SEARCH RESULTS

"Passion is not friendly. It is arrogant, superbly contemptuous of all that is not itself, and, as the very definition of passion implies the impulse to freedom, it has a might intimidating power. It contains a challenge. It contains an unspeakable hope." ― James Baldwin About Dr. Calvin Mackie Dr. Calvin Mackie is an award winning mentor, an internationally renowned motivational speaker, and a successful entrepreneur. Emerging from New Orleans public schools to get four STEM degrees and become the first Black professor at the Tulane’s University former School of Engineering, his message as a mentor, speaker, and entrepreneur continues to transcend race, gender, ethnicity, religion, and time. Mackie was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and graduated from McDonogh 35 High School, New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1985. McDonogh 35 was the first high school for African Americans in New Orleans, Louisiana. After starting college in remedial reading because of weak SAT scores, Calvin Mackie earned a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech and a B.S. in Mathematics from Morehouse College in 1990, a M.S. in 1992 and a Ph.D. in 1996 in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech. He served on the Tulane University faculty from 1996-2007, where he received tenure and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2002. Mackie's eleven year academic career ended in June 2007, when Tulane University disbanded the engineering school in response to financial hardship induced by Hurricane Katrina. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco appointed Mackie to the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA), the guiding agency to lead the state's rebuilding efforts following the catastrophic 2005 Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. As an ambassador of the LRA and a guest of the U.S. Embassy, he traveled to the country of Kuwait and appeared on Good Morning Kuwait and in international Arab newspapers. As a resident of pre- and post-Katrina New Orleans, Mackie has also been featured on HBO as a commentator on Spike Lee's documentary on the Katrina disaster When The Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Parts. He has also appeared on national and local news shows talking about Katrina, including the PBS News Hour with Jim Lehrer, and the Tom Joyner Morning Show. Mackie also founded the personal development and educational consulting firm, Channel ZerO Group, in 1992 and co-founded an alternative energy company, Golden Leaf Energy, in 2009. Mackie speaks to Fortune 500 Corporations and Institutions across the globe. He is the author of the books: best-selling “A View from the Roof: Lessons for Life and Business” and “Grandma’s Hands: Cherished Moments of Faith and Wisdom”, In 2013, Mackie founded a non-profit organization, STEM NOLA, to expose, inspire and engage communities about the opportunities in STEM. Since its inception, STEM NOLA has engaged over 40,000 low-resourced, K-12 students in hands-on project based STEM activities in New Orleans communities, impacting over 10,000 families thanks to the hard work of 6,500 college students, 3,500 community volunteers and a generous network of sponsors. Mackie is building a $100 million community technology hub in New Orleans East, in a building donated by Ochsner Health System. The center will provide courses like predictive analytics and cell biology that are not available in local schools, as well as hands-on learning and experimenting opportunities.

"If you are not making a change, you are making a mess." ― Dr. Noella C. West About Dr. Noella C. West Dr. Noella C. West DNP, APRN, AGNP-C is an author, national speaker, sought after educator and leader in the health care industry. Known for engaging and motivating her audience, she provides a unique experience that touches the lives of men and women around the world. Her vision is to be known as a creator of positive change. Dr. West has been working in the health industry for over 20 years. Currently a doctorate of nurse practitioner, she serves as Adjunct Professor at the University of Tampa School of Nursing as well as the University of South Florida College of Nursing. She has presented at international and national conferences, been featured in national nursing magazines and been referred to as a brilliant author. She’s always taken pride in her work, as evident by being voted Nurse Practitioner of the Year and “Excellence in Advanced Practice Nursing”. Noella also organizes a yearly Community Stroke Retreat to benefit stroke survivors and their caregivers as a way to engage and move populations towards awareness and positive change. Dr. West creates a dynamic and forward moving atmosphere conducive to positive learning in the realm of topics tailored to Women Living Well Over 40. She drives transformation and innovation with educating the community of those served. Her experience and expertise is evident in her ability to motivate and engage her audience about health across the lifespan while brining awareness and self-advocacy. Dr. West leaves a lasting impression that will create positive culture change whether in hospitals, business, corporate or communities. Her mission is to bring value by speaking on patient, individual, community and healthcare subject matter to achieve full health across ones lifespan This value is realized through creating an environment for learning in the realm of neurology, stroke and heart health.

