USBE&IT magazine’s 2012 Historically Black Colleges and Universities edition celebrates the accomplishments of HBCUs and a few of their many distinguished graduates. They are engineers, scientists, IT professionals, lawyers, accountants, and business executives, but together they symbolize the power of community and the importance of commitment to education. As we pay tribute to these individuals who have achieved career success, we also are recognizing and honoring the schools that gave them their start and nurtured in them the academic and personal discipline required to succeed.
Alabama A&M University
CAROLYN CALDWELL
Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives
Chief Executive Officer
Centerpoint Medical Center
Carolyn Caldwell has been a healthcare executive for over 20 years. She has served in her current position since 2008. During her first year as chief executive officer at the Centerpoint Medical Center she led trauma re-accreditation, as well as chest pain center and cancer re-accreditation at the 221-bed acute care hospital with 1,100 employees, 450 physicians and net revenue of $245 million. Caldwell has also served as hospital CEO at HCA Midwest Health System and at Lee’s Summit Medical Center. She was chief operating officer at Arlington Medical Center. Caldwell started her professional career as a medical technologist after graduating in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in zoology and chemistry from Alabama A&M University. For over a decade she held progressive positions at various hospitals including the Crestwood, Midland Memorial and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center before moving into supervisory, day-to-day operation and administrative roles in the early 1990s. She earned a master’s degree in health care administration from Texas Woman’s University in 1997.
DONDI WEST
Attorney and Senior Cyber Staff Officer
DonWest Legal, LLC
Dondi West is a 2003 mathematics graduate of Alabama A&M University. He is also a former United States Navy officer. While serving in naval information warfare, he held a number of positions in the Department of Defense, Navy cryptology, and cyber- and signals intelligence communities. Currently, he is a consultant providing support to senior-level government and Department of Defense clients to address cyberspace challenges. West also mentors analysts in providing intelligence support to cyber operations and information warfare. As an attorney in his firm he counsels small businesses, veterans and military professionals on cyber, internet and privacy law. West has taught graduate-level courses in the Cybersecurity Policy program as adjunct professor at University of Maryland University College. He also mentors entry- and mid-career level professionals who wish to help meet the challenges posed by increasing cyber threats. West holds a master’s in applied information technology from Towson University and a Juris Doctor from the University Of Maryland School Of Law, where he was an editor of The Maryland Law Review.
Florida A&M University
RENETTE RICHARD
Marketing Analyst - Chemicals Division
Georgia Pacific LLC
Renette Richard had completed three successful summer internships by 2002 when she graduated from Florida A&M University with a bachelor’s in chemical engineering. Her pre-professional experience at Kimberly Clark—process engineer in the summer of 1999, product development intern in 2000 and polymer development intern a year later— enhanced her appeal so much she landed a full-time job as a polymer development scientist in June 2002. She was promoted to scientist II at Kimberly-Clark in 2004. After Richard graduated with a master’s degree in business administration in 2006 from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, she went on to hold a number of positions at Rohm and Haas including, strategic market manager and product manager, before joining the parent company, Dow Chemical, as a global product asset manager in July 2009. She has held her current position since July 2010.
Hampton University
MICHAEL MOORE
Vice President, Information Solutions Architect
BB&T
Michael Moore was appointed vice president, IT Solutions Architect, BB&T in 2010. Moore graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Hampton University in 1995. Over the next three years, he managed a global support desk for all system administrators of naval command and control centers and led a five-member team engaged in integration of surveillance and communications systems for the defense electronics market. He also served as system programmer at Laboratory Corporation of America for two years before moving on to PepsiCo to head a Unix group. Among Moore’s workplace accomplishments, he developed a technology refresh method which helped reduce infrastructure costs by $2.7 million over three years. In 2006, he was the recipient of a PepsiCo Chairman’s Award as a key member of a team that helped to slash costs by $58 million over five years. Moore was also designated a senior member of the Technical Review Board. Retained in contract assignment to design application architectures for migration of software to a disaster recovery data center, he served as a senior architect at Wells Fargo from November 2007 to January 2010 before he was appointed to his current position as vice president, IT Solutions Architect, BB&T.
Jackson State University
TERESA WASHINGTON, PH.D.
Toxicologist
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Teresa Washington graduated from Mississippi Valley State University in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in biology. The following year, she started an environmental health master’s degree program; moving on, in 1998, after she graduated, to do a Ph.D. in environmental science at Jackson State University. As a new postdoc, Washington served as an Intramural Research and Training Fellow at the National Institutes of Health for more than two years. The intramural research program provides new postdoc fellows with advanced training and opportunity to conduct research in a laboratory environment that is compatible with the interests of the participant. Since May 2008, Washington has been a toxicologist at the Environmental Protection Agency.
