For Pamela McCauley, Ph.D., 2019 was an exceptional year. An internationally-recognized industrial engineering researcher and advocate, she had garnered yet another award: Women of Color Technologist of the Year.
The honor brought a flood of requests for speaking engagements, an invitation to join a board of trustees, and, according to McCauley, even contributed to an offer for a new position.
However, despite her enthusiasm to travel the country delivering messages of encouragement to women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and sharing with leaders the importance of minimizing the loss of talent, she, just like everyone else, was slowed in her tracks by the pandemic.
Just before she was supposed to go to Kent State University for a speaking engagement, the nation started shutting down due to the virus.
She credits the prestigious award with being a factor in her selection as the new associate dean of academic programs, diversity, and inclusiveness at Wilson College of Textiles at North Carolina State University.
“I am super excited about this,” said McCauley as she was in the process of moving from Florida to North Carolina in July for her new post. “I will have an opportunity to lead in a way to make sure everyone knows they are a valued member of the team.”
Wilson College in Raleigh, NC, is a leader in textile education, research, and service.
“I am very much about innovation and taking ideas from the lab to market to useful products,” said McCauley, noting that the college has participated in making masks during the global health crisis.
McCauley, a certified professional engineer, is also a seasoned entrepreneur and innovator. She led the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps Program, which prepares scientists and engineers to extend their focus beyond the university laboratory and accelerates the economic and societal benefits of NSF-funded basic research projects that are ready to move toward commercialization.
She’s also authored the following books: Ergonomics: Foundational Principles, Applications, and Technologies, Transforming your STEM Career Through Leadership and Innovation: Inspiration and Strategies for Women, and Winners Don’t Quit…Today They Call Me Doctor.
McCauley is known for work in the development of fuzzy set theory-based mathematical models, human engineering, ergonomics, biomechanics, as well as engineering leadership, and women’s leadership in STEM.
One of the messages McCauley addressed during her travels and speaking engagements is the need to reduce the number of women leaving STEM. “I think that could be one of the greatest human capital crises of our time,” she said.
She noted the many challenges women in STEM face and she, too, has experienced negative situations that often drive women from continuing. Women in STEM often feel isolated, marginalized, and frustrated.
She said women of color often are treated differently in STEM workplaces and made to feel like they are the problem. “We need to hold each other up and call them out,” she said.