" “You’ll never reach your full potential level of creativity, talent, passion, success, or excellence until you learn to give." ― Dave Ramsey About Maryann JP Coleman Weldon As a child, Maryann was known for climbing trees in Sunday dresses. One might say that was a precursor to climbing corporate ladders in STEM as a Christian and Woman, who’s also African American. That same ambition, strength, goal-setting, determination, and persistence thread from yesteryear to today’s futuristic visionary. Maryann utilized strengths of business savvy, communications, and leadership, to obtain an Organizational Communications Management degree. Her industry-leading media agency internship led to an immediate career in entrepreneurship. Maryann is the CEO & Certified Scrum Master of Empire Org. LLC, where she has organically built a lean certified, servant leadership focused contractor operation which organizes and orchestrates execution of several process improvement methodologies. Contracting afforded her freedoms financially, remotely, and creatively, that were unmatched by peers. Thoroughly enjoying all the growth, advancement, enlightenment, challenge, and innovation via Fortune 100 & Fortune 500 clients, made Maryann want to share the opportunity with others. Quite often, for years, she had been the only female, multi-ethnic, and youth in the room. She chose to accept it as more of a compliment and advantage than insult or hinderance. Most importantly, it became an inspiration and motivation. Maryann acquired multiple certifications and training in Tech Scrum Mastering, Agile Project Management, Business SAFe Scaled Project Management, and Traditional Waterfall Project Management. Project Managers, especially in the Tech industry and Engineering teams, are an area of need and has continually projected growth. Maryann increased her personal demand and created Empire Org, LLC for that very reason. In addition to hands-on problem solving, team building, and client care, Empire Org has advanced to teaching, training, and coaching others, so they can go on to do the same. There’s plenty of room in the industry for diversity and not just for diversity’s sake. There is a great need for equipping the underrepresented, including but not limited to race, such as military vets and spouses, single parents, and young professionals. Maryann contributes project success soft-skills text books can’t teach. Empire Org, LLC, is on mission to educate others, even ‘the least of these', on how to serve, and lead, and then place them in equitably paying roles with market-leading companies. The world needs the wisdom and charm Maryann is passing along to generations of professionals to resolve complex issues, form productive teams, tackle the most ambitious of projects, and share fresh ideas. It’s as simple, and brilliant, as tree-climbing in Sunday’s best. What does Black History Month mean to you? To me, this time to acknowledge African American history means Legacy, Celebration, and Responsibility. Maryann JP Coleman Weldon was nominated by Staff Sergeant George Weldon: Weldon's reflections: My wife is a military wife and mother of 4. As such she runs all household operations and at times, in my work absence. But what’s more significant, is how she also successfully manages her own tech business, Empire Org., where she uses the same skills to manage Fortune 500 projects. Somehow, she’s now advancing her craft and offerings to train others to manage software development projects. Her goals to increase the career and life skills of apprentices, while helping the community at large by bridging the tech diversity hiring gap and income divide, are constant motivations she shares. She inspires others, our children, and I never cease to be amazed.

