects.”

A pivotal moment came while on a field trip with SECME to Georgia Institute of Technology During this trip, a young Dr. Jacobs-Young met several engineering graduate students, some of whom looked just like her— African-American women.

“Being able to see scholars that looked like me in the engineering field,” says Jacobs-Young, “made me realize that this was truly a possibility for me. I could work in science, solve problems, and find innovative ways to make things work better.”

Long before her career as the administrator of the USDA Agricultural Research Service, Jacobs-Young was a star student both in the classroom and on the track. After high school, she moved to North Carolina where she attended North Carolina State University (NCSU) and was a threetime ACC track champion and three-time STEM graduate.

After completing her bachelor’s degree in paper science and engineering, she went on to complete a master’s and Ph.D., both in wood and paper science. With this, JacobsYoung became the nation’s first African-American Ph.D. in

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paper science and engineering. This was just one of many “firsts” she would conquer on her journey as an engineer.

In 2002, Jacobs-Young joined the USDA as a program leader for the USDA National Research Initiative, the largest agricultural competitive grant program in the country. By 2008, she served for two years as a senior policy analyst in agriculture in the White House Executive Office of the President where she supported the president’s science advisor and others on high-priority agriculture scientific issues. One year later, she served as the first director of the USDA Office of the Chief Scientist, a department-level office she helped establish. While in this role, she led development of the first USDA Scientific Integrity Policy and reestablished the USDA Science Council.

Jacobs-Young is the first woman and person of color to lead the ARS, the USDA’s intramural science agency.

In her current role, she provides executive leadership and oversight to over 8,000 employees including 2,000 Ph.D. research scientists, extending across 90 research locations throughout the United States and four overseas laboratories, executing a $1.8 billion budget.

Her career trajectory was not without setbacks though.

When Jacobs-Young first applied for a position in the Senior Executive Service (SES, the highest level of career position in the federal government), she was passed over for the job. Being denied that opportunity didn’t quell her motivation. In fact, she credits the person who didn’t hire her as someone who helped catapult her career to bigger heights. She often shares this story with young engineers that she mentors to show the importance of resilience in the face of adversity.

“If I had been accepted for that role, I would not have gone on to face new challenges and accomplish new roles in my career,” Jacobs-Young said.

Today, Jacobs-Young has received numerous awards for her outstanding work in agriculture, including the North Carolina State University Outstanding Alumnus Award in 2008 and the Federal Laboratory Consortium’s Laboratory Director of the Year Award in 2016. She is the 2016 recipient of the Presidential Rank Award and an elected fellow in both the American Association for

www.womenofcolor.online

by Jessica Rafaeil editors@ccgmag.com

“I realized that a profession in engineering was a perfect fit,” recalls Jacobs-Young. “It spoke to the part of me that wanted to understand how things worked and how I could fix or even enhance the most complex of projects.”

Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young Chief Scientist United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

definition of what it means to thrive. From humble beginnings to the highest honors and appointments, Jacobs-Young continues to lead the way for women in STEM. 

the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the National Academy of Public Administration.

Most recently, in July 2021, Jacobs-Young became Biden’s nominee for USDA undersecretary for research, education, and economics, and chief scientist.

Jacobs-Young’s steadfastness and dedication to giving back to her community and her nation, and leading future Black females into the STEM fields, are the truest

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BY THE NUMBERS

by Lango Deen editors@ccgmag.com

The 2020 Women of Color STEM Conference: By the Numbers F

or more than half of all the attendees at the 2020 Women of Color (WOC) STEM Conference, personal commitments and schedules, which were disrupted because of the coronavirus lockdowns, were two of the most important factors in consideration before they registered for the event held last October.

At least 49 percent of the 2020 survey respondents said they favored hybrid conferences, which combine a “live” in-person event with a “virtual” online component.

Fifteen percent of those surveyed preferred an all-digital meeting, and 34 percent missed the traditional in-person format.

More than 54 percent of the respondents to the 2020 WOC STEM Post-Conference Survey said that scheduling convenience took priority over budget and availability (19 percent), and other reasons (21 percent), which included a desire to learn about external best practices or provide motivation to women in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) pipeline.

Overall, more than 44 percent were satisfied with the ease of accessibility that the Women of Color STEM Conference platform offered, and 56 percent were delighted with the lineup of speakers drawn from industry, academia, not-for-profit research organizations, and community-based organizations. Almost 90 percent of the survey respondents said they were highly likely to recommend the conference to a colleague.

In addition, 67 percent of the survey respondents identified as working professionals. College students (12 percent), recruiters (9 percent), and college coordinators (6 percent) accounted for the rest of the conference participants. The working professionals in attendance said they award honorees or recipients, sponsors, exhibitors, and talent acquisition managers. At least 36 percent of the professionals in attendance had some level of security clearance for work-related support of Department of Defense and partner agency industrial and personnel security missions.

Employers or nominating organizations (see A-Z list below) sponsored more than 88 percent of those who registered. Of that number, 70 percent signed up to learn more about proven workforce strategies to enhance their services. More than 54 percent also came for the engaging and inspirational events, and at least 42 percent of attendees said they came to network. 

Survey respondents were from: Aerotek Amazon Amrock AT&T Battelle Memorial Institute Bell Textron The Boeing Company Booz Allen Hamilton Cisco Cricket Wireless DTE Energy EASi

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Florida A&M University Florida Tech General Motors Huntington Ingalls Industries IBM Infosys Johnson & Johnson Leidos LG Chem, Michigan Lockheed Martin Marshall University Mississippi State University

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MITRE Corporation NASA National Geospatial-Intelligence Navy Civilian Careers Nuclear Regulatory Commission Raytheon Technologies Rock Central Rocket Mortgage U.S. Air Force U.S. Army Corps of Engineers U.S. Department of the Army U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service

U.S. Intelligence U.S. Marine Corps U.S. Navy University of Maryland, College Park University of Pennsylvania Wayne State University Whitworth University World Wide Technology Xandr ZR Hopkins, Inc.

Almost 90 percent of the survey respondents said they were highly likely to recommend the conference to a colleague

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Make a new world happen Our diverse workforce inspires, builds and delivers business results from idea to outcome.

Congratulations to our 2021 Technology Rising Stars and Technology All-Stars: Dr. Tammi Gray Aria Jones Nicole Plair

Belinda Rodriguez Dana Scott Shaina Turner

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A MATTER OF FACTS

by Lango Deen ldeen@ccgmag.com

The COVID-19 Impact on Women in STEM A

study published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in 2021 tackled the overall impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on participation in science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine (STEMM) by women—particularly women of color.

The report titled “The Impact of COVID-19 on the Careers of Women in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine” said significant changes to women’s productivity, advancement, mentoring networking relationships, and mental health and well-being had been observed.

Contributors included the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Policy and Global Affairs; Committee on Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine; and the Committee on Investigating the Potential Impacts of COVID-19 on the Careers of Women in Academic Science, Engineering, and Medicine.

Financial decisions like layoffs and furloughs that were quickly implemented affected nontenured faculty members— positions that women and people of color more often occupy.

The following 10 findings represent aspects that the committee agreed have been substantiated by the preliminary data, evidence, and information gathered by the end of 2020.

1. Leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, the representation of women increased in STEMM fields, from acquiring Ph.D.s to holding leadership positions.

2. Pandemic-related disruptions to schedules, added to formerly routine job functions, can exacerbate mental health conditions such as insomnia, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress.

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3. Structural racism is an omnipresent stressor for women of color, who already feel particularly isolated in many fields and disciplines.

4. While some research indicates consistency in publications authored by women in STEMM disciplines, like Earth and space sciences, during 2020, preliminary measures of productivity suggest that COVID-19 disruptions disproportionately affected women.

5. While colleges offered extensions for those on the tenure track and funders offered extensions on grants, these changes do not necessarily align with the needs expressed by women.

6. Evidence from 2020 suggests women in academic STEMM fields experienced changes in interactions and difficulties from remote work caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

7. Some collaborations face challenges, including finding time to engage synchronously, which presents a considerable burden for women who manage the larger share of household duties.

8. Transitioning conferences to virtual platforms produced positive outcomes, such as lower attendance costs and open access to content.

Adverse outcomes included scheduling meetings at non-traditional work hours and opportunities for bias in virtual environments.

9. Financial decisions like layoffs and furloughs that were quickly implemented affected nontenured faculty members—positions that women and people of color more often occupy.

10. For women in the health professions, major risk factors during the COVID-19 pandemic included unpredictability in clinical work, evolving clinical and leadership roles, and the psychological demands of an ongoing and stressful job. They heightened health risks to family and self. 

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GLOBAL SISTERS IN INNOVATION

by Lango Deen ldeen@ccgmag.com

A Brilliant Researcher Provides Promising Solutions Yufang Ho Research Scientist, IBM

and the 9th International Joint Conference on Natural Language Processing held in Hong Kong, China (EMNLPIJCNLP 2019), the 16th Conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics held online in April 2021 (EACL 2021), and the 59th annual meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics held online in August 2021 (ACL 2021).

“Yufang displays many qualities that make her a brilliant researcher,” wrote Dr. Léa Deleris in her letter of recommendation to the 2020 Women of Color (WOC) in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) award selection committee.

Y

ufang Hou is a trailblazing research scientist at International Business Machines (IBM), a multinational technology company. IBM boasts one of the world’s most prominent industry research organizations.

Currently, Yufang is based at IBM Research Europe in Dublin, Ireland.

In 2019, Yufang led a team of researchers to work on an artificial intelligence (AI) challenge of building knowledge graphs from scientific papers. As a result, the group published four papers at the 57th annual meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics held in Florence, Italy (ACL 2019), the 2019 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing

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Currently, Deleris is the head of Bank BNP Paribas’ Risk Artificial Intelligence Research. “While I was her manager at IBM Research, Yufang worked on three main projects, all related to her domain of expertise, namely Natural Language Processing,” Deleris explained. “The Debater project has been in the spotlight. The goal of that project was to develop a system that can debate against humans. In that large endeavor, Yufang started as a contributor to a specific work package focused on evidence detection, i.e., the ability to identify evidence supporting a claim to serve as input to the speech for a machine debater. Quickly Yugang, who was a young Ph.D. graduate at the time, was able to lead technical contributions.”

Project Debater was unveiled in 2018 at Think, an annual event hosted by IBM, where advances in worldchanging technologies become real through real-world case studies. Recently, Yufang is co-organizing the 8th Workshop on Argument Mining, which will be colocated with the 2021 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing in November. At this workshop, together with several colleagues from Project Debater, she is organizing a shared task on argument summarization.

Dr. Noam Slonim, a distinguished engineer and principal investigator of Project Debater at IBM Research Haifa, also noted the speed at which Yufang became familiar

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with computational argumentation.

Katja Markert was Yufang’s Ph.D. supervisor and the second referee of her thesis. Markert is chair of computational linguistics at Heidelberg University, where students from some 130 countries account for more than 20 percent of the entire student body.

“Yufang is a very ambitious researcher, as is shown by her choosing a challenging thesis topic (automatic resolution of bridging anaphora), which has proved extremely difficult for a variety of researchers,” Markert observed.

“She is probably the first one to make substantial progress on this subject, providing promising solutions to recognition and resolution of bridging anaphora.”

In the summer of 2020, Yufang’s research, “Bridging Anaphora Resolution as Question Answering,” was presented at the 58th annual meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, which took place online in July 2020. During October of that year, Yufang won the Technical Innovation Award at the all-digital Women of Color STEM Conference. She was recognized for her accomplishments in natural language processing, one of the most critical areas in AI. Professor Dr. Michael Strube, an Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) fellow at the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies, got to know Yufang in 2011 when she started as a Ph.D. student at the computational linguistics department of the University of Heidelberg.

“I was Yufang’s advisor together with Katja Markert, who, back then, was a Humboldt scholar in my group,” Strube wrote. “Yufang has an excellent grasp of linguistic questions and the computational skills to solve them automatically,” he said. “She works with several different machine learning techniques and knows which technique to use under which circumstances. Furthermore, Yufang works with big data and knows how to deal with it through parallelization. In meetings and after her fellow students’ presentations, she provided critical and constructive feedback. She was also able and willing to help her fellow students.”

In 2019, Yufang mentored Khalid Al-Khatib, a Ph.D. student who received an IBM Fellowship Award and

www.womenofcolor.online

chose to do an internship at IBM Research Ireland. Yufang and Khalid built a knowledge graph for argumentation and explored its downstream applications. Their paper “End-to-End Argumentation Knowledge Graph Construction” was presented at the 34th annual conference of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence held in February of 2020 in New York, USA. This week, they will present another paper, “Employing Argumentation Knowledge Graphs for Neural Argument Generation” at the 59th annual meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics, which is taking place online in August 2021.

In 2020, Yufang mentored another two students and their research work, “D2S: Automated slide generation with query-based text summarization from documents” and “Probing for Bridging Inference in Transformer Language Models,” were both presented at 2021 Annual Conference of the North American Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics, which took place online in June 2021 (NAACL 2021).

From 2018, Yufang has been working on the “Human Behaviour Change Project” funded by Wellcome Trust in the United Kingdom. Yufang leads the effort to use advanced techniques to extract data from clinical scientific publications. Currently, Yufang is working on a new project, “Human-AI Collaborative Engine for Adaptive Health and Social Care Operations,” where she design solutions to help policy experts scale the production of both human-readable and machine consumable policy rules. In addition, Yufang served as an area chair at EACL 2021. She also serves on the standing review committee of Transactions of the Association for Computational Linguistics (TACL) and Computational Linguistics (CL), two journals by MIT Press that publish computational linguistics and natural language processing papers.

“Yufang is a top-notch researcher. In the last several years, she developed strong domain knowledge in healthcare and is able to apply her technical expertise to tackle some of the most challenging problems that our society is facing in healthcare system,” says Dr. Ruoyi Zhou, director of IBM Research Europe—Dublin. 

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Caring for the Land and Serving People

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THE DIGITAL TWIN EXPERIENCE

( DT X )

THE FUTURE OF WOMEN OF COLOR STEM CONFERENCES This spring, Career Communications Group, Inc. announced its 2021 Women of Color STEM Conference dates. In its 26th year, the annual event is widely regarded as a premier multicultural event for professionals and students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.

In a letter to the WOC STEM Conference community, Monica Emerson, longtime national chair of the conference, gave an honorable mention to partners who had demonstrated commitment and resilience during an extraordinary year, in which we saw thousands of lives lost to COVID-19 and many businesses and conferences brought to a halt.

“The theme for the 2020 conference, ‘The World Is Counting on Us: Reset to Rise,’ was focused on giving attendees the tools they needed to rise to the challenges brought on by the pandemic,” Emerson wrote. “Career Communications Group’s Women of Color STEM Digital Conference is poised to do it again, and our excitement grows as we plan to greet you October 7–9, 2021,” she added.

The 2021 Women of Color STEM Conference’s digital twin experience (DTX) will offer attendees 24/7 access to seminars dedicated to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM careers. In addition, keynotes and workshops will feature globally recognized professionals and provide a platform for sharing career stories.

“Our platforms allow us to ensure that we maintain the connected personal and professional experiences to which you

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have become accustomed,” Emerson explained. “We know that the new normal will combine integrated processes and systems to deliver the best learning and professional outcomes for employees and students,” she added.

Over the past 15 years, the Women of Color STEM Conference has embraced hybrid events, which combine a “live” in-person event with a “virtual” online component.

Participants agree that the Women of Color STEM Conference has created an experience that fosters networking, learning, and belonging.

The event, spanning a quarter of a century, has set a gold standard for implementing virtual events and the digital twinning process. So, what is the difference between a virtual and digital twin conference? Here is how one gaming expert describes it: “The digital world is the Internet and everything to do with it.

Virtual worlds are preprogrammed worlds like video games.”

Here is a sample of comments shared by respondents to the 2020 WOC STEM Conference Participants Survey:

www.womenofcolor.online

“The information women shared was layered. They addressed data and statistics but also shared their personal stories to contextualize their STEM experience. Given my qualitative interest focusing on Black women engineers, I was in heaven.”

“Sense of collective community and feeling as though my adversity is not unique.”

“The sessions were informative and inspiring. I enjoyed the speakers very much!”

“I am happy that it was able to go forward. I thought the sessions were very robust in content (and) being able to access the content on my own time.”

“Ability to have ‘on-demand’ access to the workshops post-conference -Very professional looking platform -Networking w/co-panelists (even though virtual)-Tech prep in advance for panelists and award winners was well done and extremely beneficial.”

“I think the virtual platform was awesome. The look and layout of the website were great!

The detail and user-friendly interface were great.”

“Range of relevant topics and speakers who were relatable.”

“I loved the speakers and the award show. It was so enlightening to see so many women that look like me get these high achievement awards. I was so honored to be one of the recipients.”

“Being exposed to amazing women of color representing STEM and motivating other women.”

“The virtual offering was fantastic! My company was able to ‘send’ more participants this year because of that. In addition, people cannot always travel from home for several days, so this was a great option for our folks to attend and reap the benefits without leaving their homes and families.”

“The speakers and sessions were great. In addition, the awards ceremony (gala) was an excellent opportunity to meet the other awardees.”

“Easy to use virtual event with recorded and live components!”

“I liked having the various topics/sessions/ panels and being able to decide which events I wanted to attend based on interest and self-development. Additionally, the mobile app was a handy tool in helping me plan my day.”

www.womenofcolor.online

“I like the presentation and feeling like you were there and the ability to send in your questions and get a live answer.”

“The speakers and panelists were amazing!”

“ I enjoyed the seminars in the seminar rooms. I also appreciated the opportunity to view them later (on) demand. Several seminars I wanted to attend occurred at the same time. So, I was happy to have the opportunity to view them later.”

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PA SSI NG TH E TORCH

PASSING

THE TORCH 2020 TECHNOLOGIST OF THE YEAR’S INSIGHTS AND ADVICE For Sylvia Trent-Adams, education has

been at the forefront of her efforts during 2020 and 2021. She has led initiatives on several fronts—educating Texans about COVID-19 and the vaccines that provide protection, teaching young people about the opportunities that await if they pursue STEM careers, and advising professionals on ways to create pathways to success.

It has been a multi-faceted time for Trent-Adams, who was recognized as Women of Color’s Technologist of the Year in 2020.

“It has been quite an amazing experience,” said Trent-Adams, who said she was humbled by the honor.

Trent-Adams is the senior vice president and chief strategy officer at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, TX. In this role, she assists the president in developing, communicating, executing, and sustaining strategic initiatives.

A lifetime public servant, Trent-Adams began her extensive public health career in 1992 by joining the Commissioned Corps before ultimately retiring in 2020 from the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps with the rank of rear admiral upper half.

Serving as Technologist of the Year during a pandemic meant far less travel and more virtual experiences, but Trent-Adams said she still was able to share her message of the importance of inclusion and diversity in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) as well as expanding her network. She said she was heartened to learn of the many women doing “amazing work” in STEM fields across the country.

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Trent-Adams said she participated in plenty of Zoom and Teams meetings, conferences, roundtable discussions, and gave keynote speeches on subjects such as diversity, inclusion, and leadership.

During many of her encounters, students repeatedly asked her how they could follow her career path, and professional women and faculty members inquired about how to juggle various responsibilities on the job, handle competitiveness, and maintain a good work/life balance.

She told students to stay focused. “You are not competing with anybody else except yourself,” she said. “Your life experiences have value and will bring tremendous value to whatever company, university, or your own venture.”

She also advised those starting out to embrace their individuality.

“It’s okay to be different. It’s okay not to be like everybody else.