KENNETH BRENDT
Software Engineer
Alactel-Lucent
Kenneth Brendt is a software engineer. His main focus as a cellular network architect is data protocols, cellular access technologies (2G/3G/4G voice/data/video), embedded software engineering, and telecoms software, plus services. A 1981 computer science graduate from Jackson State University, he earned a certificate in computer and communications systems in 1983 from University of Michigan. He joined AT&T Bell Laboratories as a software engineer / cellular product architect in 1984, rising over 13 years to be selected as permanent research staff with the designation Distinguished Member of Technical Staff. Between June 1997 and early 2000, Brendt’s direct contributions realized over a billion dollars in revenue. He achieved this by providing technical presentations and network designs for potential customers within markets including El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica and Dominica. Early in 2000, he was appointed the Technical Manager of a five-member team providing technical centers and sale teams with 3G wireless/mobile internet technical product descriptions and network designs for potential customers within Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle Eastern and North American markets. Brendt then moved to software development and made contributions to Alcatel/Lucent IP Multimedia Subsystem 2.0 – 9.0 product programs by 2004. Currently, he’s interested in standards and product development in 4G (LTE, wiFI, and wiMAX).
Morgan State University
VICTOR JENNINGS
General Electric Aviation – Middle River Aircraft Systems
Victor Jennings has been a NASA Space Grant Scholar since 2006 and on the dean’s list since 2007 at Morgan State University. He has also been an active member of National Society of Black Engineers, Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honors Society and the Institute of Industrial Engineers. Among his honors and recognitions is a Department of Industrial, Manufacturing and Information Engineering Academic Achievement Award. In 2009, he graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s in industrial engineering. Currently, he is in graduate school with a focus on systems engineering.
DIMITRI DAUPHIN
Material Handling & Packaging Engineer
Detroit Diesel
Since 2010, Dimitri Dauphin has been a material handling & packaging engineer at Detroit Diesel. He designs and purchases packaging materials and equipment. He also represents Detroit Diesel on the worldwide cross-functional team of Daimler packaging engineers. Prior, he was a manufacturing engineer at Ford Motor Company for almost a decade and a material flow engineer three years before at the same firm. He also served as a bilingual customer service agent at Visa International between 1997 and 2001, reporting and processing lost and stolen cards. He processed cards to Classic/Gold/Platinum/Signature cardholders all over the world while considering the logistics of getting the cards to cardholders in whatever city that they are traveling into. Dauphin graduated as an industrial engineer in 2001 from Morgan State University. He is active in the Institute of Industrial Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineers, Caribbean Association, and Saint Louis de Gonzague. He also earned Six Sigma Green Belt Certification in 2008.
North Carolina A&T State University
DR. ERIC L. JONES
Materials Research Engineer, Ceramics Branch
Air Force Research Laboratory-Materials and Manufacturing Directorate
A mechanical engineering doctoral graduate from A&T, Dr. Eric Jones went on to work for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in 2007. Jones began his career as a materials engineer in the Systems Support Branch of the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate. He worked on research such as post-impact durability of ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) for turbine engine applications, durability studies on silicon oxycarbide CMCs for serpentine exhaust nozzle application, exploratory high temperature test developments for CMCs; and ballistic test programs for evaluating backing materials for ceramic body armor. Jones’ research has helped the Air Force and Department of Defense understand the effects that temperature, environment and stress variations have on the durability of ceramic matrix compositions and advanced ceramics. He is a project engineer for the Minority Leaders Program and served on the Integrated Product Team that provided the plan to implement an Integrated Computational Material Science and Engineering (ICMSE) framework as a part of the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate’s culture. He is a member of the American Ceramic Society, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the current president of the National Society of Black Engineers Dayton Alumni Extension.
ANGELA YOUNGER
Senior Clinical Scientist
MedImmune
Angela Younger earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from North Carolina A&T State University in 1996. Then she moved to Ohio State University the same year and received a master’s in the same field in 1999. She also kept up membership in the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and NSBE (National Society of Black Engineers). Younger served as a research associate at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals before joining GlaxoSmithKline as senior scientist, a position she held for four years before her promotion to project manager in November 2004. During the same period, Younger earned an M.B.A. in 2004 from Erivan K. Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph’s University. While there, she was also active in the Venture Capital Club, National Black MBA Association Inc. and Big Brothers Big Sisters. In 2008, Younger joined MedImmune. Currently, she is a senior clinical scientist in clinical development, Oncology at MedImmune.
