ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 19, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Since its first iteration in 1975, the annual, organization-wide gathering of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) has been a powerful agent for change toward racial equity in STEM — science, technology, engineering and math. Countless Black professionals in engineering and other technical fields have credited their attendance at NSBE’s Annual Convention with giving them the motivation, academic support and professional development tools they needed to earn their academic degrees and move on to successful STEM careers.
This year, change is again the story, as NSBE presents its 46th Annual Convention, its first-ever Virtual Annual Convention, from Wednesday, Aug. 19 through Saturday, Aug. 22, 2020. More than 8,500 STEM students; technical professionals; and corporate, government and community leaders are expected to participate in the convention, which is designed with robust interactive features enabled by state-of-the-art technology to create a powerful, educational, career-enhancing, entertaining experience for attendees. Originally scheduled to be an in-person event in San Antonio, Texas, in March, NSBE’s 46th Annual Convention (#NSBE46) has been reimagined as an online event because of health and safety concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The theme of the convention is “#NSBE46: Engineering the Revolution.”
Founded 45 years ago by six engineering undergraduates and their faculty advisor at Purdue University, NSBE, with nearly 25,000 members, remains a college student-led organization dedicated to ending the underrepresentation of Black professionals in engineering. The Society’s main 10-year strategic goal is to partner with U.S. colleges and universities to increase the number of new Black engineers they produce to 10,000 annually, by 2025.
“NSBE’s student leadership has always embraced innovation and change to continue making a positive impact on STEM and the Black community,” said NSBE National Chair Jocelyn Jackson. “Facing the unprecedented challenge of a global pandemic, NSBE’s National Executive Board first made the bold decision to postpone the convention, in early March, then to transform it using the technology that many of us are mastering in our college and universities. We look forward to celebrating our annual ‘family reunion’ online this year, at this critical time in history, to uplift our membership and advance NSBE’s mission,” added Jackson, who is a doctoral student in engineering education research at the University of Michigan.
#NSBE46 will feature high-profile speakers, panel discussions, technical and career development workshops, networking sessions, training sessions for technical and scientific competitions, and the premier career fair geared toward African Americans in STEM. The culminating event, the 23rd Annual NSBE Golden Torch Awards ceremony, will honor outstanding achievers in STEM and the community on Saturday, Aug. 22. Comedian, television host, actress, author and former electrical engineer Loni Love will host the awards ceremony.
Comedian/actress/producer Amanda Seales will join the convention on Friday, Aug. 21, as host of a Black history- and culture-themed show titled “Smart Funny & Black.”
The NSBE Annual Convention includes events and activities geared toward undergraduates in STEM fields, as well as three “mini-conferences” designed for the Society’s other membership demographics: the Pre-College Initiative (PCI) Conference, for elementary school, middle school and high school students; the Graduate School Conference (GSC) for current and prospective graduate students; and the Technical Professionals Conference (TPC) for STEM practitioners. The TPC is coordinated by NSBE Professionals, the 4,400-member organization for technical professional members of NSBE.
“We thank our many partners for investing in NSBE and helping make #NSBE46 possible,” said NSBE Executive Director Karl W. Reid, Ed.D. “Over the past several months, the United States and the world have spoken about social justice and systemic racism, and we have named the path forward as Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The support NSBE has received for our virtual event, from major employers, academic institutions, philanthropic organizations and others, is part of a broader strategy to turn their pledges into practice, and operationalizes our collective journey to create more equitable workplaces and communities.”
ABOUT NSBE
With more than 600 chapters and more than 24,000 active members in the U.S. and abroad, the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) is one of the largest student-governed organizations based in the United States. NSBE, founded in 1975, supports and promotes the aspirations of collegiate and pre-collegiate students and technical professionals in engineering and technology. NSBE’s mission is “to increase the number of culturally responsible Black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community.” For more information, visit www.nsbe.org and socialjustice.nsbe.org.
NSBE 46TH ANNUAL CONVENTION
FEATURED SPEAKERS
- Dave Gitlin, Carrier President and CEO, Opening Session Keynote Speaker
- Lee Jourdan, Chevron Chief Diversity Officer, General Session Keynote Speaker
- Loni Love, The Real Cohost, NSBE Golden Torch Awards Host
CAREER FAIR EXHIBITORS
Listing is as of July 28, 2020. Information is subject to change. Updates are available in the NSBEGuide mobile app.
Boldface names are NSBE Board of Corporate Affiliates partners. Italic names are NSBE Affiliate partners.
ABB, Inc.