Be happy being who you are,” she said.

Trent-Adams, who also is a wife and mother of two daughters, said she told those asking about work/life balance that “You can have it all. You may not be able to have it all at the same time.”

This was advice she was given early in her career that she found to be valuable, and she passes it on. She also stressed the importance of self-care.

She pointed out that staying focused on mission and vision are critical to achieving goals and succeeding professionally. “If you feel you are not being valued, take your gifts somewhere else,” she said.

Trent-Adams, who has a Ph.D. in public policy with a health www.womenofcolor.online

2021 “IT’S OKAY TO BE DIFFERENT. IT’S OKAY NOT TO BE LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE. BE HAPPY BEING WHO YOU ARE,” SHE SAID.

by Gale Horton Gay

concentration and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing, has served as the principal deputy assistant secretary for health with the United States Public Health Service. Throughout her career, she has focused on improving access to care for poor and underserved communities. As both a clinician and administrator, she has made a direct impact on building systems of care to improve public health for marginalized populations domestically and internationally. She continued this work during her time as the deputy surgeon general of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps from 2015 to 2018. In this role, Trent-Adams was a trusted advisor to the surgeon general, providing support on a variety of critical issues, including efforts to combat the opioid crisis and the operations of the Commissioned Corps.

Trent-Adams also stressed the importance of women creating their “own pathway to success” and building their base of support. Cultivating mentors early in one’s career is vital, she said.

“It’s lonely at the top,” Trent-Adams said.

She also advised those who are on their way up to do succession planning and groom their successor to take over the reins when they move on to the next position.

As for the next Women of Color Technologist of the Year, TrentAdams offers this advice: “Use every opportunity to use the platform to support and encourage the future for STEM careers… and inspire the next generation.” 

www.womenofcolor.online

(Ret.) RADM Sylvia Trent-Adams, Ph.D.,RN, FAAN Retired U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Rear Admiral Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer University of North Texas Health Science Center

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Only here can I work on Marine One on Day One. My first project at Lockheed Martin was managing the cabin modernization of the presidential helicopter, Marine One. This was a no-fail mission: safely transport the President of the United States. To this day, as I reflect on the magnitude of that responsibility, I’m still humbled by leadership’s trust in me.

Explore careers at https://www.lockheedmartinjobs.com/national-diversity-events

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Archana

Senior Manager International Programs

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TH E 2021 TECH NOLOG I S T OF TH E YE AR

by Lango Deen ldeen@ccgmag.com

TECHNOLOGIST

OF THE YEAR ‘I WOULDN’T BE WHO I AM TODAY WITHOUT GENERAL MOTORS. GM MADE ME’

M

EI CAI, PH.D., is celebrated this year as the 2021 Technologist of the Year, among a list of outstanding women of color in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Cai is the director of battery cell systems research in GM’s Chemical & Materials System Laboratory.

GM nominated Mei to receive an award because of the cuttingedge innovations she has led in research and development.

According to Mark Verbrugge, director of the Chemical & Materials Systems Laboratory at GM Research and Development, Cai is among the few scientists contributing to advancing battery materials discovery and accelerating battery cell manufacturing.

Cai’s contributions in advanced energy storage materials include lithium-ion and advanced battery chemistries, proton-exchange membrane fuel cells, hydrogen, compressed natural gas storage, and battery charging and hydrogen production technologies.

Cai has played a pivotal role in developing GM’s upcoming Ultium battery chemistry, which will power vehicles like the GMC Hummer EV and the Cadillac Lyriq. GM’s Ultium batteries are unique because the pouch-style cells can be stacked vertically or horizontally inside the battery pack. This allows engineers to optimize battery energy storage and layout for each vehicle design.

Cai and her team have secured 49 patents and an additional 45 pending patents in this technology area.

The rechargeable energy storage system (RESS) for the Chevrolet Bolt EV is a battery pack developed by GM. The design enabled a structurally integrated RESS capable of sustaining vehicle use and abuse conditions.

The compact cooling system improves the energy efficiency of the battery pack but also simplifies the manufacturing process.

Other technologies that Cai and her team have patented include: •

Various polymers for improved heating, cooling, and liquid leakage control within the battery pack, enabling commercially available vehicles powered by natural gas.

•

An on-demand NG process that allows for the correlation of gaseous fuel and the power demand to maximize NG use.

•

A three-electrode test cell design and an enabling coated separator used as a critical component in the cell assembly.

The three-electrode setup allows for independent diagnostics of the positive or negative electrode and, hence, precise detection of lithium plating and calibration for on-vehicle charging control. This innovative design paves the road toward accelerated advanced high-energy and high-power EV batteries with reduced cost.

Cai and her team also drove vital technologies to enable lithium-metal batteries that could be part of the basis for nextgeneration Ultium cells.

Cai is also a member of the Materials Research Society, Detroit Engineer Association, Electrochemical Society, and the International Academy of Electrochemical Energy Science.

According to Verbrugge, GM can use these batteries to increase the onboard energy of its electric vehicles, enabling greater range or more energy-dense batteries in lower-cost products.

Cai grew up in Beijing, the capital of the People’s Republic of China. Her father was a professor at Tsinghua University, described as “one of the most prestigious and influential

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www.womenofcolor.online

2021 “MEI IS AMONG THE FEW SCIENTISTS CONTRIBUTING TO ADVANCING BATTERY MATERIALS DISCOVERY AND ACCELERATING BATTERY CELL MANUFACTURING.” - Mark Verbrugge, director of the Chemical & Materials Systems Laboratory at GM Research and Development

DR. MEI CAI Director, Battery Cell Systems Research Chemical & Materials System Laboratory General Motors Research and Development

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TH E 2021 TECH NOLOG I S T OF TH E YE AR

universities” in the world. Cai’s mother was a medical doctor and the couple had two daughters, including Mei (pronounced like May, the Gregorian calendar month).

Cai says she considers herself lucky to have been born into a modern family.

“They had an open mind,” she said on a Zoom call with Women of Color magazine this summer. “There was no boy in our family.

Back then, many families preferred sons because they could carry on the family’s last name.”

But Cai’s parents raised their daughters to believe that they could do anything boys can do, and even better. Cai’s grandparents also played a significant role in her upbringing.

When she was very young, her busy parents took the toddler to live in Changchun, a northeastern city sometimes called the Detroit of China.

worked hard to pay for airline tickets, with a bit of help from their families.

“I came to this country close to 30 years ago as a spouse,” she said. “I had to learn English here and prepare for graduate school testing.”

Now fully integrated into the American way of life, Cai recalls having quite a few culture shocks initially. “We had a currency shock,” Cai said. “We came in the 1991 timeframe.”

There was a huge currency difference between the U.S. dollar and the Chinese renminbi. In addition, the couple was living on a $900 scholarship awarded to Cai’s husband. That income had to cover their rent, groceries, and everything else.

Cai’s grandfather had earned a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Chicago. After his Ph.D., he returned home to Jilin University and built a college of chemistry from scratch.

“There was a book, a special-order book by a professor (my husband’s), that cost $100, and we didn’t have the extra money to buy that book. On top of that, no one offered us any credit cards,” Cai said. “He was forced to copy the book from classmates because he was the only one who couldn’t get the book.”

“To this day, I remember there were books everywhere,” Cai recalls of her grandparents’ home. “Books lined the walls, and doors were always open to students. So, I observed how to ask questions.”

After her husband transferred to the University of Michigan, Cai started taking courses for a master’s degree in bioengineering at Wayne State University. However, she had not entirely given up her childhood dream of making artificial organs.

Initially, Cai was drawn to her mother’s profession, fascinated by organs in the human body and how her mother worked on healing patients. But young Cai was also good at math and physics, which was not lost on her mom. Looking back, Cai admits that parents know their kids best.

“Every single extra penny we had was put into tuition for my first semester,” Cai said.

LANDMARK EVENT Young Cai went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at Tsinghua University in Beijing, which boasts more than 90 universities in a city serving over 20 million people.

While at Tsinghua, Cai met her future husband, then a Ph.D. student, on the same campus. After graduation, Cai got a job as a product engineer with a local industrial design institute.

“My husband stayed in school, and I went to work. I was satisfied with the pay and working conditions but did not have any passion for going further for an advanced degree,” Cai said.

“After a couple of years, we decided to pursue advanced degrees in the U.S.,” Cai said.

However, like thousands of other Chinese graduates, navigating a multi-continental move and finding resources to leave the country proved to be extremely challenging.

COMING TO AMERICA Luckily, Cai’s grandfather came to her aid and was able to provide financial support for her and her husband to continue their academic journey abroad. However, her husband was not able to complete his Ph.D. course before leaving China. So, while they planned to emigrate to the United States, the couple

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She struggled with speaking English. Thankfully, the language of mathematics is universal.

“Once the professor puts the equation down on the table, you understand right away,” she said. Next, Cai’s professor recommended her for a teaching assistant position in a campus laboratory. Later the same year, he told her GM was hiring summer interns for research that required a bioengineering background and a driver’s license.

MEMORABLE ROAD TRIPS Cai’s first car was an ‘82 Buick Regal that had clocked about 100,000 miles by the time she bought it. Then, as a newly licensed driver, she remembers hitting the freeway. Even scarier was desperately trying to defog the windshield with their hands because she did not know how to operate the A/C or the recirculation button.

Although she and her husband had made two four-day road trips from Ohio to Idaho and Michigan to Idaho during his two nuclear science internships in the United States, the GM internship had a different set of guidelines.

“The requirement was that you had to travel to Florida and Texas, all by yourself,” she said. “You had to drive to dealerships to work with customers and collect data to evaluate the cabin air quality in GM’s Cadillac brand.”

She would lug coolers from GM research labs, collect samples

www.womenofcolor.online

2021

from Cadillacs, and grow microbiomes in hotel rooms to compare with the baseline data. Cai also found time to tour Disney parks and sightsee at Six Flags Over Texas.

RULES FOR THE ROAD During her two internships, she also worked with GM engineers in engines and fuels, eventually landing a permanent position at the automaker. After that, however, she had to go back to her chemical engineering roots, and GM funded her Ph.D. doing chemical engineering.

“I do think GM does a very good job in diversity and inclusion,” Cai said. “For the past 25 years, I have worked with people in cross-functional teams, and the respect for others and other cultures is important. In GM, I see a lot of women scientists and engineers. However, a lot of women might not know about all the opportunities in the automotive industry. If GM had not come back to me after my second internship, I would not have known about all the job opportunities. We need to do more to educate and inform women about jobs in the auto industry.” 

www.womenofcolor.online

CAI ADDED THAT SHE BELIEVES PEOPLE SHOULDN’T STAY IN THEIR COMFORT ZONE. SO, HER RULES FOR THE ROAD ARE:

• LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES. • SET THE RIGHT EXPECTATIONS. • ALWAYS GET YOURSELF PREPARED. OPPORTUNITIES COME AND GO IN LIFE. • SHOOT FOR THE MOON. IF YOU MISS IT, YOU WILL STILL LAND AMONG THE STARS.

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Solve Something Important.

Leidos is seeking powerhouse talent for positions in the areas of IT, engineering and science.

Our diverse workforce is dedicated to solving some of the world’s toughest challenges.

Join us and help make a difference. leidos.com/careers

Leidos is proud to support our Women of Color Honorees Special Recognition Award

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Nor Farida Harun Research Scientist Engineer

Top Women in Finance

Song-Hui Fangonil Division F BO Manager

Technology All Stars

Deidre Singleton Disaster Recovery Technical Lead

Alesia Tisdall Special Operations Lead

Katea Murray Cyber Engineer

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER: DISABILITY/VETERAN

© Leidos,

Inc.

Anne Alston Disaster Recovery Specialist

Deborah Heatley Executive Secretary

leidos.com

Uyen Bui Sr Systems Integration Engineer

Valli Chidambaram Sr Engineering Manager

Katia Doblack Business Systems Analyst

Tanya "Teleri" Beaty Business Process Manager

Tracy Taylor Network Administrator

Technology Rising Stars

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Adeoti Anibaba Sr Project Scheduler

Alice Mace Disaster Recovery Specialist

Cora Bailey Radio Operator

Danielle Grant Program Manager

Diane Le-Farnham ISKM Knowledge Management Expert

Heather Booze Systems Integration Test Engineering

Joy Carter Minor Engineering Manager

Leslie Branch Systems Engineering

Linda Peri Oracle Database Administrator

Mafruhatul Jannat Transportation Engineer Research Analyst

Minga Lee Sr Solution Architect

Mrunmai Joshi Lead Software Developer

Nancy Ayad Biomedical Life Scientist

Truc Nguyen Sr Systems Integration Engineer

Noell Williams Network Analyst

Tedena Wheeler Chief of Staff

Takeisha Lester Sr Systems Engineer

AWAR D W I N N ER S

GET TO KNOW THE

2021

WOMEN OF COLOR STEM CONFERENCE

AWARDEES R

ecognition is one of the most critical factors in retaining top professionals in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). That’s why hundreds of employers have been a part of the nationally recognized Career Communications Group (CCG) recognition program for more than two decades.

In addition, CCG’s Women of Color magazine and its annual Women of Color (WOC) Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Conference are leaders in celebrating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in STEM as well as promoting opportunity for career progression.

Since 1996, Women of Color STEM Conference awards have provided employers with a unique opportunity to solidify their commitment to diversity in the workplace.

More than 100 employers have nominated this year’s award winners in information, healthcare, technology, retail, manufacturing, finance and insurance, research, and state and local government for their innovation, management, leadership, and exemplary efforts to improve the hiring and retention of minorities in STEM. In these profiles, you will read about how workforce diversity offers solutions that help companies reward stellar performers and build a reputation as an employer of choice within STEM fields and minority communities.

TECHNOLOGIST OF THE YEAR

Deirdre Fultz

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Mei Cai, Ph.D.

Plant Manager - Indiana Transmission Plant

Rhonda Childress

Director, Battery Cell Systems Research Chemical & Materials System Laboratory

Stellantis

Florence Heidel

Vice President and IBM Fellow, Business Information Security Officer

General Motors Research and Development

Scientist

IBM

L3Harris Technology, Inc.

Candice M. Smith, PMP

CAREER ACHIEVEMENT - GOVERNMENT

Director, Engineering People Strategy

Rona Bunn

COMMUNITY SERVICE - GOVERNMENT

Chief Information Officer

Treva T. Brown, Ph.D.

U.S. Department of Commerce, International

Physical Scientist

DIVERSITY LEADERSHIP

Trade Administration

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

Odetta Scott

Maria N. Goerger, Ph.D. Special Assistant for AI, M&S, and Analysis for the Information Technology Lab Director U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center

COMMUNITY SERVICE - INDUSTRY Daniel Chambers Multi-Functional Engineering and Science Manager Lockheed Martin

The Boeing Company

Associate Director, Indirect Procurement Collins Aerospace, Operations & Quality Raytheon Technologies

EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP - COLLEGE-LEVEL PROMOTION OF EDUCATION

CAREER ACHIEVEMENT - INDUSTRY

Freddie Dixon, Ph.D.

Delores Alexander

Professor of Biology Program Director, NSF HBCU Undergraduate Program, NSF Scholarships in STEM

Vice President, Global Services Supplier Management The Boeing Company

University of the District of Columbia

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www.womenofcolor.online

2021 EDUCATION LEADERSHIP - CORPORATE PROMOTION OF EDUCATION

PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT - GOVERNMENT

SPECIAL RECOGNITION

Master Sergeant Tahnika Bessant

Tracy A. Clark

Lakshana Mohee, Ph.D.

334th Fighter Squadron First Shirt , 4th Fighter Wing

Manager, Flight Test Instrumentation and Data Operations

Education Development Manager

U.S. Air Force

Bell Textron, Inc.

Ansys

Candi Hudson, Ph.D.

Takia Easley

GEM OUTSTANDING YOUNG ALUMNUS

Technical Advisor, Bureau of Safety & Environmental Enforcement

Program Manager, Pratt & Whitney, Military Engines

Yazmin Feliz, Ph.D.

U.S. Department of the Interior

Postdoctoral Researcher

Krystal Folkes

LTC Latoya M. Manzey

Cloud Solution Architect, U.S. Retail and Consumer Goods

Deputy District Commander

Microsoft

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District

Nor Farida Harun, Ph.D.

Columbia University

MANAGERIAL LEADERSHIP - GOVERNMENT Leah Haugen

PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT - INDUSTRY

Program Manager, Partnership Intermediary

Tracey Espero

Air Force Office of Scientific Research

Raytheon Technologies

Research Scientist Leidos

Akissi C. Lewis

Chief, Civil Works Data Analysis and Information Systems

Director of Platform Programs and Orca Program Manager, Maritime Undersea Huntington Beach Site Executive

Institute for Water Resources

The Boeing Company

Rahel Rudd

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Mandakini Kanungo, Ph.D.

U.S. Air Force

Yazmin Seda-Sanabria

MANAGERIAL LEADERSHIP - INDUSTRY

Research Associate – Thin Films & Surfaces Corning Research and Development

Deborah A. Brown

Corporation

Senior Director, U.S. Toxicology Laboratories

Changchang Liu, Ph.D.

Abbott

Lakela Lofton

Research Staff Member, IBM Research IBM

Program Manager Huntington Ingalls Industries

NEW MEDIA/IT LEADERSHIP Jasmine W. Strait

OUTSTANDING TECHNICAL CONTRIBUTION GOVERNMENT Leslie Leonard, Ph.D. Computer Scientist U.S. Army Engineer Research & Development Center

OUTSTANDING TECHNICAL CONTRIBUTION INDUSTRY Eunice Allen-Bradley Angled UltraSonic Inspection Original Equipment Manufacturer Implementation Lead Pratt & Whitney, Engineering

Dropbox

Branch Chief Engineer, Human Systems Division

Fleur Ryan Vice President of Defense Growth & Strategy Jacobs

Frenae Smith Manager of Codes and Standards and Laboratory Services DTE Energy

STUDENT LEADERSHIP - UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL

Rita D. Williams

1/c Emi Siler

Budget Analyst, Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory

Charlie Company Executive Officer U.S. Coast Guard Academy

Director, U.S. Specialized Infrastructure Operations The Boeing Company

IT Strategist & Acting Chief of Staff for CIO

TECHNICAL INNOVATION Mei Li , Ph.D. Corteva Laureate Corteva Agriscience

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Suman Woolums Human Systems Engineer The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

Rekha Wunnava Global Director, Automotive Design & Build IT

PIONEER AWARD

Ford Motor Company

Master Sergeant Bonnie Rushing

Dian Xu

Instructor, USAF Academy United States Air Force

Director, Engineering Rocket Mortgage Rocket Companies

PRESIDENT’S AWARD The Honorable Cheryl Campbell Assistant Secretary for Administration Department of Health and Human Services

Raytheon Technologies

Bindu Sundaresan Director - Cybersecurity AT&T www.womenofcolor.online

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AWAR D W I N N ER S

CAREER ACHIEVEMENT IN GOVERNMENT AWARD

CAREER ACHIEVEMENT IN GOVERNMENT AWARD

CAREER ACHIEVEMENT IN INDUSTRY AWARD

Maria N. Goerger, Ph.D.

Rona Bunn

Delores Alexander

Special Assistant for AI, M&S, and Analysis for the Information Technology Lab Director

Chief Information Officer

Vice President, Global Services Supplier Management

U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center Maria Goerger, Ph.D., a research engineer, is the special assistant for artificial intelligence, modeling & simulation, and analysis for the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL), U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC). In this position, she provides leadership related to disruptive technology, program development, and customer engagement to ITL and the ERDC. In addition, she serves on ITL’s leadership team and board of directors. Goerger began her career 29 years ago at the Geotechnical Laboratory of Waterways Experiment Station, now ERDC. She was the first ERDC director for business development and stood up the Strategic Integration Office. The impact of Goerger’s work has been recognized through the ERDC Program Development Award (twice), the Herbert D. Vogel Outstanding Engineer Award, and Civilian Service awards. In addition, she is a fellow of the Military Operations Research Society.