"I don't think that you can possibly embrace the kind of joy which one who has worked with plants and plant structures such as I have over a period of nearly 40 years, how wonderful the plant laboratory seems." ― Percy Lavon Julian About Percy Lavon Julian You may not have heard of Percy Lavon Julian, but chances are you’ve used a product his groundbreaking research was responsible for. Julian was a twentieth-century research chemist whose work in chemical synthesis laid the groundwork for synthesizing estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone used to treat those with hormone deficiencies. He also developed process improvements in the production of cortisone, used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, and corticosteroids used to treat various illnesses. Despite his substantial accomplishments, Julian faced considerable racism throughout his career. Born in 1899 to a postal worker, James Julian, and a schoolteacher, Elizabeth Adams in Montgomery, Alabama, the younger Julian and his five siblings were steered toward education at a young age. However, upon attending DePauw University in Indiana, Julian could not live in the dormitory at his own college due to segregation. In fact, it took days for him to find a place to eat. Nevertheless, he graduated from the university in 1920 as its valedictorian. After graduating from DePauw, Julian wanted to obtain his doctorate in chemistry, but learned it would be difficult for an African American to do so. Instead, he obtained a position as a chemistry instructor at Fisk University. In 1923 he received an Austin Fellowship in Chemistry, which allowed him to attend Harvard University to obtain his M.S. However, worried that white students would resent being taught by an African American, Harvard withdrew Julian's teaching assistantship, making it impossible for him to complete his Ph.D. there. He eventually completed his doctorate from the University of Vienna. He taught for a year at Howard University, then married Anna Roselle, with whom he would have children. He worked at DePauw University as an instructor but was denied a professorship given his race. He then sought a role in the private sector but was turned down from DuPont before landing at the Glidden Company, where he began working on the isolation of soy protein for commercial use. His careful work doing so resulted in a compound that could be successfully used to fight fires, which was quickly applied by the U.S. military during World War II. At Glidden, Julian began working on hormone synthesis and steroid development in 1940. However, despite Julian’s advancements, Glidden was unable to use them to make a profit. Despite his success, Julian still faced discrimination. He moved his family to Oak Park in 1950, and shortly after that, his home was firebombed on Thanksgiving Day. A year later, dynamite was planted at the house. However, much of the nearly all-white community galvanized behind the Julian family. Glidden left the steroid business in 1953, leaving Julian to develop his own laboratory. He continually improved steroid production methods. However, a consortium of large pharmaceutical companies retained control over the market, and he too was unable to profit. Julian remained at Glidden until 1954, when he founded his own company, Julian Laboratories of Franklin Park, Illinois, and Mexico City (which he eventually sold to Smith, Kline and French). Throughout his life he was socially active in groups seeking to advance conditions for African Americans, helping to found the Legal Defense and Educational Fund of Chicago and serving on the boards of several other organizations and universities. By the time of his passing in 1975, Julian had become the first African-American chemist inducted into the National Academy of Sciences and had received more than 130 chemical patents. His applied research is still widely used today.

"A woman alone could set off an alarm immediately by pressing a button, or if the system were installed in a doctor's office, it might prevent holdups by drug addicts." ― Marie Van Brittan Brown About Marie Van Brittan Brown Marie Van Brittan Brown was an African-American inventor. She was the inventor of the home security system in 1966, along with her husband Albert Brown. In the same year they jointly applied for a patent, which was granted in 1969. Brown worked as a nurse and her husband was an electrician, so they did not always have normal hours or simultaneously work. Inspired by how long it would take the police to arrive in her neighborhood, Brown invented the first form of a home security system. Her work hours were not the standard 9-5, and the crime rate in their Queens, New York City neighborhood was very high. Wondering who was on the otherside of her door was always something Brown regretted doing. Brown's system had a set of three peep-holes. At the opposite side of the door a camera was attached with the ability to slide up and down to allow the person to see through each peephole. Also, a resident could unlatch the door by remote control. The system included a device that enabled a homeowner to use a television set to view the person at the door and hear the caller's voice. The home security system that she and her husband invented allowed the monitor to be in a different room, and all of this was possible via a radio controlled wireless system. If the person viewing the images on the monitor did not feel safe they could press a button that would send an alarm to police or security. She and her husband cited other inventors in their patent, such as Edward D. Phiney and Thomas J. Reardon. Even now, over fifty years later, her invention is being used by smaller businesses and living facilities. Although the system was originally intended for domestic uses, many businesses began to adopt her system due to its effectiveness. The system also used a voice component to enable Brown to speak to the person at the door. If the person had criminal intent and tried to enter the house forcefully, the police would be notified with the push of a button. For any expected visitor or welcomed person, the door would be unlocked via remote control. For this invention of a system, she received an award from the National Science Committee. She died in 1999 at the age of 76 and over the years, her invention has been cited in 32 other patent applications. The invention was basically the first closed-circuit television security system and is predecessor to the modern home systems today. It led to the foundation for video monitoring, remote-controlled door locks, push-button alarm triggers, instant messaging to security providers and police, as well as two-way voice communication. The fame of Brown’s device also led to the more prevalent CCTV surveillance in public areas. According to a 2016 New Scientist report, 100 million concealed closed-circuit cameras are now in operation worldwide.