AECOM
Aerospace
Air Force STEM
Air Products
Alcoa Corporation
Amazon
American Express
America’s Navy
Amgen
Amtrak
Apple Inc.
Applied Research Lab at Penn State (ARL/PSU)
Auburn University Samuel Ginn College of Engineering
Barr Engineering Company
Bechtel Corporation
Blue Origin
Boston University, College of Engineering
BP
Brown University
Cargill
Carnegie Mellon University
Carrier
Caterpillar Inc.
Central Intelligence Agency
Cerner Corporation
Chevron
Citrix
Clayco
Colorado School of Mines
Cornell Tech, Cornell University
Cornell University Civil and Environmental Engineering/Engineering Management
CoStar Group
Cummins Inc.
Danaher Corporation
Dell Inc.
Deloitte
Discover
Dow
Draper
DTE Energy
DuPont
Electric Power Research Institute
ExxonMobil
FCA US LLC
Federal Aviation Administration
FedEx
FirstEnergy
FM Global
Ford Motor Company
GE
General Dynamics
General Mills
General Motors
The George Washington University, School of Engineering and Applied Science
Gilbane Building Company
GitHub
Goldman Sachs
Haley & Aldrich
Harvard Business School
Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
H-E-B
HollyFrontier Corporation
Honeywell
IBM
INROADS
Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA)
Intel
Iowa State University – College of Engineering
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson Controls
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Kitty Hawk Corporation
L3Harris
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Leidos
Lilly
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
McKinsey & Company
Merck & Co., Inc.
Micron Technology
Microsoft
Milwaukee Tool
MIT
MIT Leaders for Global Operations
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
MITRE
Motorola Solutions, Inc.
Mott MacDonald
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
National Science Foundation (NSF)
NI (formerly National Instruments)
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law
NVIDIA
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
The Ohio State University, College of Engineering
Oracle
Otis Elevator
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Pfizer
Phillips66
Philo
Qualcomm
Raytheon Technologies
Research in Germany
Rice University
Rockwell Automation
SADA
Sandia National Laboratories
Schneider Electric
Schrödinger
ServiceNow
Skyworks Solutions Inc.
SMART Scholarship Program
Snap Inc.
Society of Women Engineers
Stanford School of Engineering
Syracuse University College of Engineering and Computer Science
TE Connectivity
Texas A&M University
Texas Instruments
Thales Defense & Security Inc.
Thermo Fisher Scientific
Trane Technologies
True Goal
Tufts University School of Engineering
Turner Construction
UC Berkeley, School of Information
UCLA Center for Excellence in Engineering and Diversity
UCLA Women in Engineering (WE@UCLA)
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Santa Barbara, Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering
University of Pennsylvania
University of South Carolina College of Engineering and Computing
University of Virginia (UVA) Engineering
University of Washington Electrical Engineering Department
University of Washington Paul Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering
USAA
U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command
USC Viterbi School of Engineering
U.S. Department of State
Vanderbilt University School of Engineering
Verizon
Veson Nautical
Virginia Tech
Washington University in St. Louis
Wells Fargo
Whirlpool
Yext
CONVENTION PARTNERS
Listing is as of Aug. 10, 2020.
#NSBE46 Silver Partners
American Express
Blue Origin
Cargill
Citrix
DTE Energy
McKinsey & Company
Micron Technology
NVIDIA
Pacific Gas & Electric Company
Pfizer
Schrödinger
Turner Construction Company
#NSBE46 Bronze Partners
H-E-B
Haley & Aldrich
Kitty Hawk Corporation
MITRE
Yext
Alexa Skill Building Workshop
Amazon
AWS Educate
Amazon
AWS Government Cloud and Panel Discussion
Amazon
General Session – Thursday
Chevron
General Session – Friday
Dell Technologies
Healthcare Industry and Academia Research Collaborations
BMES
“How to Competitively Apply to Graduate School”
Intel Corporation
“How to Fund (Graduate School Is Free!)”
Intel Corporation
“How to Interview at Amazon”
Amazon
Inside the Executive Suite
Honeywell
IPP Scholar Summit
Honeywell
NSBE Jr. Explorer Technical Innovations Competition
University of California, Santa Cruz
Opening Session
Carrier
“Sisters In Leadership” – Special Interest Group Session
Honeywell
“Voice From the Field” Graduate Student Panel”
Intel Corporation
Whiteboarding: How to Facilitate Dialogues as a Differentiator to PowerPoint
Trane Technologies
“Why Graduate School?”
Intel Corporation
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