“The impact of her work and her leadership have extended far beyond the ERDC, and her work has helped the United States move forward in several critical areas related to national defense.” — Dr. David Horner

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U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration Rona Bunn is the CIO of the U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration. She is an experienced leader in analyzing business needs and implementing organizational change and technology solutions to transform organizations.

As a senior executive with more than 25 years of success in information technology, professional services, and consulting, Bunn is a digital transformation expert skilled in setting vision, developing strategy, and driving change to meet diverse business demands. She has lent her voice and insights during events held by Gartner and Fannie Mae, as well as Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF) symposiums and Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA) conventions, to name a few. Bunn is a two-time Technology All-Star award recipient from Women of Color in STEM, recognized for advocacy of science, technology, engineering, and math and her career achievements. She also serves on the advisory board of the Advanced Technology Academic Research Center and has held executive board positions at the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE).

The Boeing Company Delores Alexander first joined Boeing as an entry-level contract negotiator.

Today, she is vice president of supplier management for the Global Services division, where she is responsible for more than $9 billion of aftermarket spending and a team that numbers over 1,000. She is a passionate STEM volunteer who focuses on supporting young women’s technical and scientific pursuits. Annually, she volunteers 50 to 60 hours of community service in support of The Links. She is chair of the audit committee for the Phoenix chapter and was part of The Links’ effort to introduce the NSBE (National Society of Black Engineers) Jr. program in Phoenix, AZ. Alexander is also a member of the Greater Phoenix Urban League and continues to improve the lives of those who have limited resources but have a vision for a prosperous future ahead of them. In addition, she serves as the chair of the Advisory Board for Gonzaga University’s School of Leadership Studies.

“From her tenacity to her achievements, she manifests the qualities honored by this award, and I thank you for your careful consideration of her nomination.”

— Nicole Graves, director of HR

“Rona can always be counted on to provide inspiring, candid, and engaging speaker sessions to others.” — Elaine Norman, VP, ITSMF

www.womenofcolor.online

2021 CAREER ACHIEVEMENT IN INDUSTRY AWARD

CAREER ACHIEVEMENT IN INDUSTRY AWARD

COMMUNITY SERVICE IN GOVERNMENT AWARD

Deirdre Fultz

Florence Heidel

Treva T. Brown, Ph.D.

Plant Manager - Indiana Transmission Plant

Scientist

Physical Scientist

L3Harris Technology, Inc.

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

Florence Heidel is the project engineer for the Common Support ServicesWeather (CSS-Wx) program under the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

CSS-Wx makes National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and FAA weather products available to integrate air traffic decision support tools, to minimize flight delays and cancellations, thereby saving the FAA and flying public precious time and money. Heidel leads a team of 67 people and ensures the development remains on schedule and under budget. She is an active member of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), a not-for-profit organization founded to develop and disseminate system engineers’ interdisciplinary principles and practices. Heidel served on the board of directors for six terms and is a certified systems engineering professional. In addition, she is very active in the community.

She is a sponsor for Outbound, a nonprofit organization that partners with struggling families and supports, encourages, and empowers them to make better lives for their children.

Dr. Treva Brown is a physical scientist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). She has developed protocols for imaging biological samples in low kilovolt and environmental scanning electron microscopy. She has also produced protocols for biological characterization using advanced atomic force microscopy techniques. Brown has participated in diversity efforts within NRL. She also dedicates time to volunteering with STEM organizations.

She is a past recipient of the WinifredBurks Houck Leadership award from the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE). The award recognizes the achievements and community service shown while in a STEM career. In 2019, Brown was recognized as “Ms. Black Empowerment Louisiana.” In 2020, she was the recipient of the “Woman in STEM” award from the Inaugural Women Mean Business organization celebrating female leaders impacting New Orleans.

Stellantis Deirdre Fultz is a plant manager at the Indiana Transmission Plant (ITP), one of the largest transmission operations in the world. Stellantis focuses on designing, manufacturing, and selling automobiles such as Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep brands. In addition to running her division, Fultz leads a crossfunctional quality maintenance team responsible for eliminating waste and improving quality. She interacts with several functions and collaborates with key stakeholders in the Manufacturing Engineering, Quality, Maintenance, Production, Materials Logistics, Human Resources, and Finance units. She also drives both launch and mid-cycle action activities, cost improvements, and she raises the bar on quality and product safety while eliminating waste. She is a significant contributor to the Powertrain Women’s Group, an employee resource group supporting women’s activities both within and outside the company. In addition, Fultz is a mentor to numerous female employees throughout the company. She is an advocate for driving courageous conversations and promoting unbiased perspectives across the organizations.

“Deirdre is a strong leader who has established credibility over the years in each organization in which she has worked. I am honored to nominate her for this award.” — David Dukes, director

www.womenofcolor.online

“Florence’s accomplishments truly embody a career of achievements. Her dedication to the company, community, and colleagues will forever impact those who proceed her.” — Jeff Roth, senior manager

“Dr. Brown is striving diligently to change the narrative and face of the STEM discipline, stimulate our youth’s desire to learn more about science, along with cultivating career choices at a young age. Because of these efforts, it is my opinion that she be honored and recognized for this award.” — Miranda McKenzie, information specialist

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AWAR D W I N N ER S

COMMUNITY SERVICE IN INDUSTRY AWARD

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AWARD

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY AWARD

Daniel Chambers

Rhonda Childress

Candice M. Smith, PMP

Multi-Functional Engineering and Science Manager

Vice President and IBM Fellow, Business Information Security Officer

Director, Engineering People Strategy

Lockheed Martin

IBM

Daniel “Dani” Chambers leads and manages a vehicle engineering team consisting of Level 4 managers, team leaders, chief engineers, and technical advisors for the Missions Solutions Program. Chambers has 15-plus years of service with Lockheed Martin (LM), including her current position as a multi-functional engineering and science manager at LM’s Aurora, CO facility. Through volunteerism, Chambers passionately supports science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) outreach. She is an exceptional member of the LM National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Professional Chapter and actively serves as a resource to NSBE undergrad students. In addition, she was a strong leader in LM’s first virtual execution of “LM Diversity Day’’ for thousands of employees, spanning numerous operating locations to strengthen collaboration and teamwork across the workforce. Chambers volunteers for Soldiers Angels, an organization present in all 50 states and 12 countries abroad, in other activities outside of STEM.

Rhonda Childress is a vice president and IBM fellow, BISO, at IBM. She was one of the first fellows appointed with a specialty in security since the inception of the IBM Fellow program in 1963 and is the only woman IBM fellow whose specialty is security.

As a fellow, Childress is considered a corporate asset. She can be called upon at any time to help resolve issues in her area of expertise, no matter where that issue arises. Early on, Childress became known both within IBM and in the industry for her skills in automation and her ability to apply them to clients’ environments. In 1999, she co-authored one of IBM’s best-selling Redbooks: “Tivoli Enterprise Internals and Problem Determination.” Childress was also granted her first patent to create a system that allowed a security incident event management system (SIEM) to communicate with an incident/problem/ change system and automatically open/ update and close a ticket or event between the two systems with no manual intervention.

“At the end of every day, through her career and her volunteer work, Dani embodies the NSBE vision of increasing the number of culturally responsible Black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally, and positively impact the community.” — Audrell Samuels, subcontract administrator, Lockheed Martin 40 ‹

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“While a non-traditional candidate for the Corporate Responsibility or Diversity Leadership awards in the Women of Color nominations, Rhonda has worked tirelessly to advance women and women of color careers.” — Yvonne Calo, general manager, WW Client Innovation Centers

The Boeing Company Candice Smith is responsible for driving strategy to ensure engineers have a world-class experience as they advance. While in the National Guard, Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She also earned a master’s degree in systems engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology, making her the first in her family to graduate from college. Currently, Smith serves as board chair of Project SYNCERE, which helps create pathways for students in STEM. Smith has also developed partnerships in several U.S. cities aimed at assisting children in pursuing meaningful careers. In 2017, she was selected as an Eisenhower fellow to study the intersection between youth and innovation in Kenya and Singapore.

Her many honors include the Boeing St. Louis Diversity Influence award and the St. Louis American Foundation Young Leaders award.

“I believe Candice’s impressive array of achievements speaks for itself. She has touched many lives and made significant strides in amplifying opportunities for women and people of color in STEM fields.” — Nicole Graves, director of human resources, global sales & marketing, finance & business operations, Boeing Commercial Airplanes

www.womenofcolor.online

2021 DIVERSITY LEADERSHIP AWARD

Odetta Scott Associate Director, Indirect Procurement, Collins Aerospace, Operations & Quality Raytheon Technologies Odetta Scott is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt. She has trained 150 Six Sigma specialists and currently mentors 20 individuals. She also coaches two executives. As the associate director of indirect procurement for Collins Aerospace, a division of Raytheon Technologies, she manages engineering outsource supplier relationships above $200 million. Scott is responsible for deploying a managed service provider and vendor-managed solution that drives process standardization, compliance, supplier rationalization, and savings. She is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and growing the pipeline of talented minority employees in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Scott earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering technology from Texas A&M University, an M.B.A. from Jackson State University, and another master’s degree in organization development from Pepperdine University.

“Combining her natural leadership skills and passion for DEI, giving back to the community by advancing education and small business development, she drives the DEI journey forward, regardless of the landscape.” — Rebeca Stoner, executive director of engineering, product line engineering, power, and controls

www.womenofcolor.online

EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP COLLEGE-LEVEL PROMOTION OF EDUCATION AWARD

EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP CORPORATE PROMOTION OF EDUCATION AWARD

Freddie Dixon, Ph.D.

Lakshana Mohee, Ph.D.

Professor of Biology Program Director, NSF HBCU Undergraduate Program, NSF Scholarships in STEM

Education Development Manager

University of the District of Columbia Freddie M. Dixon, Ph.D., is a biology professor at the University of the District of Columbia. Dixon advocates for a greater appreciation of the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines, particularly among Black Americans. Dixon has spearheaded undergraduate research and funding opportunities for students and faculty in the STEM disciplines. She has awarded scholarships and research experiences to over 700 minority students underrepresented in STEM. She also conducts community outreach partnering with external programs to provide learning experiences for STEM students and professional opportunities for STEM faculty.

“Dr. Dixon brings professionalism and compassion for her students and their success.” — Victor R. McCrary, professor of chemistry, The University of the District of Columbia, vice chair, National Science Board

Ansys Lakshana Mohee has a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. She is currently working as an education development manager at Ansys Granta in the Materials Business Unit. In this role, she implements teaching and research strategies through computer-aided tools.

Additionally, she serves as the team’s bioengineering consultant with a link to medical devices. Outside the office, Mohee’s community service efforts are far-reaching. She is always willing to pitch in regardless of the mission. Being a science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education development specialist, Mohee was active in establishing programs for work-study students to perform approved scientific projects through after-school tutoring in a work department or the laboratory.

“In conclusion, Lakshana’s outstanding contribution and passion to the promotion of STEM education and for women in technology earns my best recommendation for the Women of Color STEM Award 2021.” — Luca Masi, manager, Education Division

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AWAR D W I N N ER S

GEM OUTSTANDING YOUNG ALUMNA AWARD

MANAGERIAL LEADERSHIP IN GOVERNMENT AWARD

MANAGERIAL LEADERSHIP IN GOVERNMENT AWARD

Yazmin Feliz, Ph.D.

Leah Haugen

Yazmin Seda-Sanabria

Postdoctoral Researcher

Program Manager, Partnership Intermediary

Chief, Civil Works Data Analysis and Information Systems, Institute for Water Resources

Columbia University Yazmin Feliz recently completed her Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Columbia University with a particular interest in developing life-saving and low-cost ultrasound diagnostics imaging technology. Feliz is leading the Open-Source Portable Ultrasound project, driven by a growing interest in intelligent, affordable, and complete point-of-care diagnostic imaging. The project’s goal is to introduce a portable open-source medical ultrasound that addresses the needs of global users. In addition, Feliz is launching her startup, Ultrasonos, distributing the first-ever imaging system that generates 3D sonograms for under $300 in materials. Feliz has taken advantage of opportunities to bridge her scientific knowledge by taking part in business and entrepreneurship courses (lab-to-market), workshops, and accelerator programs. For example, she recently joined the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program to help scientists think entrepreneurially and evaluate commercialization potential. Learning these skills allows her to solve pressing problems and understand how such innovations can reach their target audience.

“Yazmin has been a long-standing member in SHPE and NSBE where she has participated since 2008 in diversity recruiting through her university as well as while she worked in industry.”

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Air Force Office of Scientific Research Leah M. Haugen is program manager of the Partnership Intermediary Agreement (PIA) at the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Basic Research Office (AFOSR) in Arlington, VA. As the PIA program manager, Haugen has worked at AFOSR for over 15 years in resource planning and public affairs. She has multiple awards, and the following are some of the most recent: 2020 Air Force Office of Scientific Research Civilian of the Year Award, the 2020 Air Force Office of Scientific Research Mission Support Individual of the Year Award, and the Notable Achievement Award for spearheading a $3 million Headquarter Air Force War Fighting Integration Capability partnership to accelerate disruptive science and technology to the warfighter.

“Leah has been selfless in her dedication to the DAF mission, especially during COVID, while at the same time, she has been dual-hatted as a homeschool teacher and conducts Parent Teacher Association fundraising events for her local community.” — Sherry Welsh, Ph.D., Senior Executive Service (SES) director, Air Force of Scientific Research

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Yazmin Seda-Sanabria is a civilian employee of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. She serves as chief of the Data Analysis and Information Systems Branch within the engineer formation’s Institute for Water Resources Navigation and Civil Works Decision Support Center. She directs scientists and staff there, overseeing human capital management, workforce development, and efficient use of resources across multiple centers and programs. She has received many awards throughout her career, including the Dams Sector Government and Sector Coordinating Council Achievement Award (2019). SedaSanabria is committed to advancing Hispanic engineers while advocating for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in her native Puerto Rico and the U.S. mainland. In 1991, she earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. In 1994, she earned a master’s in civil engineering from the same university. Subsequently, she earned a master’s in engineering mechanics from Mississippi State University.

“Ms. Seda-Sanabria’s exceptional performance to date is testament to her outstanding leadership and management qualities.” — Joe D. Manous Jr., director, Department of the Army

www.womenofcolor.online

2021 MANAGERIAL LEADERSHIP IN INDUSTRY AWARD

MANAGERIAL LEADERSHIP IN INDUSTRY AWARD

NEW MEDIA/IT LEADERSHIP AWARD

Deborah A. Brown

Lakela Lofton

Jasmine W. Strait

Senior Director, U.S. Toxicology Laboratories

Program Manager

Director, U.S. Specialized Infrastructure Operations

Abbott Deborah Brown is senior director of U.S. Laboratories at Abbott. Her primary function has been to lead critical initiatives to aim to improve the operational and scientific performance of the Toxicology U.S. Lab network in compliance with the protocols set forth by the relevant regulatory bodies. In addition, she has provided oversight to multiple U.S. Lab locations to ensure performance and consistency across that network. She has been a vital partner in project coordination when developing a new department. Brown took charge of setting goals and metrics for the department. Brown leads by example. She has 20 years of experience supporting commercial excellence and driving continuous improvement and performance optimization through employee empowerment, engagement, and capability building.

“It is exactly these experiences—lab technical know-how, managerial aptitude, and lab process improvement process—that made Deborah the ideal candidate to bring into Abbott.” — Joe Eppert, divisional vice president, Abbott

www.womenofcolor.online

Huntington Ingalls Industries Lakela Lofton is a program manager at Huntington Ingalls Incorporated (HII) Newport News Shipbuilding. With 24 years of experience in engineering and program management, she is a visionary leader offering turnaround management, team leadership, and strategic planning engineering and operations environments. She has documented success in leading projects to reconfigure facilities and reduce the quantity of operating equipment resulting in an impressive $1 million in annual savings. In addition, she led a team that was awarded the 2013 Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) Model of Excellence Award for developing a new method for replacing contaminated media. The team was also nominated for NNS’s Model of Excellence Award for creating a winning proposal in 2012 for a Kesselring Site Contract. In addition, she is a 2014 Women of Color STEM Conference Special Recognition Award winner.

Lofton holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a Master of Business Administration.

“Her list of accomplishments has continued to grow, and she has continued to pave the way for minorities coming behind her.” — Gary Fuller, vice president, Aircraft Carrier, and Submarine Fleet Support

The Boeing Company Jasmine Strait is director of U.S. Specialized Infrastructure Operations for Boeing Information Technology in Fairfax, VA. Strait is the executive leader responsible for delivering end-to-end IT services, including infrastructure design, operations, and compliance services to Boeing proprietary programs and labs.

She has won numerous awards and honors, such as the Boeing Technical Leadership Program, Boeing Leading Edge Accelerated Development (Lead) Program, and the Modern-Day Technology Leader Award at the BEYA STEM Conference. In addition, she has affiliations with and does community service for the Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF) and Women in Technology (WIT). She holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, a graduate certificate—information technologies from New York University, and a master’s degree in management and systems from New York University.

“It is clear to me that Jasmine is a rising star in technology who will continue to be a role model for women and people of color entering STEM fields now and in the future.” — Nicole Graves, director of human resources, Global Sales & Marketing, The Boeing Company

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AWAR D W I N N ER S

OUTSTANDING TECHNICAL CONTRIBUTION IN GOVERNMENT AWARD

OUTSTANDING TECHNICAL CONTRIBUTION IN INDUSTRY AWARD

OUTSTANDING TECHNICAL CONTRIBUTION IN INDUSTRY AWARD

Leslie Leonard, Ph.D.

Eunice Allen-Bradley

Bindu Sundaresan

Computer Scientist

Angled UltraSonic Inspection Original Equipment Manufacturer Implementation Lead Pratt & Whitney, Engineering

Director - Cybersecurity

U.S. Army Engineer Research & Development Center Leslie Leonard, Ph.D., is an Army civilian computer scientist with a Doctor of Philosophy degree in computer science from the University of Maryland and a master’s and bachelor’s degree in computer science from Jackson State University. Currently, she is a program manager for the Department of Defense (DoD) High-Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP). In this role, she provides insight for future strategic high-performance computing (HPC) directions by identifying present and future challenges of DoD HPC in the areas of exploratory HPC research, cybersecurity, supercomputer applications, and HPC Cloud applications. In addition, she has a diverse knowledge of the power of relationships within the organization.

She has a strong ability to collaborate with key business/technology groups and organizational peers in the U.S. Army Engineer Research & Development Center (ERDC) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).

“Dr. Leonard’s willingness to excel as a member and leader and her drive toward technical accomplishments are an asset to the ERDC and the USACE.” — David W. Pittman, P.E., Ph.D., Senior Executive Service (SES) director

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Raytheon Technologies Eunice Allen-Bradley is a project engineer in the engineering unit of Pratt & Whitney, a Raytheon Technologies company. Allen-Bradley’s technical work and expertise have contributed to technology that is a backbone for Pratt & Whitney’s game-changing geared turbofan engines. In 2018, she graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute with a master’s degree in systems engineering and earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2009. In May 2002, she earned a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Syracuse University.

