With 26 years of experience in the hallowed halls of academia, 56-year-old Pamela McCauley, the 2019 Technologist of the Year, is the star of Women of Color magazine's upcoming Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Conference.
Born at Fort Benning in Georgia to a military family, young Pamela was brought back to a small town in Oklahoma, where she grew up in a stable, loving family.
Her mother worked briefly as a secretary but was a homemaker for the most part, and her father joined the United States Army when segregation barred him from entering the University of Oklahoma. His college dream deferred, Mr. McCauley’s love for science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) would motivate his children, Pamela told an education podcast. While in the seventh grade, Pamela insisted she had to take algebra at the guidance of her STEM-inspired father.
So, when the challenge of becoming a teen mother came along, while she was a sophomore at Frederick Douglass High School in Oklahoma City, Pamela could count on the support of her parents to continue her education at a community college. Later, she went on to the University of Oklahoma, but her dream of becoming a doctor was waning because she couldn’t stand the sight of blood.
"At that point, I was thinking about what other majors I could study to make a nice living with a bachelor's degree because I was a young Mom," she said. "I went to the library and looked at different engineering disciplines."
Pamela finally zeroed in on industrial engineering, and then ergonomics and biomechanics. In that field, "I could still use my love for the human body and become an engineer without worrying about the sensations of a medical doctor," she said.
In 1993, Pamela won a $90,000 graduate fellowship from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the largest fellowship at the time at the University of Oklahoma. She also launched support groups and community organizations for young women in STEM.
Fast forward ten years, Pamela McCauley had a doctorate. She attributes her academic success, despite what the skeptics said, to her "faith in God, stubbornness, mentoring from Dr. Howard Adams, and most of all, the Maurice McCauley-LaFrance McCauley family culture of optimism and discipline."
As a result, she became the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in engineering in the state of Oklahoma. During her almost three-decade-long career, she has spent a good part of it as a professor at the University of Central Florida (UCF). She is currently director of the Ergonomics Laboratory in UCF’s Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Systems.
Dr. McCauley has authored over 100 technical papers, book chapters, conference proceedings, four books, and the bestselling ergonomics textbook, Ergonomics: Foundational Principles, Applications, and Technologies.
She has the distinction of being a 2012 U.S. Fulbright Scholar for her U.S.-New Zealand Human Engineering and Mobile Technology in High Consequence Emergency Management Research Program focused on biomechanics, human factors, and ergonomic design.
During the 2015-2016 term, the State Department awarded Dr. McCauley the Jefferson Science Fellowship, a distinguished appointment given to senior academics based on their stature in scientific or engineering communities and their ability to understand scientific advancements outside their discipline area to effectively integrate this knowledge into U.S. Department of State/USAID policy discussions.
Dr. McCauley was also tapped by the United Nations to serve as a global expert on women in STEM, and by the World Bank to study the use of industrial engineering techniques to promote sustainability of HIV/AIDS healthcare service delivery in developing nations.
More recently, after a nationwide search, Dr. McCauley was selected to lead the NSF I-Corps Program in the Computer Information Science and Engineering Directorate. The I-Corps program prepares scientists and engineers to extend their focus beyond the university laboratory.
“I feel like I have gone full circle with NSF,” she said in July. “It’s so rewarding to be an NSF program director, where I can give back. NSF is still giving to me. As an I-Corps program director, I reach out to the academic community and scientific community—helping to shift us from being researchers to also becoming innovators and entrepreneurs.”
Dr. McCauley’s research also focuses on human engineering in information systems. She has looked at the human impact on information security and how humans interact with technology as it relates to disaster management. She has also created simulations and technologies to streamline high-consequence disaster management using artificial intelligence (AI).
“I’m excited by the NSF’s ten big ideas that will impact most significantly,” she said. “Seeding innovation, harnessing the data revolution, and the future of work at the human-technology frontier are but a few of these ideas that will bring people together to solve global problems.”
10 NUGGETS OF WISDOM
The 2019 Women of Color in STEM Conference offers both valuable career networking opportunities and hosts prestigious award ceremonies. Attendees have the opportunity to meet and learn from executives that are committed to diversity and to the advancement of women in the workforce.
