Published Oct 14, 2023
Today is the third day of the Women of Color STEM Digital Twin Experience (DTX) Conference.
The Career Fair will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will feature several employers from diverse industries such as aerospace and defense manufacturing, e-commerce, food, snack and beverage, as well as a provider of professional services to partners in government and industry.
The Women of Color STEM Awards Conference aims to recognize and commend the exceptional accomplishments of women in STEM fields, highlighting their commitment, resilience, and dedication.
The conference features several pivotal events, including the Technology Recognition Event on Thursday, October 12, the Leaders and Legends Recognition Event, and the Women of Color Awards Ceremony on Saturday, October 14.
At the Leaders and Legends Recognition Event, Qiana Jackson, a program manager for engineering at the Applied Research Laboratory of Pennsylvania State University, received a Special Recognition Award for her tireless efforts to promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.
Jackson played a pivotal role in creating a memorandum of understanding between the Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State and the University of the District of Columbia in 2019.
This memorandum led to the creation of seminars exclusively curated for students within UDC's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
The workshops focused on resume-building and internships for UDC students via the Applied Research Laboratory at Pennsylvania State University Student Opportunities in Applied Research (SOAR) internship program.
Jackson's work aligns with the 2019 National Academies of Sciences report entitled "Minority Serving Institutions: America's Underutilized Resource for Strengthening the STEM Workforce" and the National Science Board's "Vision 2030" document.
Other awardees in the particular recognition category include Yoko Kawai Parker, Ana Lucia Ochoa-Lorenzini, Autumn Leake, Diedra Hollins, Judith Jeevarajan, Melody Martinez, Gitanjli McRoy, and Sabrina Bailey. Each of these women has made significant contributions to their respective fields.
The Leaders & Legends Morning Show, hosted by Pamela McCauley, kicked off the final day of the conference. The topic of discussion this year covered artificial intelligence, blockchain, opportunities, and bias.
Joining Dr. McCauley for the debate were Rebecca Wilkins, Melody Catherine Martinez, and Brandon Ha, all accomplished professionals in their fields.
During the breakfast event, Special Recognition honorees received their awards. Read their stories here:
Sabrina Bailey is vice president of operations for the integrated product support team at Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII).
Bailey started her career with HII as a Newport News Shipbuilding Division systems engineer and has held pivotal roles such as logistics engineer, program manager, program control manager, and division manager.
She has been a pivotal part of HII for over 28 years, and made history as the first African-American woman to be promoted to vice president in HII's Mission Technologies division.
Bailey has actively supported key business initiatives, strategically positioning the company for growth and innovation.
HII, a globally recognized provider of cutting-edge naval ships and unmanned systems, has a 135-year history.
With a team of approximately 44,000 skilled employees based in Virginia, HII specializes in defense technologies.
The 28th annual WOC STEM Conference also presented Special Recognition awards to:
Yoko Kawai Parker, systems engineering specialist at L3Harris Technologies Ana Lucia Ochoa-Lorenzini, director of supply chain management in the metal forming division of American Axle & Manufacturing Autumn Leake, chief engineer at the AIM-9X Sidewinder Technical Project Office, within the Naval Air Systems Command Diedra Hollins, deputy chief information officer at the Battelle Energy Alliance in the Idaho National Laboratory(INL) Judith Jeevarajan, Ph.D., vice president and executive director of the Electrochemical Safety Research Institute in UL Research Institutes Melody Martinez, chief of Section B's Prototypes and Flight Experiments Branch at the Air Force Research Laboratory Gitanjli McRoy,chief engineer for electric vehicle management systems at Ford Motor Company.