“In summary, Eunice’s contribution to turbine airfoil design and technology development have played an integral role in the success of PWGTF engines.”

— John Zimmerman, vice president, Pratt & Whitney

AT&T Bindu Sundaresan is a director in AT&T cybersecurity. She provides strategic and tactical cybersecurity consulting services to customers and collaborates with clients on cybersecurity, technology transformation, cyberrisk compliance, and data governance initiatives. She has a diverse background with experience spanning more than 20 years of working with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and HITRUST. She also works with regulations such as Payment Card Industry (PCI), the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Sundaresan has a master’s degree in telecommunications and information networking from the State University of New York and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Madras in India. Her career achievements include being selected to the Top Discussion Leaders Recognition Corporate Briefing Program three years in a row. In addition, she is a CMMC registered practitioner, certified ethical hacker, and certified information security manager.

“I am fortunate to have Bindu Sundaresan as a member of my team and fully support her nomination for the Women of Color Achievement Award.” — Todd Waskelis, assistant vice president, AT&T Cybersecurity www.womenofcolor.online

2021 PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT IN GOVERNMENT AWARD

PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT IN GOVERNMENT AWARD

PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT IN GOVERNMENT AWARD

Master Sergeant Tahnika Bessant

Candi Hudson, Ph.D.

LTC Latoya M. Manzey

Technical Advisor, Bureau of Safety & Environmental Enforcement

Deputy District Commander

334th Fighter Squadron First Shirt, 4th Fighter Wing U.S. Air Force Master Sergeant Tahnika M. Bessant currently serves as the first sergeant, 334th Fighter Squadron, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, NC. She is the key advisor to the squadron commander regarding health, morale, and welfare for 375 F-15E Eagle pilots, instructors, and maintenance personnel. She has extensive military training, starting in 2003 with basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, TX. Then she attended Airman Leadership School in 2008 at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, earned a 2019 master of applied science in criminal justice administration from Columbia Southern University in Foley, AL, completed Senior Enlisted Joint Professional Military Education II in 2019 by correspondence, and completed 2020 First Sergeant Academy at Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, AL. Additionally, Bessant has major awards and decorations such as the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, and an Air Force Achievement Medal with two oak leaf clusters.

“Sergeant Bessant represents the epitome of dedicated and professional servant leadership.” — William R. Kastner, Lt. l Col. US Air Force, commander, 334th Fighter Squadron

www.womenofcolor.online

U.S. Department of the Interior Candi Hudson, Ph.D., is currently the Response Research Branch chief in the Oil Spill Preparedness Division of Response Research for the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety & Environmental Enforcement. In this role, she oversees oil spill response research and manages the Ohmsett test facility.

Hudson’s academic credentials include a Bachelor of Science from Bradley University, a master’s in mechanical engineering from Prairie View A&M University, and a Ph.D. in materials science. Her accomplishments include aero defense, technical assessments of novel equipment, technologies, and managing a $14 million oil spill response research program technology budget.

“Dr. Hudson is an inspiring figure for the current and future generations of women of color in science and technology.” — Victor R, McCrary, Ph.D., vice president for research & graduate programs, professor of chemistry, The University of the District of Columbia, vice chair, National Science Board

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Louisville District Lieutenant Latoya Manzey, deputy district commander, assists in leading a team of over 1,100 civilian and military personnel to execute military and civil works programs of more than $1 billion annually. She graduated with an M.S. in adult occupational education from Kansas State University and a B.A. in political science and international studies from the Xavier University of Louisiana. She has been instrumental in the district’s efforts to fight and manage the COVID-19 pandemic within its area of responsibility. Manzey is also more than a professional Army soldier. She is a committed role model, mentor, and advocate for young people. Throughout her career, she has worked to develop partnerships and participate in outreach efforts far and wide. Manzey is an active participant in the YMCA Black Achievers program and serves as an example to many through her passionate service and success in inspiring the next generation to strive and obtain their goals and dreams.

“It is my observation that Lt. Col. Latoya Manzey is destined for higher levels of service to the Army and our nation.”

— Eric D. Crispino, colonel, U.S. Army, district commander

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AWAR D W I N N ER S

PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT IN INDUSTRY AWARD

PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT IN INDUSTRY AWARD

PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT IN INDUSTRY AWARD

Tracey Espero

Mandakini Kanungo, Ph.D.

Changchang Liu, Ph.D.

Director of Platform Programs and Orca Program Manager, Maritime Undersea Huntington Beach Site Executive

Research Associate – Thin Films & Surfaces

Research Staff Member, IBM Research

The Boeing Company

Corning Research and Development Corporation

Tracey Espero is a program manager for Orca, The Boeing Company. She is working to deliver five prototypes to the United States Navy. In addition, she leads a trailblazing program opening a new market for The Boeing Company: autonomous submarines.

The XLUUV (Extra Large Unmanned Underwater Vehicle) program is one of only three autonomous systems for the Navy to have active contacts.

Espero is fiercely committed to promoting STEM whenever possible.

Before the COVID disruption in 2020, she planned, organized, and hosted a space camp for seven straight years for her community. She has a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from North Carolina State University and a leadership skills certificate from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. Mandakini Kanungo is a project manager and material/process scientist in the Surfaces Research group at the Corning Research & Development Corporation. Kanungo has a Ph.D. in analytical and physical engineering. She is an expert in multiple sciences and engineering fields. In addition, Kanungo is both creative and innovative, having over 80 granted patents and 30 externally published, peer-reviewed journal articles. She is a role model in how she carries herself and executes her work. She started coaching a math club at the Corning-Painted Post Middle School and led the team to medal performance at the GAIM (Girls Adventure in Math) competition held at Cornell. She is also a volunteer for First Lego Robotics, advising students on independent research projects.

“It is truly inspiring to consider Tracey’s many technical and leadership achievements.” — Nicole Graves, director of human resources, global sales & marketing, France & business operations, The Boeing Company

“In summary, Dr. Kanungo is a wellrespected scientist with a strong history of performing at the highest levels throughout her career. She is an outstanding example of all that a scientist can be, both in the lab and in the broader community.” — Dr. Todd P. Clair

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IBM Dr. Changchang Liu is a talented researcher with a background in security and privacy. She is a recognized subject matter expert, as indicated by her selection as a member of the committee of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Differential Privacy Synthetic Data Challenge for the last four years. Liu serves on the conference committees of several major conferences and serves as a reviewer for many more meetings and several technical journals. She is a genuine professional working with others within the research community.

“She demonstrates an extraordinary commitment to technological achievement and is an excellent role model and inspiration for women in science and technology.” — Dr. Seraphin B. Calo, distinguished research staff member, IBM Research

www.womenofcolor.online

2021 STUDENT LEADERSHIP UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL AWARD

TECHNICAL INNOVATION AWARD

PIONEER AWARD

Mei Li , Ph.D. Corteva Laureate

Master Sergeant Bonnie Rushing

Charlie Company Executive Officer

Corteva Agriscience

Instructor, USAF Academy

U.S. Coast Guard Academy

Dr. Mei Li is the Corteva laureate at Corteva Agriscience. Li’s contributions to the agricultural industry are widely known, as she is the primary inventor of numerous award-winning technologies and products. With 19 years of industry experience since completing her Ph.D. in polymer science and engineering, Li has become an exceptional role model within Corteva Agriscience for her value in delivering innovation to customers’ hands. She has also become a role model and beacon for women of color and the broader Asian community within Corteva R&D.

1/c Emi Siler First class cadet (1/c) Emi Siler served as the company commander’s direct representative and assisted the company commander in executing all prescribed duties. She supervised the company officer of the day, a second class cadet or third class cadet responsible for ensuring adherence to the plan of the day. In addition, she maintained and directed the good order, discipline, and welfare of the company and maintained all company administrative files including liberty lists, recall logs, special requests, meal security, evening reports, and probation lists. She holds a Bachelor of Science in operations research and computer analysis. In May 2021, she graduated from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy with high honors.

Siler received an Advanced Placement Scholar Award for above and beyond academic achievement and a Sons of the American Revolution Award for above and beyond duties in Air Force Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps (AFJROTC).

“1/c Siler’s leadership extends beyond the Corps of Cadets. She has regularly volunteered at the U.S. Coast Guard Child Development Center in New London, CT, teaching young children how to read and write.” — Capt. Arthur Ray, U.S. Coast Guard Academy commandant of cadets

www.womenofcolor.online

“She is a sought-out and passionate mentor and coach for young scientists globally. She advocates and provides opportunities for technical and project leadership across our Product Science & Technology team, and I am grateful to have her as a partner.” — Melissa M. Johnson, Ph.D., global R&D leader

United States Air Force Bonnie Rushing has been recognized for her diverse background in helping highlight and fast-track women and diversity in the forefront of military, intelligence, defense, and signals technology organizations. According to her colleagues, she is a rising star and an experienced pioneer in her field.

Historically, military, aircrew, and special operations have been male-dominated fields. She was the first female linguist aviator to fly onboard the MC-130J aircraft and eagerly volunteered for its first deployment abroad. During her work on C-130 airframes, she delivered supplies to orphanages in Central America, trained allied troops when they did not have the expertise or airborne assets, and was a sought-after signals analyst and linguist mentor.

Rushing became a flight instructor and evaluator early in her career and was the first female airborne linguist to instruct at the Special Operations Squadron formal training unit. Rushing comes from humble means, and she was the first person in her family to graduate from college and obtain her master’s degree. As a graduate student at the National Intelligence University, Rushing published her thesis on machine language technology, extensively researching artificial intelligence and human needs.

“Her missions protect American society from terrorism, violence, and strategic level threats. Bonnie Rushing contributes to our society both on and off duty.” — MSgt Christopher Oliver WOMENOFCOLOR | FALL 2021

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AWAR D W I N N ER S

PRESIDENT’S AWARD

SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD

SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD

The Honorable Cheryl Campbell

Tracy A. Clark

Takia Easley

Manager, Flight Test Instrumentation and Data Operations

Program Manager, Pratt & Whitney, Military Engines

Bell Textron, Inc.

Raytheon Technologies

Tracy Clark is the flight test instrumentation and data ops manager at Bell Textron Inc. She has worked in flight tests and evaluation for her entire 19-year professional career. Clark leads a team of 14 engineers and technicians at Bell Textron’s Flight Research Center.

Her team is responsible for providing solutions to gather flight test data, from designing, installing, and maintaining airborne data acquisition systems (ADAS) to transmitting and processing the data for real-time and post-flight analysis. Clark earned her B.S. in electrical engineering at Louisiana Tech University in 2001. She is also a strong advocate for giving back and inspiring others to succeed. She was previously the community outreach chair for Bell’s African Ancestry Network Group, an employee resource group at Bell Textron. She hosted and coordinated Bell’s Math and Engineering Camp, allowing high school students to gain hands-on experience in STEM. In addition, she has volunteered at an adult literacy program at the local women’s shelter and has participated in several drives, walks, and mentoring programs throughout the years.

Takia Easley is the program manager for Pratt & Whitney with Raytheon Technologies. As program manager and business acquisition manager, she has led an enterprise-wide cross-functional team that developed program requirements, estimated resources required to execute, and delivered a government-compliant proposal to schedule. In addition to her role of capturing new business opportunities, Easley is responsible for providing engineering capability, surplus assets, and overhaul repairs through the sustainment program.

Before joining Pratt & Whitney, she spent 12 years in the aerospace industry developing design engineering and project management skills. She also has a passion for developing the STEM pipeline in her community. She served on the Indianapolis National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Pre-College Initiative as a facilitator introducing middle school and high school students to STEM, specifically aerospace engineering. She also worked with students through the Minority Indianapolis Engineering Program to introduce them to different engineering disciplines and concepts and host college tours. She also served as the campus manager for Alabama A&M University, where she recruited diverse engineers as co-op students and partnered with the university on senior design projects.

Assistant Secretary for Administration Department of Health and Human Services Cheryl Campbell is the permanent Department of and Human Services assistant secretary for administration.

She previously served in an acting role since March 2021, where she laid the groundwork for 21st century HHS operations. The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration (ASA) is responsible for the delivery of high-quality, cost-effective, and timely mission support services for HHS, and through the critical transition period, Campbell has led the agency’s administration through many of the nation’s and the world’s most challenging issues. Campbell is the first person to hold a position with leadership experience at each HHS Op/ Div and Staff/Div. In addition, she will be the first female assistant secretary for administration and the first person of color to serve as the assistant secretary for administration. She is the founder and past CEO of the Eagle Force Warrior Foundation, which supports wounded, ill, and injured military service members and their extended families as they recover in the Department of Defense’s critical care facilities.

She has been named a “Healthcare IT Game Changer” by ExecutiveBiz, and FEDSCOOP recognized her as one of D.C.’s Top 50 most influential women in technology. In addition, Poets & Quants named Campbell as one of the world’s “Top 50 Global Executive MBAs.”

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“Tracy is a leader and role model within Bell and in the community who is deserving of being recognized for her professional achievement.” — Tom Currie, director of flight research

“She has earned the respect of her team through her work ethic, consistency, and collaboration skills.” — Andre McMillian, vice president, Oklahoma City & Global Depots www.womenofcolor.online

2021 SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD

SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD

SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD

Krystal Folkes

Nor Farida Harun, Ph.D.

Akissi C. Lewis

Cloud Solution Architect, U.S. Retail and Consumer Goods

Research Scientist

IT Strategist & Acting Chief of Staff for CIO

Microsoft Krystal Folkes is the cloud solution architect for Microsoft and works for App Innovations team with retail and consumer goods customers. Through the National Society of Black Engineers, Black Girls Code, Blacks at Microsoft, and a number of other endeavors, she consistently displays the characteristics of the highest-caliber role model around and always searches for new opportunities to impact and influence.

Whether augmenting teaching staff and providing original training materials to teach coding to high school students or establishing relationships with young girls who have an interest in STEM through Girls Who Code, Folkes’ impact resonates with everyone who has the opportunity to meet her. Her work has expanded through the efforts of the Dallas/Fort Worth NSBE Professionals chapter. She has planned several “Walks for Education,” where members literally walk the streets of the community to talk with residents about STEM. She also regularly volunteers with the Black Girls Code organization, helping young ladies cultivate their passion for computer science.

“She is a hardworking, dedicated engineer who has exemplified the definition of giving back to the community.” — Townsend Brown, 20202022 PEB

Leidos Dr. Nor Farida Harun is a leading international expert in cyberphysical simulation (CPS) systems.

She currently serves as a scientist/ engineer at Leidos in support of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

As part of her responsibilities, Harun works closely with the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) to pioneer and build a new cyber-physical test facility for R&D in energy that creates an opportunity to accelerate the deployment of novel energy systems. The CPS test facility at NETL is developed for testing numerous power plant configurations, including hybrid energy systems, to facilitate discovery and control development that would lead to an optimal pilot plant at reduced risk and cost. With a passion for giving back, Harun serves as a technical mentor to many intern students within minority programs to help strengthen a diverse pipeline of future STEM professionals from the Hispanic community and underrepresented students in STEM, such as the DOE’s Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship (MLEF) and the Consortium for Integrating Energy Systems in Engineering and Science Education (CIESESE). She mentors post-doc, graduate, and undergraduate students in the hybrid energy field by providing hands-on experiences for her mentees.

Dropbox Akissi Lewis is the information technology strategist and acting chief of staff for the chief information officer of Dropbox. Lewis is a proven technology and business leader who has dedicated her career to identifying and implementing strategies and innovations to meet and exceed the mission and goals of the influential organizations she has led. In addition to her corporate endeavors, she has served for years in the capacity of advocate, mentor, role model, and steward through her community service work in support of the IT Senior Management Forum) and the National Society of Black Engineers. She is the founder of a D&I-focused nonprofit, Kallisto Black Society. Kallisto means “most beautiful” in Greek. She sees her diversity as a gift and never tires when bringing positivity to the world related to the narrative of being Black. Lewis has achieved master black belt of Six Sigma, ITIL expert, PMP, and change management expert.

“Akissi is a dedicated, committed, and proven successful leader in our NSBE and its mission. She has served us well and will continue to serve all of our NSBE as well as our own NSBE Region II Professionals chair elect.” — Alisha Rene Johnson

“Farida’s contributions to the scientific community are nothing short of phenomenal.” — Jennie Stoffa, RSSSUBCLIN manager, Leidos

www.womenofcolor.online

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DO WORK THAT CREATES

POSSIBILITIES At Abbott, we’re all about helping you live the best life you can through good health. Every day, more than 109,000 of us bring you information, medicines and breakthroughs to manage your health and make life better in the 160-plus countries we serve.

We’re bringing together our diverse perspectives to change the face of healthcare. Join us in this life-changing work while achieving your career and personal goals.

Learn more at: abbott.com/careers.

Connect with us:

Abbott is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or protected Veteran status.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

I N S P I R E • E N G A G E • E D U C AT E • E M P L O Y

COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY

STUDENT RESOURCES

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Find your place in space!

Apply for a NASA internship or fellowship.

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Discover the Artemis Student Challenges and explore how you can join in one of NASA’s mission-related challenges.

stem.nasa.gov/artemis Explore STEM Resources for colleges, universities, and technical and vocational institutions.

go.nasa.gov/HigherEd Follow, share, and be part of NASA STEM to learn more and see our work in action. go.nasa.gov/2Jnor8C

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Additional NASA STEM resources and information can be found at stem.nasa.gov.

www.nasa.gov

AWAR D W I N N ER S

SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD

SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD

SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD

Rahel Rudd

Fleur Ryan

Frenae Smith

Branch Chief Engineer, Human Systems Division

Vice President of Defense Growth & Strategy

Manager of Codes and Standards and Laboratory Services

U.S. Air Force

Jacobs

DTE Energy

Rahel R. Rudd is the branch chief engineer in the Air Force Material Command’s Aircrew Performance and Combat Ready Airman branches, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center Human Systems Division, agile combat support (ACS), and Wright Patterson Air Force Base. She also oversees projects in the Airmen Accommodation Laboratory, which evaluates personnel accommodation within their operating environments; and the Life Support Systems-Scientific Test, Analysis, and Qualification (LSS STAQ) laboratory, which tests and qualifies aircraft oxygen systems. In addition, Rudd supervises a diverse team of engineers and scientists and provides technical oversight to programs and projects that offer personnel with helmets and hearing protection, body armor, harnesses, flight suits, and physiologic monitoring devices, which monitor vital physiologic parameters so that clinicians can be informed of changes in a patient’s condition. Rudd assumed her current role in 2020 and capably engaged with the team virtually, overcoming difficulties and challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fleur Ryan is vice president of defense growth and strategy in Jacobs’ Critical Mission Solutions. She drives the expansion of a $700 million-plus portfolio delivering mission-critical solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense. Ryan executes the delivery of digital modernization, intelligence and analysis, and global mission operations.

One of her accomplishments is growth within the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, responsible for delivering breakthrough technologies to the defense department. Ryan has 20 years of experience in IT architecture, development, management, cybersecurity, network infrastructure, systems engineering, and software development frameworks. She is a project management professional (PMP), a certified information system security professional (CISSP), and a certified scrum master (CSM). She holds credentials in Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) Foundations and is a Lean Six Sigma green belt.

Frenae Smith is the manager of codes and standards and laboratory services at DTE Energy. She has led the laboratory in becoming the first energy lab in the United States to receive The American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) ISO17025 Accreditation. In 2012, she helped facilitate and design the first distribution pipeline to accept processed landfill gas in Michigan for DTE Energy. In addition, she belongs to other organizations such as the American Gas Association, Midwest Energy Association, the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), and the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). She volunteers her time to Engineering Society of Detroit with Future Cities, Engineering SMArT Detroit, and the Engineering & Technology Job Fair. Smith is also active with United Way and the Junior Achievement Job Shadowing Program, where she coordinates approximately 75 high school students with an on-site career day at DTE Energy. In addition, Smith volunteers with MySister Circle, a nonprofit committed to creating an environment that encourages healthy relationships between women of all ages to strengthen and educate women of all ages on their importance to society and the significance of the influence they have on one another.

