The National GEM Consortium held its annual conference at the Los Angeles Sheraton Gateway Hotel Sept. 13-15. Since its inception in 1976, GEM has filled the pipeline with more than 4,000 science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) professionals. More than 50% of GEM Fellows are African American.

The National GEM Consortium provides its Fellows with paid internships and entry-level job placement at the IT companies and government research institutions in its Consortium. Additionally, GEM Fellows receive full-tuition, STEM-related, graduate-level scholarships.

GEM alumni include former Xerox CEO Ursula Burns, and Stephanie G. Adams, engineering dean, Frank Batten College of Engineering and Technology at Old Dominion University. Adams is also the 2018-19 American Society of Engineering Education President.

At GEM’s 2018 Leadership Gala, Reginald Van Lee, 2008 Black Engineer of the Year and retired Booz Allen executive vice president, received a GEM Alumni Award.

The GEM Leadership Awards Gala honors leaders and champions of diversity in graduate STEM education, and longstanding partners of GEM such as MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Aerospace Corporation, Adobe, Amazon, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Other GEM alumni honored at the gala were Timothy Sands, president of Virginia Tech (Academic Leadership Award), Dr. Yilda Irizarry-Valle, systems engineer at Northrop Grumman (Young Alumnae Leadership Award) and Dr. Eric Evans, director of MIT Lincoln Laboratory (Corporate Leadership Award).

Attendees at the gala included Karolyn Young, principal director, Aerospace Corporation, Michael A. Greene, GEM Board chair, vice president and general manager, Intel Corporation, and Brennon Marcano, GEM chief executive officer.