"Persistence makes all the difference, whether in history or science. And it is that persistence that can change the world, in ways both large and subtle." ― Dr. Ken Bridges About Otis Boykin African American inventor Otis Boykin is best known for inventing a variable resistor used in computers, radios, television sets and a variety of electronic devices such as a control unit for heart stimulators; the unit was used in the artificial heart pacemaker, a device created to produce electrical shocks to the heart to maintain a healthy heart rate. He patented more than 25 electronic devices, and his inventions greatly assisted him in overcoming the obstacles that society placed in front of him during that era of segregation. Boykin was born in Dallas, Texas, on August 29, 1920 to parents of modest means. His mother was a homemaker and his father was a carpenter. Boykin proved to be a brilliant and hard-working student. He graduated at the top of his class from the segregated Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas. He won a scholarship to Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, a respected, historically African-American university. While a student at Fisk, he worked at the university’s aeronautics lab, where researchers devised new components and designs for aircraft. He graduated from Fisk University in 1941 and got a job as a laboratory assistant, testing automatic aircraft controls. In 1944, he moved on to work for the P.J. Nilsen Research Labs in Illinois. Shortly thereafter, he started his own company, Boykin-Fruth Inc. Boykin pursued graduate studies at the Illinois Institute of Technology from 1946 to 1947, but unfortunately, he had to drop out when his family could no longer afford to pay tuition. Undeterred, Boykin began working hard on inventions of his own, with a special interest in the emerging field of electronics. Boykin, while working as a consultant in Chicago, came up with several variations on the resistors that were commercially successful. A resistor is a crucial electronic component that impedes the flow of electrical current. Normally, a resistor is designed to have a specific amount of resistance, depending on the type of task or device it is designated for. Boykin earned his first patent in 1959 for a wire precision resistor, which allowed for the designation of a precise amount of resistance for a specific purpose. This was followed by his 1961 patent for an electrical resistor that was both inexpensive and easy to produce. Additionally, according to U.S. patent No. 2,972,726, this resistor had the ability to “withstand extreme accelerations and shocks and great temperature changes without danger of breakage of the fine resistance wire or other detrimental effects.” The advances incorporated into Boykin’s resistor meant that many electronic devices, including consumer goods and military equipment, could be made more cheaply and with greater reliability than provided by earlier options. His resistor was quickly incorporated into a number of products, including guided missiles and IBM computers in the United States and overseas. In addition, a version of his resistor made possible the precise regulation necessary for the success of the pacemaker, which has helped to save and lengthen the lives of thousands of men and women around the world. Boykin’s achievements led him to work as a consultant in the United States and in Paris from 1964 to 1982. Meanwhile, he continued working on resistors until the end of his life. He created an electrical capacitor in 1965 and an electrical resistance capacitor in 1967, as well as a number of electrical resistance elements. He is also known to have created a range of consumer innovations including a burglar-proof cash register and a chemical air filter. In a tragic irony, Boykin died of heart failure in Chicago in 1982. He was survived by his wife, two brothers, H. L. and David L. Boykin, and his sister, Minnie Lee Kellum. At the time of his death, he held at least 25 patents. In 2014 he was inducted posthumously into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

"Our claims are on America; it is the land that gave us birth; it is the land of our nativity, we know no other country, it is a land in which our fathers have suffered and toiled; they have watered it with their tears, and fanned it with sighs." ― Thomas L. Jennings About Thomas L. Jennings Thomas L. Jennings was the first African American granted a patent by the United States, but he was also a businessman, an ardent abolitionist and a civil rights leader. He was a founding member of many early philanthropic rights organizations such as the Wilberforce Society, the New York African Society for Mutual Relief, the Phoenix Society, the New York Vigilance Committee and the Legal Rights Association. A native New Yorker, Jennings was among the “one thousand citizens of color” who volunteered to dig trenches to fortify New York City during the War of 1812. Well respected and highly regarded, he signed Certificates of Freedom for other black men vouching for their status as free Americans. A tailor and clothier by trade, he apprenticed with one of Manhattan’s “most celebrated tailors” before opening his own shop on Williams Street at age 19. During this time, Jennings began experimenting with chemicals to remove stains from his customer’s expensive clothing. On March 3, 1821, the United States government granted