“Ms. Rudd embodies exceptional managerial leadership, both through her people skills, and is an engineering practitioner and technical expert.”

— Andrew Klein, NH-IV USAF, chief engineer, Human Systems Division, Agile Combat Support Directorate

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“Fleur is a servant leader who takes people, ideas, and organizations further with her extensive industry knowledge and commitment to bridging the gap between STEM career opportunities and women of color who remain an underrepresented group in the technology field.” — Jennifer Richmond, senior vice president, and general manager advancing national security/ critical missions solutions/Jacobs

“Ms. Smith has worked tirelessly for the last 18 years professionally and in her spare time, to improve STEM education and outreach in Detroit.” — Alida Sandberg, director of pipeline safety and regulatory compliance, DTE Energy www.womenofcolor.online

2021 SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD

SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD

SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD

Rita D. Williams

Suman Woolums

Rekha Wunnava

Budget Analyst, Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory

Human Systems Engineer

Global Director, Automotive Design & Build IT

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Rita Williams began her career as a budget analyst with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) in 2008.

As the budget analyst, Williams has positioned herself as a critical member of the staff, supporting not only GLERL, but with additional fiduciary responsibilities under NOAA by managing a multimilliondollar research portfolio for NOAA’s projects under the United States Environmental Protection Agency Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI).

For her responsibilities as GLERL’s budget analyst, Williams executes the additional $12 million of congressionally allocated funds ensuring effective use of taxpayer funds in support of critical science conducted on the Great Lakes and other coastal ecosystems. She is also responsible for negotiating complex agreements with other agencies and organizations and processing over 20 proposals supporting the Cooperative Institute of Great Lakes Research housed at the University of Michigan. Williams has also volunteered outside of her regular duties to sit on several hiring panels and GLERL’s EEO Diversity & Inclusion committee.

“Ms. Williams is an exceptional and worthy candidate for the STEM WOC Professional Achievement Award.”

— Deborah Hollister Lee, director, Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration www.womenofcolor.online

The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory Suman Woolums is a first-generation American. Her parents hailed from rural India. Woolums is the first woman in her family to receive a Bachelor of Science degree. She also graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics and mathematics from the University of Pittsburgh. Woolums joined the Department of Defense (DOD) Army Test and Evaluation Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground as a DOD acquisition professional. She was responsible for evaluating command and control and medical information technology systems. She also provided strategic, programmatic, and evaluation expertise. Woolums’s work was recognized, and she was rapidly promoted. Later, she accepted a position as a human systems engineer at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). There, she orchestrated a cross-sector effort to establish the Building Leaders, Accelerating Science & Technology (BLAST) program to grow early career staff.

“Suman has made a significant impact in a short period, and her work will continue to pay dividends in the future to APL and the aspiring growing number of innovative technical leaders.” — W. Brad Wolf, group supervisor, signals and systems analysis, Force Projection Sector

Ford Motor Company Rekha Wunnava is an executive in information technology at Ford, and currently a global director, Automotive Design & Build IT. This includes the product-driven organization for product development, manufacturing, quality, and safety & environmental sustainability engineering. In this role, she is helping shape the future of Ford’s core automotive domain through digital transformation. Before this, she was the IT director for manufacturing. She played a crucial role in partnering with Ford’s Advanced Manufacturing group to define the vision and roadmap for Ford’s Factory of Tomorrow, enabled by disruptive technologies. Wunnava has contributed to Ford IT’s growth and transformation over the last 18 years, with 25-plus years total in the IT industry. Having lived and worked in India, the UK, China, and the U.S., she has a unique perspective on global cultures and is the executive champion for Ford IT’s culture transformation. She enjoys combining that with her technical experiences to create winning strategies and a vibrant culture that energizes a multigenerational workforce.

“Rekha is a role model for encouraging, developing, and sponsoring of female talent within Ford. She has always been a strong voice to establish principle-based processes that help the development of diversity groups.” — Steffen MuellerUrbaniak, IT director, Ford Motor Company

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AWAR D W I N N ER S

2021 Women of Color in STEM Technologists of the Year 1997-2020 2020 - (Ret.) RADM Sylvia Trent-Adams, Ph.D.,RN, FAAN,

principal deputy assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and

Human Services

SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD

2019 - Pamela McCauley, Ph.D., C.P.E, professor & laboratory director,

University of Central Florida

Dian Xu

2018 - Donna L. Bell, director of research operations, Ford Motor Company

Director, Engineering

2017 - Denise Gray, CEO, LG Chem Power Inc.

Rocket Mortgage Dian Xu is the director of engineering in data intelligence at Rocket Mortgage, whose primary goal is to drive the creation of the next generation of enterprise data platforms with a relentless focus on creating a worldclass developer experience. While working for Rocket Mortgage for the past seven years, Xu has been a strong culture driver and top performer in various roles, including senior data analyst, data warehouse engineer, team leader, and is currently a senior leader in Rocket Technology. During her career, Xu has played a vital role in developing and shaping Rocket’s overall data architecture and infrastructure, business intelligence, and machine learning capabilities. She has been nominated four times for a Rock Honors Award— the top award in the Rock Family of Companies—for Best Performance in a Supporting Role (2016), People’s Choice (2017), Best PerformanceCultural Warrior (2019), and she won the Best Performance in a Team Leader Role Award (2020). Xu has also taken various leadership roles in Toastmasters International, the U.S. headquartered nonprofit educational organization that operates clubs worldwide to promote communication, public speaking, and leadership.

“Dian has truly relentless energy and never fails to achieve what she and her team set out to accomplish.” — Dan Jones, senior vice president, data intelligence, Rocket Mortgage

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2016 - Dr. Aleksandra Boskovic, research director, Corning Incorporated 2015 - Delia Grenville, research scientist, Intel Corporation 2014 - Alicia Boler-Davis, senior vice president, General Motors 2013 - Camille D’Annunzio, manager, Automated Sensor Exploitation Technology

Center, Northrop Grumman 2012 - Sonya Sepahban, senior vice president, General Dynamics Land Systems 2011 - Sarita Rao, vice president, AT&T Business 2010 - RADM Eleanor Valentin, director of the Military Health

System, United States Navy 2009 - Norma Clayton, vice president, The Boeing Company 2008 - Irene Hernandez Roberts,, program director, IBM Software 2007 - Chineta K. Davis, vice president, Northrop Grumman 2006 - Lina Echeverria, Ph.D., vice president, Corning Incorporated 2005 - Nancy Stewart, senior vice president and CTO, Walmart 2004 - Asha Goyal, Ph.D., vice president, IBM Global Services 2003 - Vallerie Parrish-Porter, CIO, Embarq Corporation 2002 - Duy-Loan T. Le, senior fellow, Texas Instruments 2001 - Sherita T. Ceasar, vice president, Tampa Electric 2000 - Margarita Dominguez, Tampa Electric 1999 - Dr. Chon-Yin Tsai, principal mechanical engineer, Lockheed Martin

Missiles & Space 1998 - Stephanie Manuel Bailey, vice president, Fannie Mae 1997 - Sherry F. Bellamy, vice president, Verizon www.womenofcolor.online

“People will take care of the mission if you take care of them.” ~ Maj.Yolanda Benson

ARMY MEDICINE TAKES PRIDE IN OUR PEOPLE Army Medicine takes Pride in our Soldiers and Civilians who demonstrate leadership skills, willingness to adapt, selfless service, and dedication to duty.

We are training and building cohesive teams by maximizing the talents of our People to deploy, fight, and win decisively against any adversary — anytime and anywhere — in joint, multidomain, and high-intensity conflicts.

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We are also building the capability and capacity to sustain ready, reformed, reorganized, responsive, and relevant medical care, as well as expeditionary, tailored, medical forces to support the Army against any adversary in the joint, multi-domain, high-intensity battlefields of the future and through the next pandemic.

It is our People that provide us with an enduring advantage to remain the world’s most ready, lethal, and capable land combat force.

MAJOR YOLANDA BENSON Executive Officer Patient Administration Division

Maj.Yolanda Benson is the Executive Officer for the Patient Administration Division within Patient Care Integration at the U.S. Army Medical Command (MEDCOM). She is dual hatted and serves as the 70E Patient Administration Officer consultant and manages the Army’s 70Es. As an executive officer, Maj.Benson is commited to all aspects of patient administration in regards to assisting medical staff in evaluating quality of patient care and in developing criteria and methods for such an evaluation. She advises the medical commander on issues pertaining to patient administration and medical regulating, and serves as an adviser on matters pertaining to health services facility management, organization, operation, and professional staff functions.

Maj.Benson says her most rewarding and most challenging assignment was when she commanded a Stryker Brigade Combat Team. “I loved it,” she said, “because I had the chance to really take care of Soldiers. I had 115 people to take care of, to build trust among. They eventually trusted me, because I cared about them as People and not just about the mission. People will take care of the mission if you take care of them.”

Taking care of our Soldiers, Civilians, and Families is at the core of medical readiness.

Maj.Benson’s exemplary leadership skills and dedication to invest in People is what makes Army Medicine the premier expeditionary healthcare system.

2021

WOMEN OF COLOR STEM CONFERENCE

TECHNOLOGY ALL-STARS, RISING STARS, & TOP WOMEN IN FINANCE The Technology All-Star, Rising Star, and Top Women in Finance awards at the annual Women of Color STEM Conference are part of the Outstanding Achievement Award (OAA) category. The awards honor excellence in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.

TECHNOLOGY ALL-STARS are accomplished women from mid-level to advanced stages of their career (with over 15 years in the workforce) who have demonstrated excellence in the workplace and their communities. They are honored at a special recognition event during the Women of Color STEM Conference.

TECHNOLOGY RISING STARS are professionals with less than 15 years in the STEM workforce who are helping to shape technology for the future. They are honored at a special recognition event during the Women of Color STEM Conference.

TOP WOMEN IN FINANCE are superstars in the financial sector. Whether they work at a financial institution, in retail, for the defense industry, or for the government, they are leaders in their field while promoting diversity and serving as role models.

Some nominees are just starting their careers and helping to shape technology for the future, while others are at mid-level to advanced stages and have demonstrated excellence in the workplace and their communities.

MEET THE 2021 AWARD WINNERS:

TECHNOLOGY RISING STARS Eboneki Akhibi Senior Quality Manager, Technical Operations Abbott

Kiran Bachhawat, Ph.D. Principal Tech Support Scientist Abbott

Mani Bhadra IT Program Manager Abbott

Chiedza Chauruka Research & Development Engineer Abbott

Bianca Chavez Manager, Facilities Technical Support Abbott

Brenda De Leon

Tiffini Jenkins

Sinai Rosales

Development Quality Engineer II Abbott

Regulatory Affairs Manager Abbott

Sanchali Deb, Ph.D.

Carissa Le

Quality Systems Training Supervisor Abbott

Systems & Hardware Manager Abbott

Project Engineer Abbott

Andrea Doakes

Jemma-Kay McGready

Senior Manager and Black Belt Abbott

Data Management & Statistics Manager Abbott

Kandice Tucker

Maya Musse

Abhinaya Uthayakumar

Manufacturing Engineer Abbott

R&D Technical Program Manager Abbott

Benadetta Njau

Shayana Vasichek

HHS AH-Responsible Person and Senior Training Supervisor Abbott

Director, Product Security Abbott

Divya Raman

Manager Quality Engineering Abbott

Gladys Garza Senior Manufacturing Engineer Abbott

Susan Gawel, Ph.D. Director of Biostatistics Abbott

Shreya Gupta Senior Software Engineer Abbott

Danielle Henry Industrial Engineer Abbott

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Applications Development Manager Abbott

Jessica Smith-Armstrong Principal Clinical Specialist Abbott Scientist Abbott

Ervelyn Winata

www.womenofcolor.online

2021 Jennifer Wong

Hamraz Salehi

Lonnie Attucks

Nicole Barden

Senior Director, Global Regulatory Affairs Abbott

Electrical Engineer Actalent

Technical Sales Consultant IV AT&T

Lead Associate Booz Allen Hamilton

Michelle Zemura

Ella Seidl

Prexa Bhatt

Dorian Bartholomeo

Quality Engineer Actalent

Associate Director - Technology AT&T

Senior Consultant Booz Allen Hamilton

Kalyani Shinde

Madhuri Bondada

Camryn Bishop

Open Source Code Review Engineer Actalent

Principal - System Engineer AT&T

Senior Consultant Booz Allen Hamilton

Samantha Steurer

Bonnie (Wing Yan) Chan

Stephanie Blondet Hernandez

Immunology Lab Technician Actalent

Lead Workplace Tech Collab Solutions AT&T

Associate Booz Allen Hamilton

Arshiya Tabassum

Shannon Couch

Katrina Alexander

Embedded Software Engineer Actalent

Director - Channel Marketing AT&T

Lead Associate Booz Allen Hamilton

Autonomous Test Operator Actalent

Sravanthi Vanguaru

Huyen Galicia

Alejandra Aranda

Quality Engineer Actalent

Vaccine Inspection Technician Actalent

Tran Vo

Senior Lead Design Program Manager AT&T

Junior Project Engineer Abbott

Nancy Alanis Quality and Campaign Prevention Engineer Actalent

Fayza Alashkar QA Documentation & Compliance Specialist Actalent

Pamela Avendaño Arenas

Operations Lab Technician Actalent

D&R Engineer Interior Trim Actalent

Major Erin Hollmon

Deepa Farrar Structures/Welding Engineer Actalent

Mayuri Gajera Systems and Software Group Manager Actalent

Jessica Goodreau Ford Backup Start Passcode Feature Owner Actalent

Manasa Gudipally Project Manager Actalent

Alyssa Hartman Mechanical Engineer Actalent

Kimberly Jankowiak Quality Engineer Actalent

Laura De Souza

Chief Innovation Officer Air Force Life Cycle Management Center

Ajitha Koduri

Consultant Booz Allen Hamilton

Lead Product Marketing Manager AT&T

Ruth Karanja

Taylor Ruffin

Benazeer Saifee

Associate Booz Allen Hamilton

Lead, Augmented/Virtual Reality Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office (AFRSO)

Senior Software Engineer AT&T

Isabella Martinez

Cameron Mine

Upasna Saluja, Ph.D.

Associate Booz Allen Hamilton

Senior Cybersecurity Consultant AT&T

Chidiogo Nkume

Software Development Engineer - 2 Amazon

Nashlie Sephus, Ph.D. Tech Evangelist, Senior Applied Scientist at Amazon AI Amazon

Vidyu Challa, Ph.D. Senior Manager, Consulting Ansys

Eunhee Kim Senior Product Sales Manager Ansys

Joy Johnson, Ph.D.

Asha Shamdasani

Senior Consultant Booz Allen Hamilton

Lead Product Marketing Manager AT&T

Arica Shepherd

Ria Smith-David Director - Human Resources Business Partner AT&T

Rosalie Thobe Professional Software Engineer AT&T

Kristen Hurley

Kristie H. Joslin

Rachelle Tellock

Irma Olguin, Jr.

Engineering Technologist III Actalent

Information Systems Security Officer, GS 13 Arlington National Cemetery

CEO/Co-founder Bitwise Industries

Shana Ashby-Jobes

Associate Booz Allen Hamilton

Mwansa Manda NGS Scientist I Actalent www.womenofcolor.online

Vyvy Dao

Senior Project Program Manager AT&T

Quality Operation Associate Actalent

Senior Engineer Actalent

Senior Consultant Booz Allen Hamilton Lead Associate Booz Allen Hamilton

FTC Lead/Advance Panel Finishing Engineer Manager Apple, Inc.

Mawmita Khan

Celine Chang

Sujita Joshi

Countermeasure and Electromagnetic Attack Solutions Systems Engineer BAE Systems

Naomi Johnson

Kelly Burkhalter

Principal Tech Project Program Manager AT&T

Bahirah Adewunmi Chelsea Ballinger Associate Booz Allen Hamilton

Senior Consultant Booz Allen Hamilton

Sabrina Simms Lead Associate Booz Allen Hamilton

Brittany Taylor Senior Consultant Booz Allen Hamilton

Cindy Weise Senior Consultant Booz Allen Hamilton

JaDrian Whitfield Lead Associate Booz Allen Hamilton

Devon Landers Applications Specialist Canton Township

Sossena Wood, Ph.D. Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow Carnegie Mellon University

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2021 TECH NOLOGY AL L-S TAR , R I SI NG S TAR AN D TOP WOM EN I N FI NANCE AWAR D W I N N ER S

Nina Kent

Kelli Ellison

Ursula Stanbrough

Yukti Aggarwal

Low Voltage Distribution Circuit Planner - Engineer II Consumers Energy

Manager - Capital Project Implementation DTE Energy

Autonomous Vehicle System Engineer General Motors

Technical Test Lead Infosys

Linet Jovanovic

Katina Murry

Delinah Hailey

New Product Launch Manager, Connected Car Networking Continental Automotive

Major Enterprise Projects - IT Project Manager DTE Energy

Health Catalyst Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Team Lead Health Catalyst

Project Manager Infosys

Delia Perez

Priti Patel

Shawana Gaines

Senior Lead Systems Engineer, Vehicle Networking and Information Central Engineering Continental Automotive

Supervisor - Operations Engineering DTE Energy

Director of Region and Site Services HP, Inc.

Julia Pinhanez

Kamilah Scott

Antionette Arnold

Capital Project Manager DTE Energy

Quality Analyst 2 Huntington Ingalls Industries

Shawne Walthall

Gabriella Bishop

Senior Project Manager Infosys

General Supervisor - Distribution Operations DTE Energy

Software Engineer Huntington Ingalls Industries

Harpreet Chadha

Pramita Mitra, Ph.D. Supervisor/Technical Expert Ford Motor Company

Production Planner and Scheduler 3 Huntington Ingalls Industries

Glenny Tjahjadi

Tymikia Coles

IT Supervisor Ford Motor Company

Production Planner and Scheduler 1 Huntington Ingalls Industries

Project Manager, Vehicle Networking and Information Continental Automotive

Soumiea Abushagur Senior Process Engineer Corning Incorporated

Qiumei Bian, Ph.D. Senior Laser Process Engineer Corning Incorporated

Joanne (Cheng-I) Hsu, Ph.D. Research Manager Corning Incorporated

Joan Patterson, Ph.D. Development Manager Corning Incorporated

Jingshi Wu, Ph.D. Research Associate Corning Research and Development Corporation

Raven Wynn Press Team Manager Ford Motor Company

Bruque Argaw Design Release Engineer General Motors

Cheryl Holifield

Nneka Breaux, Ph.D.

Senior Scrum Master General Motors

Product Chemistry Leader Corteva Agriscience

Jeannine Jones

Natae Daniels

Future Program Ergonomist General Motors

Quality Auditor Corteva Agriscience

Mayra Martinez-Diaz

Ivonne Ferrer Lassala, Ph.D.