Prairie View A&M University
WILLIE DAVIS
Deputy Chief Information Officer
Expeditionary Contracting Command
U.S. Army
Willie Davis was a U.S. Army information technology (IT) specialist from 1986 to 2008. He graduated from Prairie View A&M with a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering in 1987. After graduation from the National Defense University in 2000 with a certificate in Information Assurance, he served as executive officer at the Signal Battalion, supervising more than 540 staff and information management specialists, as well as the execution of a multi-million-dollar budget for 13,000 items comprised of communication equipment, vehicles, generators and parts. Davis’ following assignment in 2002 was as a plans officer at the Army Chief Information Office (G-6), ensuring soldiers, civilians, and their partners have the right information at the right time and place. Davis served as lead planner for tasks, which established a rapid reception and staging capacity for 200,000 soldiers and marines; and for over $600 million required to complete essential services and construction projects. In his next position in 2005, as deputy director of operations for the Combined Joint Task Force, his staff executed dependable communications support for over 60 civil affairs and civil military operations throughout the Horn of Africa, into Uganda and Tanzania. Davis also served as executive officer in the Directorate of Information Management in the National Capital Region, Washington D.C. As senior Army advisor at First United States Army, he was lead trainer and evaluator to ensure readiness standards and Reserve Component training were met in support of the war on terror. Since June 2009, Davis has served as a deputy chief information officer at the Expeditionary Contracting Command. He is responsible for providing both guidance and project management of information technology programs.
BENJAMIN A. SMITH
Senior Manufacturing Engineer and Manager, Center Wing Section
Hawker Beechcraft
Benjamin Smith graduated from Prairie View A&M University in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering Technology. Previously, he had served as a certified aircraft technician with the Air Force for a decade. After his honorable discharge in 1995—three full terms of enlistment including operation Desert Storm—Smith moved to successfully maintaining remote-operated vehicle and staff for a global provider of services and products to the oil and gas industry, and to the defense and aerospace industries. In 2002, Smith started his degree at Prairie View A&M. After graduation he worked as a contract engineering technologist before joining Tyco Thermal Controls as a project engineer. In 2010, Smith was hired by Hawker Beechcraft. As a senior manufacturing engineer and manager in the center wing section, he helps build, sell and service airplanes for civilian and military customers by capturing manufacturing data to create aircraft instruction manuals and graphic work instructions to support the aircraft build and assembly process.
Tennessee State University
DAVID TRUESDALE
Raw Materials Continuous Improvement Engineer/Team Lead
Kraft Foods
Tennessee State University graduate David Truesdale earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science in 2004. During college he was the Chapter Vice Polemarch of the Alpha Theta Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi, 2002-2003. He was a Rolls-Royce certified Six Sigma Black Belt. Prior, he had joined Rolls-Royce in 1999 and over five years he wrote software programs to calculate pre-load on production parts for the C-130 Hercules aircraft engine team. Also, Truesdale was responsible for keeping hot and cold parts from overlapping during the design phase of the Joint Strike Fighter F136 Gas Turbine engine. He was a computer programmer for Rolls-Royce Corporation’s first in-house gas turbine engine test cell. During the next 6 years as the manager of the Engineering, Information Technology Department, he managed multimillion dollar technology budgets for Rolls-Royce, and for 18 months as the purchasing process management leader, he drove operational performance and mentored other supply chain and purchasing Six Sigma belts to ensure the six sigma framework was disseminated throughout Rolls-Royce North America. Since August 2010, he has helped save over $15 million on the Raw Materials side of Kraft’s Newberry, SC, plant as the Raw Materials Continuous Improvement Engineer/Team Lead. Truesdale is currently pursuing his master’s in technology at Purdue University.
Tuskegee University
GAYNELLE SWAN
Systems Engineering Manager
Raytheon Company
Over four years at Tuskegee University (1986-1991) Gaynelle Swan was active in a variety of campus activities including Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Golden Voices Concert Choir, the Marching Crimson Pipers-Piperettes, Etta Kappa Nu, and National Society of Black Engineers. Swan also served as a vice president of Tuskegee’s Student Government Association. She graduated with a bachelor’s in electrical engineering in 1991 and spent the next two years at Georgia Institute of Technology, earning a master’s degree in electrical engineering while she performed advanced communications research for home and building control systems as a National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science (GEM) Fellow at Honeywell. In 1994, she joined Ford as a product design engineer in the College Graduate Rotation program. She also held various positions within Ford product development’s fuel system design, electrical system verification, testing, and assembly plant personnel training for the 1996 Taurus/Sable vehicle launch. Over the next three years, Swan served as senior systems engineer in design-to-manufacturing and integration of the Lincoln LS vehicle into an assembly plant. At Raytheon Company since 1999, she has served as a systems engineer in Missile Systems, and as a contracts administrator responsible for a $20.5 million risk reduction program among other progressive roles in systems engineering and program management. In 2001, as section manager, she developed an internal summer intern departmental program and supervised eight interns and thirteen in 2002 and 2003. Swann was a board member at the YWCA of Tucson from 2004-2009.
