In 2019, Pamela McCauley, Ph.D. was recognized at Women of Color magazine's 24th annual Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Conference as the technologist of the year. She was the first academic to receive the top award in almost twenty-five years.

Dr. McCauley has authored over 100 technical papers, book chapters, conference proceedings, and several books, including a bestselling textbook, Ergonomics: Foundational Principles, Applications, and Technologies.

She’s also the author of Transforming your STEM Career Through Leadership and Innovation: Inspiration and Strategies for Women, and Winners Don’t Quit…Today They Call Me Doctor.

Her career kicked into high gear in 1993, when she won a $90,000 graduate fellowship from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the largest fellowship at the time at the University of Oklahoma. While on campus as a single parent, she also launched support groups and community organizations for young women in STEM.

During her almost three-decade-long career, she spent a good part of it as a professor at the University of Central Florida (UCF). A few years ago, she took up an appointment as the associate dean for academic programs, diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Wilson College of Textiles at North Carolina State University.

Dr. McCauley has the distinction of being a 2012 U.S. Fulbright Scholar. She won a fellowship for a U.S.-New Zealand Human Engineering and Mobile Technology in High Consequence Emergency Management Research Program focused on biomechanics, human factors, and ergonomic design.

More recently, she led the NSF Innovation-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. McCauley earned her Ph.D., master's, and bachelor's degrees in industrial engineering from the University of Oklahoma.

Some of the key messages Dr. McCauley shares during speaking engagements is the need to reduce the number of women leaving STEM. She notes the many challenges women face and the feelings of isolation, marginalization, and frustration, which often force women to leave STEM jobs. Women of color are often treated differently and made to feel like they are the problem.

“I think that could be one of the greatest human capital crises of our time,” she said. "Women need to hold each other up."

The University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) made history Oct. 8, 2022, when Valerie Sheares Ashby Ph.D. was presented with the Technologist of the Year Award at the Women of Color in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Conference.

Dr. Ashby is the first college president to receive the top award at the annual Women of Color Gala. After serving as the first Black female chair of the chemistry department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she moved to Duke University and became the first Black woman dean of the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences. In August 2022, she took office as the first Black woman president of a research university in Maryland.

Commenting on the conference's theme for this year on struggles and progress, Dr. Ashby reflected on lessons learned along her journey from student to professor.

"When I struggled as a student, I learned that I was called to teach," Ashby said. "When I struggled with the weight of impostor syndrome, I learned I was called to encourage and empower graduate students and faculty. When I struggled to see myself represented in the Academy, I learned I was called to create pathways and opportunities for scholars of color to be recognized, visible, and valued. So, I'm grateful that struggle is the first word, but I stand here tonight grateful that it isn't the last."