Design Release Engineer General Motors

Quality Analytical Leader Corteva Agriscience

Amy Medina

Norma Houston, Ph.D.

iHub Community Lead General Motors

Research Investigator Corteva Agriscience

Kanthi Priya Nandimandalam

Noemi Lima LATAM Accounts Payable Supervisor Corteva Agriscience

Radha Weiler Operations Leader Corteva Agriscience

Sofia Antony Manager - Distribution Operations Support DTE Energy

60 ‹

WOMENOFCOLOR | FALL 2021

Senior Software Test Lead General Motors

Brianna Owens-Boatwright Sr. Group Leader Maintenance Body Shop General Motors

Carla Puig Integration Design Engineer General Motors

TaiJaune Robinson

Crystal Bradley

Andrea Cosgriff Manager of Procurement Planning Control 2 Huntington Ingalls Industries

Traci Jones Electrical Engineer 3 Huntington Ingalls Industries

Ashley Schneider Manager Environmental Engineering 3 Huntington Ingalls Industries

Shubhi Asthana Senior Research Software Engineer IBM

Yu Deng, Ph.D.

Preeti Arora Anusha Arun Technology Lead Infosys

Gargi Bhadauria Associate Manager - Client Services Infosys

Namrata Bohidar

Technology Lead Infosys

Manasree Chakraborty Technology Analyst Infosys

Karthika Chandrakumar Technology Lead Infosys

Ethel Preetha Rajakumari Christopher Thomas Technology Lead Infosys

Shirisha Domakuntla Senior Project Manager Infosys

Xiaoqing Ge Senior Consultant Infosys

Kusuma Palahally Girigowda Technology Lead Infosys

Shubhra Goyal Senior Technology Architect Infosys

Research Staff Member and Technical Team Lead IBM

Sangeetha Viswanathan Iyer

Jin-Ping Han, Ph.D.

Najat Jaber-Muqbel

Research Staff Member, Technologist, AI Hardware IBM

Product Manager, Business Technology Infosys

Rashi

Manasa Jayaprakash

Project Manager, SCRUM Master Infosys

Technology Lead Infosys

Joan Abraham

Aarti Jethwani

Senior Project Manager Infosys

Manager - Client Services Infosys

Technology Lead Infosys

Design Release Engineer General Motors www.womenofcolor.online

2021 Ashwini Joshi

Chandraboli Roychoudhury

Lexus Davis

Shirley Au

Senior Consultant Infosys

Business Development Executive Infosys

Software Engineer JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Specialist, Systems Engineer L3Harris Technologies

Aparna Kamireddy

Rakhi Saha

Surbuy Dhar

Nini Ayon

Senior Consultant Infosys

Technology Lead Infosys

Reetika Kaul

Priyanka Singh

Senior Big Data Engineer Associate JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Manager, Manufacturing Engineering L3Harris Technologies

Technology Lead Infosys

Technology Lead Infosys

Emily Foster

Janet Chavez-Erazo

Purnima Lingadahalli

Rakhi Singh

Associate, Project Engineering L3Harris Technologies

Technology Lead - Expert Infosys

Manager - Client Services Infosys

Vice President - Global Technology JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Ashley Harris

Priya Malpani

Swetha Tumu

Lead Consultant Infosys

Senior Project Manager Infosys

Senior Associate, Aeronautical Engineering L3Harris Technologies

Sangeetha Mani

Monica Vijayvargiya

Technology Lead Infosys

Project Manager Infosys

Sujatha Christy Mohan Raj

Lalitha Vullikanti

Senior Project Manager Infosys

Technology Lead Infosys

Samruddhi Mokashi

Neeti Wadhwa

Senior Consultant Infosys

Lead Consultant Infosys

Deepa Pandav

Rohini Williams

Consultant Infosys

Senior Global Sourcing Manager Infosys

Aparna Parambath

Praveena Yandapalli

Technology Lead Infosys

Project Manager Infosys

Prathibha Mali Patil

Nichol Ferges

Technology Architect Infosys

Program Manager Jacobs

Trupti Patil

Prachi Agrawal

Senior Technology Architect Infosys

Vice President – Software Development Lead JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Swati Popli Group Project Manager Infosys

Neha Prasad Mullick Delivery Manager Infosys

Iti Purohit Senior Consultant Infosys

Shilpa Ramamurthy Principal - Business Consulting Infosys

Gisela Rojas Principal - Business Consulting Infosys

Shilpa Roy Senior Project Manager Infosys

www.womenofcolor.online

Swati Ahuja Associate JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Lujain Alazam Vice President - Strategic Analytics JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Saudamini Burgula Vice President - Software Engineer JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Evelyn Cardenas Software Engineer JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Yvonne Collick Vice President JPMorgan Chase & Co.

File Storage Refresh – Planning and Execution Lead JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Gunjan Kathuria Corporate Technology Controls – Vice President JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Holly Graham

Arezo Jamaleddin Lead, Electrical Engineering L3Harris Technologies

Haritha Jillellamudi

Saba Mohammed

Lead, Software Engineer L3Harris Technologies

Information Security Manager JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Hong Leng

Yemi Olajuyigbe Vice President – Application Support Lead – CIB Sales & Research JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Mercy Priyadharsini Vice President JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Shobika Shivakumar Vice President JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Niranjana Shrivastava Software Developer JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Safina Siddiqui Application Developer – Asset Management Trading Technology JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Lead, Software Engineering L3Harris Technologies

Hanna Lo Senior Specialist, Systems Engineer L3Harris Technologies

Rosa Maas Specialist, Electrical Engineering L3Harris Technologies

Columba Martinez Senior. Manager, Software Engineering L3Harris Technologies

Jasmine Merali Senior Associate, Mechanical Engineering L3Harris Technologies

Mary Narreto

Roohi Tripathi

Specialist, Optical Engineering L3Harris Technologies

Vice President JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Luz Ortega Gomez

Kanak Upadhyay

Specialist, Systems Engineering L3Harris Technologies

Associate JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Andrea Silva

Esha Wali Vice President JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Juan Wang Executive Director JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Kimberly Woodie Vice President - Business Analyst JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Associate Manager, Systems Engineering L3Harris Technologies

Chelsea Urquico Associate, Electrical Engineering L3Harris Technologies

Adeoti Anibaba Project Scheduler, Senior Leidos

WOMENOFCOLOR | FALL 2021

› 61

2021 TECH NOLOGY AL L-S TAR , R I SI NG S TAR AN D TOP WOM EN I N FI NANCE AWAR D W I N N ER S

Nancy Ayad

Agnieszka Cherry

Ujwala Bhagavatula

Amy Lee

Biomedical Life Scientist Leidos

Senior Analyst, HR Information Systems Lockheed Martin Corporation

Aerospace Engineer Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division

Engineering Lead Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division

Communications Security Custodian Leidos

Evian Crosdale

Sheila Ali

Esthela McKenzie

Proposal Analysis Manager Lockheed Martin Corporation

Heather Booze

Alexandra Ferguson

Software Developer Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division

Visual Arts Team Lead Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division

Integration and Test Lead Leidos

Electronics Engineer Associate Lockheed Martin Corporation

Candaice Deloach

Paula Farina

Leslie Branch

Yelitza Forte

Deputy, Systems Administration & Integration Manager Leidos

Technical Assistant to the Sikorsky President Lockheed Martin Corporation

Senior Scientist Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division

Electronic Warfare Cybersecurity Lead Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Newport

Danielle Grant

Natasha Hill

Program Manager Leidos

Systems Integration Business Analyst Lockheed Martin Corporation

Cora Bailey

Mafruhatul Jannat, Ph.D. Transportation Engineer/ Research Analyst Leidos

Thao Ngoc Maguire CH-53K Project Engineer Lockheed Martin Corporation

Mrunmai Joshi

Laurelle Martineau

OARS Portal Lead/Lead Software Developer Leidos

Compensation Manager Lockheed Martin Corporation

Diane Le-Farnham Knowledge Manager Leidos

Minga Lee Senior Solution Architect Leidos

Takeisha Lester Senior Systems Engineer Leidos

Alice Mace Intermediate Security Engineer Leidos

Joy Minor Engineering Program Manager Leidos

Truc Nguyen Senior Systems Integration Engineer Leidos

Linda Peri Oracle Database Administrator Leidos

Noell Williams Network Analyst Leidos

Heather Lyons Engineering Manager LG Energy Solution Michigan, Inc.

Tyrie Mitchell Staff Systems Engineer Lockheed Martin Corporation

Danielle Poe Supportability Engineer Manager Lockheed Martin Corporation

Lyndsey McMillon-Brown, Ph.D. Research Electrical Engineer NASA Glenn Research Center

Kizzmekia Corbett, PhD

WOMENOFCOLOR | FALL 2021

Supervisor Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division

Monique Kimani

Shanice Proctor

Olivia Barron

Engineer Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division

Associate Process Engineer Northrop Grumman Corporation

Ashley Wilson

Electronics Engineer Northrop Grumman Corporation

Branch Manager Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division

Lauren Cosby, Ph.D. Acquisition Engineering Agent, Medical Detection Systems Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Division

Prabha Dwivedi, Ph.D.

Janae Elkins

Crystal Burton

Meteorologist National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Logistics Management Specialist - Inventory Manager Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division

Tiffany House

Shanquila Carter

Small Business Innovation Research Commercialization Specialist National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Electronics Engineer Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division

Oceanographer/Comms and User Engagement/Technical Data Lead National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Fay Cobb-Payton, Ph.D.

Engineer Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division, Newport

Jenny Baker

Research Fellow National Institutes of Health

Jena Kent

Alexandra Sanz-Guerrero

Human Systems Engineer Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division

Scientist Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Division

Program Director National Science Foundation

62 ‹

Brenda Gates

Miluska Garcia

Manager, Software Engineer Northrop Grumman Corporation

Disha Barua Nykia Brooks, D.Eng. Chief Engineer/Electrical Engineering Manager Northrop Grumman Corporation

Nisa Chuchawat Digital Engineer Northrop Grumman Corporation

Pavandeep Kaur Goraya Electro-Mechanical Engineer Northrop Grumman Corporation

Joy Gu Systems Engineer Northrop Grumman Corporation

Krystil Hogan Embedded Software Engineering Manager Northrop Grumman Corporation

Noura Kaddoura DevOps Architect Northrop Grumman Corporation

Electronics Engineer Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division

Anny Lin

Stacie Jue

Laura Otero Hernandez

Branch Head Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division

Manager Systems Engineer Northrop Grumman Corporation

Principal Systems Engineer Northrop Grumman Corporation

Cynthia Sosa Mechanical Engineer Northrop Grumman Corporation

www.womenofcolor.online

2021 Angela Huff

Maila Moises Tait

Michelle Machado

Nicole Bolden

Senior Principal Engineer Systems Northrop Grumman Corporation

Principal Business Analyst Rocket Mortgage

Customer Service Manager Textron Aviation

Khiara MacElree

Icez Parker

Bianca Bozada

Electrical & Electronics System Design Engineer The Boeing Company

Team Leader, Engineering Rocket Mortgage

Project Manager, Engineering Textron Inc.

Yashita Reddy

Quyen Mac

Swati Singh

Team Leader, Engineering Rocket Mortgage

Software Engineer II Textron Inc.

Senior Data Engineer PNC Financial Services

Lucy Shan

Latosha Murchison

Rozetta Elder

Senior Data Engineer Rocket Mortgage

Manager, IPS Group Textron Inc.

Associate Director Raytheon Technologies

LaShunda Washington

Sheila Onyekwere

Zaria Silvia

Release Train Engineer Rocket Mortgage

Senior Engineer, Automation Textron Inc.

Program Engagement Lead Raytheon Technologies

Maissarath Nassirou, Ph.D.

Aparna Rajasekaran

Senior Staff Development Engineer Seagate Technology

Senior Technical Professional Textron Inc.

Ayan Osman

Packaging Engineering Specialist Manager The Boeing Company

Associate Software Development Analyst Northrop Grumman Corporation

Osyria Webster, D.D.S. Systems Engineer Raytheon Technologies

Deanna Yu Senior Principal Systems Engineer/Chief Engineer Raytheon Technologies

Hansah Chapman Team Leader, Engineering Rock Central

Ayomi DeSilva Team Leader, Engineering Rock Central

Arthi Ganesan Team Leader, Software Development Rocket Innovation Studio

Stacie Bacon Program Manager Rocket Mortgage

Ponya Bishop Product Owner Rocket Mortgage

Nagasri Cherukuri Systems Engineer Rocket Mortgage

Angie Colon Team Leader Rocket Mortgage

Quintell Foster Product Owner Rocket Mortgage

Sylvia Guo Senior Database Engineer Rocket Mortgage

Himadeepa Karlapudi Director, Engineering Rocket Mortgage

www.womenofcolor.online

Senior Customer Application Engineer Seagate Technology

Addishiwot Woldsenbet, Ph.D. Staff Data Scientist Seagate Technology

Adesha Celestine Global Sustainment Project Engineer Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company

Shauna LaRovera Operations Business Manager Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company

Ashley Ellerbe Tooling Supervisor, Manufacturing Engineering – General Assembly Stellantis

Chembrianne Hobdy Trim Shop Shift Manager Warren Truck Assembly Plant Stellantis

Shivani Raina

Maya Ackerman

Shefali Agrawal Manager The Boeing Company

Nia Allen Systems Engineer The Boeing Company

Jocelyn Alvarez Business Operations Specialist The Boeing Company

Geetanjali Athavale Senior Product Specialist The Boeing Company

Amalia Aviles Battery & Solar Array Technical Lead Engineer The Boeing Company

Jennifer Baldoceda Procurement Agent The Boeing Company

Tayler Bartley Systems Engineer The Boeing Company

Digital Business and Transformation Manager Stellantis

Catherine-Alice Beauboeuf

Juanitta Wallace

Sara Berhane

Shift Manager and Professional Maintenance Specialist Stellantis

Procurement Agent The Boeing Company

Star Dupree

IT Program Manager The Boeing Company

Director, Manufacturing Operations Textron Aviation

Structural Analysis Engineer The Boeing Company

Garima Bilwani

Koel Bose Subsystems Engineering Manager The Boeing Company

Danielle Bowman Chemist The Boeing Company

Victoria Brunston System Design & Integration Specialist The Boeing Company

Stephanie Buno User Experience & Interface Designer The Boeing Company

Molly Carpiaux Product Manager - Information Technology The Boeing Company

Erika Carter Materials and Process Engineer; Advanced Composites M&P Integrator The Boeing Company

Tatiana Carvajal Network Designer The Boeing Company

Shilpi Chakrabarti Procurement Agent The Boeing Company

Rozlyn Chambliss, Ph.D. Materials & Process, Physics Engineer The Boeing Company

Heejoo Chang Industrial Engineer The Boeing Company

Young Chappell Software Engineer The Boeing Company

Vivian Cramer Software Engineer The Boeing Company

Samantha Davis Procurement Agent V The Boeing Company

Kamaria deChabert Structural Analysis Engineer The Boeing Company

WOMENOFCOLOR | FALL 2021

› 63

2021 TECH NOLOGY AL L-S TAR , R I SI NG S TAR AN D TOP WOM EN I N FI NANCE AWAR D W I N N ER S

Vera Fair

Janis Lizardi

Charnell Perkins

Kia Smith

Senior Project Manager, Boeing Research & Technology and CTO Office The Boeing Company

Operational Excellence and Continuous Improvement Leader The Boeing Company

Learning Delivery Integration Manager The Boeing Company

Nina Franklin

Donna Lowe

Rosemary Pham

Senior Project Engineer in Space and Launch Engineering Resources The Boeing Company

Production Engineering Manager The Boeing Company

Boeing Research and Technology Leader The Boeing Company

Supply Chain Manager The Boeing Company

Christie Gan

Sievkheng Ly Manufacturing/One Boeing Production System Manager The Boeing Company

Breyonna Pinkney

Systems and Data Analyst The Boeing Company

Taliesha Garrett

Ciara Lytnon

Anusha Prabhakar

Senior Leader, Functional Workforce Development The Boeing Company

Design and Analysis Engineer The Boeing Company

Electrical Engineering Manager The Boeing Company

Diane Green

Sabina Maddila

Sona Raja Mohan

Electrical Engineer The Boeing Company

Technical Support Engineer, Engineering Test & Technology, CORP The Boeing Company

Compensation Specialist The Boeing Company

Anupama Hatti Test, Evaluation & Acceptance Lead; Boeing Defence UK The Boeing Company

Christy Hendrickson Senior Lead Program Manager Boeing IT&DA Optimal Enterprise Integrations (OEI) The Boeing Company

Karen Herrera Teague Systems Engineer II The Boeing Company

Jasmine Hines Flight Test Engineer The Boeing Company

Ashley Jackett Procurement Agent The Boeing Company

Leah Kim User Experience Specialist The Boeing Company

Mythili Reddy Konda Product Manager The Boeing Company

Meenalochani Hari Kondya Programmer Analyst 3 (Programming/Analysis) The Boeing Company

Swetha L Software Development and Operational Support The Boeing Company

Jasmine Leon Programmer/Analyst The Boeing Company

Sasha Lightbourne Senior Manager The Boeing Company

64 ‹

WOMENOFCOLOR | FALL 2021

Yeimny Marquez Procurement Agent 3 The Boeing Company

Seika Martin Procurement Agent The Boeing Company

Sonal Mehrotra Technical Product Specialist The Boeing Company

Velinda Meza Systems Reliability Safety and Risk T1 The Boeing Company

Shalini Misra Procurement Agent II The Boeing Company

Claudia Mitogo Finance Support Specialist The Boeing Company

Jessica Moran Reliability Engineer The Boeing Company

Joyce Morrow Human Resources - Project Manager The Boeing Company

Gladwell Ndungu Procurement Agent The Boeing Company

Payel Neogi Service Now Sys Design & Integration Specialist Lead The Boeing Company

Angelica Okorom Engineering Employee Development Participant The Boeing Company

Spacecraft Systems Engineer The Boeing Company

Indu Ravindran Ushus Product Development Manager The Boeing Company

Regina Redmond Material Processes and Physics Engineer The Boeing Company

Alejandra Rondon Material, Process & Physics Engineer The Boeing Company

Vineela Sama IT Project Manager, IT Mergers & Acquisitions The Boeing Company

Sothary Sang

Catherine Spencer Cyber Security Assessment Specialist, Information Security Red Team, Team Lead The Boeing Company

Wanda Spires Global Equity Diversity & Inclusion Business Partner The Boeing Company

Connie Starr Materials and Process Engineer The Boeing Company

Vanessa Steele Supplier Program Management The Boeing Company

Giselle Stewart Senior Manager, Global Equity, Diversity & Inclusion The Boeing Company

Joylyn Stroud Industrial Engineering Lead/ Enterprise Global Field Operations The Boeing Company

Pamela Rae Stuart Business Process Analyst The Boeing Company

Farrah Tan Process Engineer The Boeing Company

Information Technology enior.

Product Manager The Boeing Company

Siji Thomas, Ph.D.

Neriliz Santini

Tam To

Industrial Engineer The Boeing Company

Senior Systems Engineer The Boeing Company

Sana Sfar, Ph.D.

Deepthi Patil Udayakumar Patil

Commercial Intellectual Property Strategist The Boeing Company

Programmer Analyst 1 The Boeing Company

Masayo Shaw

Customer Engagement Focal and Vertical Lift Diversity Champion The Boeing Company

Chief of Staff, Supplier Management, Boeing Global Services The Boeing Company

FNU Shrikala Kannan Senior Project Manager The Boeing Company

Chyna Smith User Experience Designer The Boeing Company

MP&P Engineer The Boeing Company

Lydia Underwood

Christine Vasko Vertical Lift Engineering Execution Manager The Boeing Company

Neha Wani Senior Manager, Engineering The Boeing Company

www.womenofcolor.online

2021 Christina Willis

Jaclyn Simpkins, Ph.D.

