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In a conference call from Career Communications Group’s head office Wednesday, Oct. 25, Career Communications Group CEO and publisher Tyrone Taborn informed automotive executive Alicia Boler Davis that she had been voted 2018 Black Engineer of the Year by the Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) Selection Committee.

The 16-person BEYA Selection Committee is made up of leading scientists and engineers from the federal government, academia, and industry.

When Boler Davis accepts the torch as the thirty-second Black Engineer of the Year in the nation’s capital February 2018, she will be the sixth woman to receive this award from the Council of Engineering Deans of the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities, which graduate more than 33 percent of all black engineers in the United States.

“This is the thirty-second time I have had the honor of making this call on behalf of the BEYA Selection Committee,” said Taborn, CEO of Career Communications Group, the company behind BEYA at the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Global Competitiveness Conference.

“It’s important at this time, particularly in this time that we’re going through, for young women to see women like you, Mary, and Linda being so visible,” Taborn added. “You make what sometimes seems impossible possible. It reinforces the major contributions that you make and the opportunity there.”

Mary Barra, chairman, and CEO of General Motors Company is the first female CEO of a major global automaker. Barra said General Motors is exceptionally proud of Boler-Davis.

“I couldn’t be more proud of what Alicia does for the company, what she does for women at General Motors and much more broadly the different activities you’re involved in,” Barra said.

Linda Gooden, a former executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Corp now on the board of General Motors, said Boler Davis would be a “positive role model to the next generation of women as the 2018 Black Engineer of the Year.”

Gooden, who is the 2006 Black Engineer of the Year, is one of six women to have received the top award. The list includes Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Wanda Austin, former president and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation, Lydia W. Thomas, former president and CEO of Mitretek Systems (now Noblis), and Stephanie C. Hill, senior vice president of Corporate Strategy and Business Development at Lockheed Martin Corporation, a longtime corporate supporter of the annual BEYA STEM Conference.

“I’m really humbled to accept the nomination as 32nd Black Engineer of the Year,” Boler Davis said. “I appreciate the efforts of Mary and Ken (Barrett) and all the people who nominated me. And many people like Linda, who have opened the doors. It’s an absolute honor. I’m very fortunate and I take my responsibility to be a positive role model seriously.”

As the 2018 Black Engineer of the Year nominee, Boler Davis is recognized as a global ambassador of goodwill for underrepresented minorities in science and technology, and for women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). She will keynote the 2018 Council of Engineering Deans of Historically Black Colleges and Universities meeting at one of the historically black colleges and universities with ABET-accreditation.

The 2018 BEYA nominees are (listed alphabetically by award title):

Black Engineer of the Year
Mrs. Alicia Boler Davis
Executive Vice President, Global Manufacturing
General Motors

Dave Barclay Affirmative Action
Mr. Darryl Farrow
Director, Global Diversity & Inclusion
The Boeing Company

Dave Barclay Affirmative Action
Mr. Drew Valentine
Vice President, People & Culture
IBM

Career Achievement – Government
Mr. Timothy Bridges
Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics, Engineering and Force Protection
U.S. Air Force

Career Achievement – Industry
Dr. Charles Johnson-Bey
Cyber Solutions Engineering and Technology Director
Lockheed Martin Corporation

Community Service – Industry
Mr. Steven Brown
President of Dreams, Imagination & Gift Development Program (DIG)
Gas Turbine Controls Engineer
General Electric

The Dean’s Award
Mr. Derek McGowan
Diversity Outreach Program Manager
Lockheed Martin Corporation

Education Leadership – K-12 Promotion of Education
Ms. Tokiwa Smith
Executive Director
Science, Education, Mathematics Link Inc.

Educational Leadership – College-Level Promotion of Education
Dr. Terri Norton
Associate Professor
University of Nebraska – Lincoln

Most Promising Engineer – Government
Captain Jason Fischbach
Lead Engineer – Power, Space, and Cooling
U.S. Air Force

Most Promising Engineer – Government
Ms. LaAndrea McDonald
BMDS Test Data Manager
Missile Defense Agency

Most Promising Engineer – Industry
Mr. Hamza Syed
Lead Multi-Discipline Systems Engineer
The MITRE Corporation

Most Promising Engineer – Industry
Ms. Chandria Poole
Deputy Program Manager
Northrop Grumman Corporation

Outstanding Technical Contribution – Government
Mr. Reginald Williams
THAAD Post-Production and Sustainment Lead
Missile Defense Agency

Outstanding Technical Contribution – Industry
Mr. Kent Etienne
Technical Lead Engineer, Senior Mechanical Design Engineer
The Boeing Company

Outstanding Technical Contribution – Industry
Mrs. Arissa Hodges
Group Leader/Lead Communications Engineer
The MITRE Corporation

Professional Achievement – Government
Mr. Byron Williams
Programs and Project management Branch Chief
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Professional Achievement – Industry
Mrs. Kathryn Hamilton
Engineering Program Manager
Northrop Grumman Corporation

Professional Achievement – Industry
Mr. Eric Biribuze
Product Line Lead
Corning Incorporated

Research Leadership
Mr. Andrew Adams
Acting Assistant Section Supervisor
The Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory

Senior Technology Fellow
Dr. Jon Goldsby
Materials Research Engineer
NASA Glenn Research Center

Senior Technology Fellow
Mr. Nathan Brooks
Associate Technical Fellow, Technical Lead Engineer
The Boeing Company

Student Leadership – Undergraduate Level
Mr. David Hill
Worldwide Sales Engineer Intern
Cisco Systems

Student Leadership – Undergraduate Level
Mr. Bright Tsagli
College Assistant
Bronx Community College

Technical Sales and Marketing
Mr. Karoom Brown
Senior Vice President, Business Development & Strategy
Leidos

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