Dana Ray

Shaina Turner

Maritime Undersea Software Capability Senior Manager The Boeing Company

Data Science Lead, Data Operations Branch U.S. Air Force

Supervisor Civil Engineer U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Capture Manager World Wide Technology

Bonnie Yang

TSgt Natasha Washington

Jocelynn Brooks

TECHNOLOGY ALL-STARS

BDS KC-46 Industrial Engineering The Boeing Company

Cybersecurity Noncommissioned Officer in Charge U.S. Air Force

Librarian U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center

Alexandra Zea Subsystems Engineering Manager The Boeing Company

Ashley Jones Lead Engineer The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company

Paola Romero Campo Senior Business Process Lead The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company

Latise Baker Hardware Designer The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

Cara Hall Combat Systems Engineer The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

Karmethia Thompson, Ph.D. Section Supervisor The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

Shahnaz Ukani Emerging Technology Analyst The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

Yetade Alade

Major Claudia Williams Flight Commander, Warrior Medical Clinic U.S. Air Force

Anastasia Cruz Financial Management Analyst, Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDTE) Division; GS-13 U.S. Army

Evette Murrell Information Management Officer, GS14 U.S. Army

Leilani Nance Budget Analyst/Fires Resource Manager/GS-14 U.S. Army

Tamarh Scott Supervisor, Chemistry/GS-11 U.S. Army - Brooke Army Medical Center

1LT Jessica Zhu Artificial Intelligence Officer U.S. Army - Futures Command

Nicole Hill Project Engineer U.S. Army Corps of Engineer

Brianna Thompson, Ph.D.

Kenya Hairston

Cheryl Wallace-Sims

Kathleen Hall

Computer Scientist U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center

Lieutenant Andrea Molina Program Manager U.S. Coast Guard

LT Mimose Parvilus Mission System Team Lead U.S. Coast Guard

Isabella Sanders Research Assistant U.S. Military Academy

Erneiliza Brown Lead Assistant Program Manager - Engineering U.S. Navy

Lieutenant Tewaner Johnson

Budget Analyst U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

1st Lt Ashlee Gaskins

Christy Connor

Cyberspace Engineer U.S. Air Force

Management Analyst U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Jennifer Lloyd

Keysha Cutts-Washington

Non-Commissioned Office in Charge, Cyber Integration U.S. Air Force

Program Manager U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Jaleesa Marshall

Netsanet Hailu

IT Manager World Wide Technology

Civil Engineer U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Belinda Rodriguez

NCOIC, Medical Logistics U.S. Air Force

Lanesha Mincey Project Manager U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

www.womenofcolor.online

IT Director Abbott

Tao Xin Principal Research Scientist II Abbott

Shayolanda Mitchell Project Manager Actalent

Carol Payne Quality Assurance Engineer Actalent

Tammy Reppuhn

Nicole Sherrill

Fuel Facility Inspector U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Ayesha Bonnette

Senior Planner U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Shail Tulugu

Denise Edwards

Airman First Class U.S. Air Force

SSgt Sha’Leah Paul

Project Manager, Product Stewardship Abbott

Program Manager - Medical Devices Actalent

A1C Amie Albarran

Quana Higgins

Project Leader Abbott

Assistant Officer In Charge U.S. Navy

Tracy Aristide

Program Manager U.S. Air Force

Advisor, Clinical Research Abbott

Research Mathematician U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center

Bioenvironmental Engineering Deputy Flight Commander U.S. Air Force

EEO Specialist U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Jemy Allen

Janae Bradley, Ph.D. Graduate Student University of Missouri

Daris Matos Justiniano Assistant Forest Engineer USDA Forest Service

Lauren Neely Manager, Technology Risk Management WarnerMedia

Nicole Plair

T-line Design Supervisor Actalent

Ellen Robinson Senior Plans and Programs Engineer (Program Coordinator) Air Force Office of Scientific Research

Sujata Bandyopadhyay Senior Manager Technical Support Ansys

Terri Washington Director of R&D Verification Ansys

Hayriye Altunbasak Lead Product Marketing Manager AT&T

Senior Manager - Integration Operations World Wide Technology

Marina Cervantes

Dana Scott

Montrease Collier

Global Service Desk Analyst World Wide Technology

Senior Solutions Architect AT&T Director Project Program Management AT&T WOMENOFCOLOR | FALL 2021

› 65

2021 TECH NOLOGY AL L-S TAR , R I SI NG S TAR AN D TOP WOM EN I N FI NANCE AWAR D W I N N ER S

Marilynn Fair

Vivian Wang

Kimberly Marshall

Arianna Morales, Ph.D.

Director - Compliance AT&T

Lead Product Marketing Manager AT&T

Staff Scientist General Motors

Grace Galanis

Stacey Young Rivers

Supervisor, Electric Field Operations/AMI Meter Shop DTE Energy

Director - Technology AT&T

Director of People Growth & Skills Strategy AT&T

Sherri Moore

Senior Development Manager General Motors

Sanjukta Gayen Technical Sales Consultant IV AT&T

Kimberly Hatten Area Manager - Network Services AT&T

Lynda House-McPeters Director - Technology AT&T

Nicole Jacquemin Sales Executive AT&T

Tonia Jenkins Telecommunication Specialist AT&T

Euly Legro Principal - System Engineer AT&T

Yalonda Moore Associate Director - Technology AT&T

Renee Nicholson Lead Channel Manager AT&T

Romvadee Overbey Senior Application Sales Director IoT AT&T

Jennifer Pough

Lya Batlle-Rafferty Senior Principal Scientist BAE Systems

Tosha Johnson, Ph.D. IT Applications Manager Canton Township

Patricia Kachouh Group Engineering Manager Vehicle Networking and Information Central Engineering Continental Automotive

Angelia Bremby

Brandi Whack

Subcontract Administrator 4 Huntington Ingalls Industries

Plant Retirement Project Lead DTE Energy

Artensie Grace

Shany Rajagopalan

Manager Quality 3 Huntington Ingalls Industries

OFC Capital and Technology Processes Manager Corning Incorporated

Senior Solutions Architect FM Global

Dale Davis Jones

Tammie Jones-Jefferson

Principal Research Scientist and Staff Vice President FM Global

Global Regulatory Leader & Business Partner for Pasture and Land Management Portfolio Corteva Agriscience

Rebecca Lee-Lu R&D Engineering Support Manager Corteva Agriscience

Vicki Smith

Janet Brodnax

Lead Product Manager AT&T

Manager - Business Performance NCO Professional DTE Energy

WOMENOFCOLOR | FALL 2021

Supervisor - Engineer, Major Enterprise Projects DTE Energy

Chief of Staff for Chief Information Security Officer HP, Inc.

Lynore Young

Prathima Simha

66 ‹

Kelli Skinner

Marissa Hodge

IT Manager DTE Energy

Associate Director - Technology AT&T

Latasha Gary

Chapter Lead FM Global

Director Database Marketing AT&T

Valeria Travis

Supervisor - Field Overhead DTE Energy

Senior Process Engineer Corning Incorporated

Nandana Samineni

Area Manager AT&T

CIO/Executive in Residence Georgia State University

Coatings General Foreman Huntington Ingalls Industries

Padmajarani Alluri

Stephanie Thornton-Neal

Stacie Reeves

Mary Arpander

Professional - Technical Process/ Quality AT&T

Senior Director - Global Client Servicing & Solutions AT&T

Nicole Keaton Hart

Pattarin McLaren

System Subject Matter Expert Crop Protection Customer Service Corteva Agriscience

Kejo Swingler

Manager - Strategic Market Planning & Development DTE Energy

Priya Patnaik

Cornelia Butler Manager - Group Performance Management DTE Energy

Joy Carter Manager - IT DTE Energy

Rajashree Gangur Senior Database Engineer DTE Energy

Yufang Rong

Shuzhen Xu, Ph.D. Staff Vice President, Senior Engineering Technical Specialist FM Global

Judy Asher Consulting IT Architect - Global Shop/Buy Ford Motor Company

Carlene Bills Senior Transformation & Integration Manager Ford Motor Company

Keisha Hanks Assistant Plant Manager Ford Motor Company

Toni Hayes Area Manager Ford Motor Company

Ellen Lee, Ph.D. Technical Leader Ford Motor Company

Remunda Domineck Network Security Architect General Motors

VeRonica Mitchell Business Planning & Brand Integration Manager General Motors

Distinguished Engineer and Vice President, Client Innovation and Architect Success IBM

Lakshmi Yadlapati Software Developer Engineer IBM

Deepali Deepak Senior Manager - Client Services Infosys

Linda DeLoreto Lead Consultant Infosys

Sangeeta Gottiparthy Lead Consultant Infosys

Latha Kalainesan Group Manager - Client Services Infosys

Kiranmayi Katta Senior Project Manager Infosys

Shyamala Sadananda Principal Technology Architect Infosys

Bavani Subramaniam Senior Industry Principal Infosys

Rajeswari Sudhakar Senior Project Manager Infosys

www.womenofcolor.online

2021 Supriya Velagapudi

Sharon Williams

Valli Chidambara

Analiza Bautista

Applications Engineer, Product Lead for FPGA Acceleration Development Platform Intel Corporation

Vice President JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Senior Engineering Manager Leidos

Terrie Wilson

Katia Doblack

Project Director Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific

Business Systems Analyst Leidos

Manager of Projects Jacobs

Vice President - Infrastructure Support, Business Transformation Coach JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Sylvia Dean

Yanling Yin

Executive Secretary Leidos

System/Data Architectural Lead Jacobs

Vice President JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Katea Murray

Pilar Doran

Mandana Hakimi

Project Manager Jacobs

Senior Manager, Project Engineering L3Harris Technologies

Rhonda Briggins

Risa Dyson GCCS Team Lead Jacobs

Maria Cannon Project/Program Manager JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Leticia Castro Executive Director JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Sophia Clay Vice President JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Dawn David-Swan Vice President JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Velvette De Laney UX Researcher JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Sheeja Dony Executive Director Global Technology Infrastructure JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Victoria Feaster Associate JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Hong Qiu, Ph.D. Digital Channel Agility Lead and Senior Business Analyst JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Sophia Stock Data Control Solutions Lead Executive Director JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Lisa Tabler Customer Success Technology Program Manager, Vice President JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Genotra Walker Associate JPMorgan Chase & Co.

www.womenofcolor.online

Maria Laprade Scientist, Electrical Engineer L3Harris Technologies

Erika McClain Lead, Program Management L3Harris Technologies

Anita Ramroop Manager, Operations Engineering L3Harris Technologies

Juana Richardson Lead, Integration and Test Engineering L3Harris Technologies

Consuela Smith Senior Manager, Engineering Management L3Harris Technologies

Nini Telele Senior Specialist, Project Engineer L3Harris Technologies

Crystal Yannarella Lead, Project Engineer L3Harris Technologies

Chuanjin Yu Senior Specialist Software Engineering L3Harris Technologies

Anne Alston Information Assurance/Disaster Recovery Specialist Leidos

Teleri Beaty Business Process Manager Leidos

Uyen Bui Senior Systems Integration Engineer Leidos

Deborah Heatley

Cyber Engineer Leidos

Deidre Singleton Disaster Recovery Technical Lead Leidos

Tracy Taylor Network Administrator Leidos

Alesia Tisdall Lead Engineer, Special Operations Leidos

Tedena Wheeler LInC Operation Business Manager Leidos

Rosalia Pitingaro HR Manager LG Energy Solution Michigan, Inc.

Terri Gomez Software Engineering Manager Lockheed Martin Corporation

Michelle Maddox LM Fellow Lockheed Martin Corporation

Mamatha Naidu CH-53K SDD Chief Engineer Lockheed Martin Corporation

Antoinette Scott

Delphine Thompson Laboratory Manager Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division

Manasa Anand Staff Engineer Embedded Software Northrop Grumman Corporation

Rhonda Brown Senior Principal Engineer System Test Northrop Grumman Corporation

Diana Mingo Senior Principal Software Development Analyst - Team Lead Northrop Grumman Corporation

Hema Koppula Senior Infrastructure Architect PNC Financial Services

Yolanda Turner-Smith Associate Director, Project Engineer Raytheon Technologies

Janet Taylor Chief Referral Management, GS-12 Reynolds Army Health Clinic

Shreeja Rucker Quality Engineer Rocket Mortgage

Tamika Webb Team Leader, Engineering Rocket Mortgage

Cheri Amado

Sustainment Manager, Enterprise HR Technology Lockheed Martin Corporation

S/W Operations Systems Engineer Staff Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company

Traci Harrison

Jian Tao

Branch Manager Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center

Senior Technical Specialist, Product Materials - Body Stellantis

Jennifer Melton

Patricia Sanchez

Director, Environmental Compliance Division

Commercial Applications Engineering Manager Textron Inc.

National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Marlene Jackson Logistics Management Specialist Naval Air Systems Aircraft Division Lakehurst

Marianne Abalos Information Technology Manager, Boeing Quality, Production Planning, and Delivery Systems The Boeing Company

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2021 TECH NOLOGY AL L-S TAR , R I SI NG S TAR AN D TOP WOM EN I N FI NANCE AWAR D W I N N ER S

Fatima Gisela C. Aviquivil

Wendy Kurasaki

COL Donya Dugan

DevSecOps Program Manager The Boeing Company

Manager, Thermal Products The Boeing Company

Trissy Bui

Nicole Latten-Ford

Scrum Master/Project Manager The Boeing Company

Supply Chain Structures Manager The Boeing Company

Senior Intelligence Officer/ Deputy Chief of Staff, G-2/O6/ COL U.S. Army

Reyna Cardenas

Katie Lo

Director Facilities & Asset Management - Fabrication Division The Boeing Company

Procurement Agent The Boeing Company

Debra Coleman Real Time Embedded Software Engineer The Boeing Company

Cheryl DeLeon Executive Office Assistant The Boeing Company

Rovelyn Dytioco Materials and Process Engineer The Boeing Company

Darlene Fox Manager, 2nd Century Systems Excellence The Boeing Company

Mary George Product Data Management Specialist The Boeing Company

Sayata Ghose, Ph.D. Associate Technical Fellow The Boeing Company

Bessie Grant Procurement Agent The Boeing Company

Carolyn Grecia Procurement Agent 4 The Boeing Company

Danielle Hodges GSEP Service Catalog Product Owner The Boeing Company

Wendy Lonergan Vice President - Corporate Business Partners & IT Strategic Programs The Boeing Company

Carol Nguyen Senior Technical Fellow The Boeing Company

Kari Nicol Senior Manager, Supply Chain The Boeing Company

Margarita Reveles IT Product Manager The Boeing Company

Kaisianna (Kai) Robinson Human Resources The Boeing Company

Lavetta Stevenson Senior Project Management Specialist The Boeing Company

Ngoc-Bich Vuong Boeing Research & Technology Supply Chain Senior Manager The Boeing Company

Yolanda Wade Industrial Security Manager The Boeing Company

Shalonda Webb

Adhanet Woldemichael System Engineer/Software Quality Engineer The Boeing Company

Senior Project Engineer The Boeing Company

Shamirra Shelton-Thornton Program Analyst U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Computer Scientist U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center

Quality Inspector The Boeing Company

Teresa King

Supervisor Computer Scientist U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Technical Lead Engineer The Boeing Company

Linda Jones

Senior Executive Director The Boeing Company

Rhonda Lenoir

Melanie Sias

Procurement Agent The Boeing Company

Sophia Kindle

Mechanical Engineer U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Nadine McClam-Brown

Bombers & Fighters Workforce Affordability & Staffing Senior Manager The Boeing Company

Shari Johnson

Karla Drain

Sharon Zelmanowitz, Ph.D. Department Chair U.S. Coast Guard Academy

Lt Col Marshalee Clarke III MEF Comptroller U.S. Marine Corps

TOP WOMEN IN FINANCE Stacia Cooper Manager, Corporate Financial Planning & Analysis Huntington Ingalls Industries

Song-Hui Fangonil Division Finance and Business Operations Senior Manager Leidos

Arisara Lynch Program Planner Manager Lockheed Martin Corporation

Asia Mayberry Project Analyst Manager Lockheed Martin Corporation

Frances Meaux Multi Functional Finance Manager Lockheed Martin Corporation

Sharon Bellinger Director, Financial Management Policy & Accounting Naval Sea Systems Command

Justina Sedgwick

Captain Charleese Hasan Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence and Information Operations U.S. Navy

Senior Accounting Manager PNC Financial Services

Michelle Ozumba Associate Director, FP&A Raytheon Technologies

Crystal Taylor

Farrah Fadel

Information Technology (IT) & Cybersecurity Professional U.S. Navy

Team Leader Rocket Mortgage

Sommer Loftin

Paulette Ford, Ph.D.

Resource Advisor U.S. Air Force

Research Ecologist USDA Forest Service

MAJ LaShanna Samuel

Lt Col Melanie Bell-Carter Director, Human Resources Directorate White House Military Office

Tammi Gray, Ph.D.

Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles Synchronization Staff Officer U.S. Army

Lakeythia Steed Chief, Management Integration Office U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center

Technology Delivery Lead World Wide Technology

Aria Jones Delivery Lead World Wide Technology

Yvette Pegues Chief Diversity Officer Your Invisible Disability Group

Andretta Dennis Deputy Chief, B-2 Special Programs Branch U.S. Air Force

In case you missed it, watch the 2020 WOC Recognition luncheon here: https://l.ead.me/bcOYqa

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THERE ARE MANY

CAREER FIRSTS

for Major General (Dr.) Telita Crosland Major General (Dr.) Telita Crosland is the Deputy Surgeon General of the United States Army, and Chief of the U.S. Army Medical Corps. She serves as a shining example for others holding the second-highest position in the Army Medical Department. She assists the Surgeon General on all healthcare matters pertaining to the U.S. Army and its multibillion-dollar military healthcare system. She is the first African American woman to serve in this role in the Army’s 246-year history.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Crosland graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point. She earned her Doctor of Medicine degree from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, in 1993, and her Master of Public Health degree from the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy. She is also a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.

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Crosland is board-certified by the American Board of Family Medicine and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians. In addition, she is a recipient of the Surgeon General’s “A” proficiency designator. She has been inducted into the highly selective Order of Military Medical Merit in recognition of her outstanding contributions and professional achievements within the Army Medical Department.

Over her 28-year career, Crosland’s clinical expertise and leadership roles have taken her around the world.

She has served in various leadership positions requiring significant responsibility and accountability, including assignments early in her career as Senior Physician and Officer in Charge, Camp Walker Health Clinic, South Korea, and Senior Physician and Officer in Charge, Bennett Health Clinic, Fort Hood, Texas. In addition, her clinical and leadership skills were exemplary at Madigan Army Medical Center in Fort

Lewis, Washington, where she served as Associate Program Director and later Deputy Chief of the Department of Family Medicine and Chief of Soldier Care.

FIRSTS Throughout her tenure in the military, Crosland has accomplished many firsts, which have helped move organizations forward under her leadership. In advancing the interests and aims of our organization, Crosland has demonstrated the jewels of compassion and fidelity.

As the Military Hospital Commander for Army Medical Department Activity (MEDDAC), Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Crosland’s leadership, and commitment to excellence were critical in the MEDDAC espousing the tenets of a highly reliable and innovative organization. Under her command, the MEDDAC became one of the first organizations in the Army Medical Command (MEDCOM) to implement

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Crosland’s reach extends to the civilian sector too. For example, she spearheaded a military-civilian partnership between MEDCOM and Vanderbilt University Medical Center that allows privileged providers, medics, and nursing staff to train at Vanderbilt to build and maintain wartime clinical competencies. These efforts laid the groundwork for BACH to petition to become a Level III Trauma Center, which could increase the quality of care offered to the community while enhancing the readiness of the medical force.

Finally, she launched a virtual pilot that delivered on-demand specialty consultation to deployed forces through collaboration with other military hospitals. They include the 5th Special Forces Group, Eisenhower Army Medical Center, and Regional Health Command – Atlantic and Regional Health Command – Europe. Crosland’s vision for advancing medical care will improve access to care for Army Medicine personnel and beneficiaries of the Military Healthcare System and enable service members to be ready if called upon to deploy. leader-led safety rounds.

Crosland provided guidance and oversight that improved access to both primary and specialty care resulting in the MEDDAC earning over $350,000 for the successful execution of its business plan by achieving 109% of provider productivity targets. She also supported and resourced Fort Campbell’s first Army Wellness Center.

Crosland created the vision and space for Blanchfield Army Community www.womenofcolor.online

Hospital (BACH) to start virtual primary care for patients. She has worked with MEDCOM to establish the workflow and policies necessary to deliver virtual primary care safely. Crosland’s keen understanding of patient care and her dedication have ensured the establishment and maintenance of an efficient care model while expanding patient access. More importantly, she provided MEDCOM with a template and insight for the successful implementation of virtual care across the enterprise.

COVID-19 Crosland has made significant contributions to fighting COVID-19 since the pandemic emerged in 2019. In her dual roles as the Medical Command (MEDCOM) Deputy Commanding General of Operations and the Army Deputy Surgeon General, she has assisted the Army Surgeon General (TSG) in the clinical and operational arenas in this battle has taken place.

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THROUGHOUT HER TENURE IN THE MILITARY, CROSLAND HAS ACCOMPLISHED MANY FIRSTS, WHICH HAVE HELPED MOVE ORGANIZATIONS FORWARD UNDER HER LEADERSHIP. IN ADVANCING THE INTERESTS AND AIMS OF OUR ORGANIZATION, CROSLAND HAS DEMONSTRATED THE JEWELS OF COMPASSION AND FIDELITY. the pandemic’s effects on our country, she had the foresight to initiate planning and coordination meetings with leaders in military medicine across the Army, Navy, and Air Force, quickly becoming the calming voice to whom others turned for guidance, advice, actionable plans. She demonstrated stalwart confidence in guiding our Armed Forces while fighting the virus. As the primary advisor to TSG, she influenced Army Senior Leaders’ decision-making at critical points while addressing several key challenges. The primary concern was to ensure that personnel and patients were working and being cared for in a safe environment, which was extraordinarily complex given the need to coordinate the cross-leveling of critical clinical assets across the Army Medical Command that encompasses worldwide hospitals and clinics well as military and civilian personnel.

Health systems in New York and Seattle were being overwhelmed by the influx of COVID-19 patients in need of critical care, and the Army was asked to send medical personnel and supplies.

Tough decisions had to be made, and Crosland was at the forefront of that decision-making process. She has met additional challenges related to antiviral 74 ‹

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treatments, lab testing, surveillance, and serology with unwavering confidence, clinical expertise, and clear, consistent communication. Her reputation as a voice of clarity and reason in military medicine is unmatched, as underscored by her actions during this pandemic. She has earned the loyalty and respect she humbly receives from the highest levels in our government down to the frontline medics and civilian workers in the Army’s medical platforms.

During the COVID-19 pandemic and under her leadership, Army Medicine mobilized over 50,000 Soldiers, including 203 from the retired reserve, deployed 45 Urban Augmentation Military Task Forces, expanded laboratory testing from 9 to 46 labs, tested 1.4 million patients, synchronized the procurement of 171 COVID testing platforms, established 13 vaccination support teams (361 total Soldiers), delivered over 565 million critical items in support of COVID-19, expanded virtual behavioral health care by 128%, and delivered $5 million worth of civilian PPE in support of defense support to civil authorities

DEPLOYMENT, OVERSEAS TIME AND COMMUNITY SERVICE Crosland is a ready, relevant, and responsive woman with the mental, physical, and grace to use her worldwide reach effectively. In addition to serving overseas, commanding the U.S. Army Health Clinic in Grafenwoehr, Germany, and the U.S. Army Medical Department Activity (Hospital) in Heidelberg, Germany, she served as commander of the U.S. Army Medical Department Activity (Hospital) in Fort Campbell, Kentucky—one of the most soughtafter assignments for military physician leaders. She also served as deputy commander of the U.S. Army Health Clinics in Landstuhl, Germany, a senior medical officer in the Office of the Army Surgeon General, and the Medical Corps branch chief. In this last position, she was responsible for all Army physicians’

management, development, training, and oversight.

Crosland served as the chief of operations for the U.S. Army Medical Command and Office of the Surgeon General. Before assuming her current position, she commanded the Regional Health Command–Atlantic, the largest of the U.S. Army’s four healthcare regions, with more than 25,000 military and civilian employees providing medical, dental, and public health support to approximately 600,000 service members, retirees, and their families at Army medical centers, hospitals, and clinics from Wisconsin to Puerto Rico.

Crosland also deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom as a duty staff physician. She provided matchless world-class combat healthcare support to more than 8,500 American and Allied force soldiers in southern Iraq.

She provides assistance and support through established programs in her local communities. Crosland believes in mentoring our future leaders, including those who will one day raise their hands to protect our freedoms and way of life. She understands that mentoring involves challenging but realistic training, building individuals’ strengths while addressing their weaknesses. She starts her mentorship efforts in her own home with her son Jackson by encouraging him daily to build the mental and physical strength to do and be anything he wants.

Crosland extends her mentoring to her communities, as shown by her participation in the U.S. Army Cadet Command (USACC)-hosted 2019 Army Senior Leader Development Conference (SLDC) at Howard University, Washington, DC, in 2019, to help cultivate future Army leaders. Crosland works to identify and develop people to their full potential, growing junior leaders into senior leaders while preparing the next generation of Soldier-leaders to take on the challenges of tomorrow’s battlefield and defend the nation.

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ADVERTORIAL

TOP WOMEN

O F T H E U N I T E D S TAT E S A R M Y

HONORABLE CHRISTINE WORMUTH

COLONEL CAPRISSA BROWN-SLADE

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Honorable Christine Wormuth was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and appointed as the 25th Secretary of the U.S. Army on May 28, 2021. She is the first woman to be appointed to this critical role in our nation’s security. The Secretary of the Army is the senior civilian official within the Department of Defense responsible for all matters relating to the U.S. Army.

Prior to confirmation, she was the Director of the International Defense and Security Center at the RAND Corporation where she was a frequent writer and speaker on foreign policy, national security, and homeland security issues. Wormuth entered the government as a Presidential Management Intern and began her public service career in the Policy Office of the Secretary of Defense from 1996 through 2002. After leaving government, she worked in the private sector on defense issues and then was a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies for five years. Wormuth holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science and fine art from Williams College and a Masters of Public Policy from the University of Maryland. She is married to a retired Navy officer and has two daughters.

Colonel Caprissa Brown-Slade assumed the duties of the Chief of Amy Diversity in August of 2021. As the Chief of Army Diversity, her duties include expanding and enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the total force. Prior to this position, she was assigned to Army Futures Command as the Director of the Army’s Sustainment Concepts and Battle Lab Division where she was involved in efforts to examine and evaluate emerging logistics concepts and technologies through analytical experimentation, studies, and prototyping.

Colonel Brown-Slade has multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and commanded the 21st Special Troops Battalion, 21st Theater Sustainment Command in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

She also held the position of Deputy Commander of the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary), at Joint Base LangleyEustis. A native of Hassell, North Carolina, Brown-Slade holds Colonel Caprissa S. Brown-Slade holds a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education and social sciences from Elizabeth City State University, North Carolina, and a Masters of Interdisciplinary Studies from National Louis University, Illinois.

She is married and has two children.

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NOAA

Women in STEM at the National Security Agency

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THE POWER OF PEOPLE Jenaye Minter wouldn’t be where she is today without that one very special quality of the NSA community. “There are tons of people to help you get to where you need to be.”

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As a Co-op Program intern, she gained experience in signals intelligence and product testing. Now an employee, Jenaye is developing expertise in network engineering. She says the career options at NSA are limitless, and the people you meet will help you navigate your next move.

“The networking is amazing.”

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MY HEALTH

by Dr. Denée Thomas Mwendwa editors@ccgmag.com

Stress and Health: Managing Stress in Your Daily Life Do you deal with stress daily? If so, you’re not alone.

A

ccording to the American Psychological Association, 74 percent of polled respondents stated they regularly experience at least one symptom associated with stress, including headaches, muscle fatigue, pain, and gastrointestinal problems. Forty-five percent of those respondents stated they have insomnia. Another 37 percent said they eat unhealthy food or overeat because of stress in their lives.

The top sources of stress include jobs, school, finances, health-related problems, and interpersonal concerns.

Before discussing the effects of stress on health, it’s important to understand some of the key aspects of stress. First, it is important to note that we researchers of stress cannot agree on one definition. (That’s not uncommon in the social sciences.) However, what we do agree on is that there is one physiological stress response that doesn’t differentiate between physical and psychological stress.

Stress can affect people positively or negatively. Whereas positive stress motivates us to do better with tasks such as tests or projects, negative stress can cause anxiety, worry, or sadness. Stress also involves a great deal of perception. How people think about their stress and how they cope with stress varies from person to person. As a health psychologist, I’m primarily concerned about physiological responses to stress because it has a direct impact on a person’s health. However, as a clinical health psychologist also, I am very concerned with perceptions about health and stress, and people’s ability to believe they can deal with stress effectively. This is where I hope to be a significant change agent.

Dr, Denée Thomas Mwendwa Associate Professor, Psychology Howard University

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There are two primary types of stress: acute and chronic.

For acute stress, our bodies call on the sympathetic nervous system, which releases epinephrine and norepinephrine to ready the body for a fight-or-flight response. After the response to acute stress, the body goes back to homeostasis. While there is indeed interest in acute stress, my work focuses more on the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis system that

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deals with chronic, or long-lasting, stress. This system involves the hypothalamus, pituitary, and adrenal glands.

Think of the hypothalamus as the command center that is ultimately responsible for the release of hormones.

These hormones eventually make their way down to the adrenal glands at the top of our kidneys and release the stress hormone cortisol.

Cortisol helps mobilize the body to produce the energy needed to meet the demands of stress. However, with that long-term stress, there is hopefully an end in sight. When it’s over, the cortisol that provides energy should ultimately shut off. We refer to that as a negative feedback loop. However, under chronic stress, like helping with cancer on top of doing your everyday job, there isn’t an end in sight. What happens then? There is significant wear and tear on that shut-off mechanism, and that leads to excess cortisol circulating in the body. Cortisol is very influential in the body’s metabolism processes, and for inflammation reduction and memory formation. When there is an overabundance of cortisol circulating in our bodies, it can lead to long-term health problems such as heart disease, hypertension, dyslipidemia, obesity, and other mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety.

Stress is a part of our everyday experience. It’s unavoidable. However, we can embrace it by learning to deal with it. It is not easy, but it is possible. At Howard University, I am researching African-American women who are at risk for cardiovascular disease. We are developing an intervention for stress reduction using a form of meditation called mindfulness. Mindfulness, according to Jon Kabat-Zinn of the University of Massachusetts, involves bringing one’s complete attention to the present experience on a moment-tomoment basis. It is present-oriented consciousness that is nonjudgmental and involves an awareness of each thought, feeling, and sensation. It’s about being, not doing, and being intentional, not automatic. Consider a mundane activity like brushing our teeth. We do it every day without being aware of what we’re doing when we do it. Mindfulness is the exact opposite. It focuses on being aware of the things we normally do and embracing them in the present moment.

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Stress can affect people positively or negatively. Whereas positive stress motivates us to do better with tasks such as tests or projects, negative stress can cause anxiety, worry, or sadness.

Stress also involves a great deal of perception. How people think about their stress and how they cope with stress varies from person to person.

I hope this information will spur you to consider some of the many techniques and tools available to you to reduce stress in your life. Managing stress can only lead to a healthier, happier, and more productive outlook and lifestyle. 

Watch this full presentation on the CCGmedia YouTube Page: https://l.ead.me/bcNbmn

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LAST WORD

by Adrienne Somerville editors@ccgmag.com

Identify Your Talent and Maximize Your Position I’m not as engaged as I should be.

I’m just trying to figure myself out.

I really don’t know what I bring to the table.

I’m not really engaged at work.

I don’t feel worthy.

I feel trapped.

T

hroughout my career, I’ve heard these and similar statements as I travel around the United States and speak to forum participants. I often wonder how people get into these emotional spaces and mindsets. Hundreds of thousands of people are unemployed right now; yet, so many professionals are unfulfilled in their careers and debating whether to change career paths. I have not been a professional who has second-guessed my value to an organization, but I can imagine it would be extremely disheartening and discouraging.

All of this made me consider what the professional landscape would look like if every professional was 100 percent engaged in their occupation. What could happen if every member of an organization was fully operational, aligned with the culture and speaking the language, and assessing their performance with relevant metrics and analytics? How exciting it would be to have that kind of leadership from an entire team. Moreover, how rewarding it would be for each person!

Working in talent management, I’ve begun implementing an action plan to create that dynamic for organizations. It starts with a complete paradigm shift in how companies see their employees. Businesses often view their personnel through a quantitative lens. In other words, their overarching philosophy is that more workers should equate to more productivity. However, I suggest a different focus. I think companies should consider their teams from a qualitative perspective. Employees are more than numbers. They encompass passions, interests, and curiosities. Companies must understand the importance of this rich information, recognize it, and infuse it into usable data for the collective enterprise.

Likewise, individuals have a role to play in affecting their professional outlook and, hopefully as a result,

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their work environment. When it comes to identifying their ideal space in the workforce, many people ask themselves, “What do I want to do?” or “What excites me?” While these are data points that definitely should be considered, my challenge is to ask what it is that you want to deliver. What final products do you want to create? Do you want to work on aircrafts or ships?

How about cars? Do you want to be in fashion, or maybe music? Professionals should worry less about what they want to get out of a job and consider what they want to contribute or produce. Whatever the “product” is, that will be the legacy and landmark of an individual’s talent.

With the end product realized, the next step in maximizing one’s position is to determine what knowledge, skills, and abilities are needed to create that product. This will involve knowing what can be done well, but it also involves what I call the “lonely work.”

The process involves writing down where you are, what you like, and what you know. It will also require you to highlight your shortcomings. It is imperative that you acknowledge what you don’t know; this is where you will need to focus in order to get the resources needed to close any gaps and identify exactly what you need to know to deliver what you want to produce. This is growth that should be celebrated.

Having a particular goal and knowing exactly how to achieve it can be powerful for any individual. Possessing both will allow you to leverage your competence in almost any professional arena. Don’t be afraid to be assertive—not aggressive—with that power. When challenging or high-risk opportunities arise, accept the challenge. Show that not only have you grown in your skills and talent, but you’re willing to step forward and use them to break barriers and create new solutions.

Constantly be the person who goes to the supervisor to let them know you’re ready to do what others will not.

Your career is yours to own, so be your best advocate in this regard. The few who step out as go-getters are the ones who will ultimately gain corporate dominance.

These strategies will position professionals to be much more than a success. Rather, they will position people to be extremely significant. Being significant to an enterprise will more quickly bring advancement to higher

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positions. And, these ideals will stand well after “success” and its trappings wither away in value. When talents are used to pour into others versus self, they become gifts that will support and grow generations for years to come. 

When it comes to identifying their ideal space in the workforce, many people ask themselves, “What do

I want to do?” or “What excites me?” While these are

data points that definitely should be considered, my challenge is to ask what it

is that you want to deliver. What final products do you want to create?

Adrienne Somerville Acquisition Group Head Commander Fleet Readiness Centers

Listen to Adrienne on the High-Tech Sunday Podcast: https://l.ead.me/bcNbzz

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GENERAL ENGINEERS · ,_,, .. -'{--· : ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS �._� ..•� . -�MECHANICAL ENGINEERS ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS COMPUTER SCIENTISTS OPERATIONS RESEARCH ANALYSTS

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Ad YOUR FUTURE IS BUILT HERE Join a diverse team that is united in pushing the boundaries of imagination and excellence. Come shape the future with us. boeing.com/careers Boeing is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical or mental disability, genetic factors, military/veteran status or other characteristics protected by law.

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Technology is transforming the banking industry, and innovation is key to PNC’s long-term success. As our customers increasingly prefer to use online and mobile channels to complete their financial transactions, we must invest in new ideas and evolving technologies to continue delivering cutting-edge customer experiences.

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An overwhelming feeling of belonging, no matter the work setting. A safe space for all to share what’s significant to them. Freedom to bring our whole selves to work without judgment from others.

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The value of diversity As a global leader in materials science and manufacturing, Avery Dennison places a strong emphasis on our core value of diversity. We appreciate the experiences, perspectives and contributions of all our employees.

We’re highly invested in technology. And people.

T. Rowe Price depends on people and innovative technology solutions to drive our company.

You’ll be part of a dynamic group working on cybersecurity, enterprise cloud development, and client-facing Web and mobile applications. We believe diversity works, so we hire people with differing backgrounds and experiences.

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If you’re seeking a meaningful technology career in a culture that thrives on teamwork, we invite you to join us.

Contact us at troweprice.com/careers.

And let’s discuss your future.

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We’re committed to driving and achieving real change — creating a tomorrow we can all be proud of, standing together as one.

Jacobs’ Action Plan for Advancing Justice and Equality is about achieving true equality for all of our employees current and future, with a focus on empowering women and employees of color to advance and achieve at Jacobs. It’s about doing our part as a global leader to educate and change the culture in our communities — reaching bright-eyed future talent early to highlight and celebrate futures ripe with potential.

And, it’s an opportunity for our global community to get this right.

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To learn more about our openings (experienced, graduate, intern and co-op) please visit our Jacobs Careers page: careers.jacobs.com

Follow us @JacobsConnects | jacobs.com

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FEBRUARY 17-19, 2022 www.beya.org

36th

The

For more information, call us at 410-244-7101 Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/BEYASTEM

Follow us on Twitter: @BlackEngineer

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We believe that creating a team and a workplace that values diversity, embraces equity and fosters inclusion is pivotal to promoting innovation and increasing productivity and profitability. Northrop Grumman is a proud sponsor of the Women of Color Technology conference.

ngc.com /diversity

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COMMUNITY

Amazon Presents:

Q&A with: Sidd Srinivasa Moderated by Nia Jetter - Sr. Principal Technlogist

Amazon’s Director of Robotics AI will discuss his career path, role at the company, and how Amazon is developing AI solutions that enable robots to learn from their own experiences.

An Amazon virtual event:

Wednesday Oct 6, 2021 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM PDT Register at: www.amazon.science/research-areas/robotics

Customer-obsessed science

Amazon Science gives you insight into the company’s approach to customer obsessed scientific innovation. Amazon fundamentally believes that scientific innovation is essential to being the most customer centric company in the world.

Learn more at amazon.science

GATEWAY TO THE BEST COLLEGES IN AMERICA. goarmy.com/rotc

Becoming an Army officer allows you to empower and inspire others. When you lead Soldiers, you gain the skills to lead in life. Army ROTC is the best way to get there. Available at almost 1,000 colleges nationwide, and provides: • Unmatched training • Great benefits • Full-tuition scholarship • Chance to become an officer Many of today’s public and private sector leaders in business, science, engineering, and technology got their start with Army ROTC. Work with a unique team, that makes a difference.

Contact the Army ROTC program of your choice goarmy.com/rotc Follow us @JoinArmyROTC