Jennings a patent for a process called "dry scouring" a forerunner of today’s dry-cleaning. When a rival tailor illegally used the invention, he found Jennings was not one to trifle with. Jennings sued him in the city’s Marine Court and won $50 when he dramatically produced the Letters of Patent. Signed by John Quincy Adams, Patent x3306* was an important achievement because it recognized Jennings as a free US citizen at a time when forces such as the American Colonization Society opposed the right of free African Americans to live here. Jennings used the wealth from patent royalties to help promote social change for equal rights. He was a key member of the first three National Conventions of the People of Colour and trustee of the Abyssinian Baptist Church. In 1827, he along with several other black business leaders was instrumental in establishing Freedom’s Journal, the nation’s first African American newspaper. A champion of the Anti-Colonialization Movement, he addressed the issue head on in a speech he gave before the New York Society for Mutual Relief in 1828: “Our claims are on America; it is the land that gave us birth; it is the land of our nativity, we know no other country, it is a land in which our fathers have suffered and toiled; they have watered it with their tears, and fanned it with sighs...Our relation with Africa is the same as the white man’s is with Europe, only with this difference, the one emigrated voluntarily, the other was forced from home and all its pleasures…” The rest of the Jennings family followed his example. Like his father, Jennings’ eldest son William was an agent for African American newspapers and an abolitionist leader in Boston. Another son Thomas served on antislavery committees with Frederick Douglass and was a renowned dentist and vestryman in New Orleans. Jennings wife and daughters were active in the Female Literary Society of New York that raised money to free slaves and promoted the rights of African American women. Thomas Jennings died in New York City in 1856. Shortly before his death, his daughter Elizabeth won a benchmark lawsuit. On Sunday, July 16, 1854, Elizabeth Jennings set off for the First Colored Congregational Church, where she was an organist. Running late, she boarded a streetcar of the Third Avenue Railroad Company at the corner of Pearl and Chatham streets. The conductor ordered her to get off. When she refused, the conductor tried to remove her by force. Eventually, with the aid of a police officer, Miss Jennings was ejected from the streetcar. Her story was publicized by Frederick Douglass, and received national attention. Elizabeth Jennings filed a lawsuit in the Brooklyn Court against the driver, the conductor, and the Third Avenue Railroad Company. Because of her father's prominence and wealth, she was able to obtain the best legal representation and hired the law firm of Culver, Parker, and Arthur to sue the bus company and was represented in court by a young attorney named Chester Arthur, who would go on to become the 21st President of the United States. Ms. Jennings would ultimately win her case in front of the Brooklyn Circuit Court in 1855. The jury awarded damages in the amount of $225.00, and $22.50 in costs. The next day, the Third Avenue Railroad Company ordered its cars desegregated.” The content from this feature is produced by Jerry Mikorenda, who is a writer living in Northport. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, Newsday, and The Boston Herald, among other magazines and blogs.

" Perseverance will take you further than your intelligence." About Kiley & Ty'Lisha Summers Shortly after college graduation, Kiley and Ty'Lisha found themselves in over $100,000 of consumer debt. Growing up, finances wasn’t discussed in their households. No one told them that only making minimum payments on their debt would likely have them in debt for the rest of their lives. The couple decided to hire a financial advisor to help them improve their financial situation. After becoming debt free, they began sharing their story with family and friends, realizing there were so many people caught in the never-ending debt spiral without a plan to get out and SpenDebt (spendebt.com) was born. SpenDebt is a financial technology company helping people pay off debt one micropayment at a time! As consumers spend money, a pre-defined amount is automatically added to every transaction and then applied to the user’s debt account monthly. SpenDebt is on track to help one million people pay off student loans, auto loans, credit cards and more! Meet Ty'Lisha Summers Ty'Lisha Summers is a woman of faith, wife and mother of two beautiful girls. She is also a Chemical Engineer, entrepreneur and strong advocate for youth and minorities. With more than 13 years in the oil and gas industry, her experience includes manufacturing, technical sales and global supply chain. Her and her husband are the co-founders of SpenDebt, a SaaS payment solution helping companies collect account receivables from their customers every time they swipe their debit card or have a banking transaction. SpenDebt has helped consumers pay off credit cards, student loans, auto loans and medical debt. Tylisha’s care and love for others and her community are demonstrated through her volunteerism with organizations that focus on STEM, mentorship and teaching youth. Such organizations include Junior Achievement, Black Girl Ventures and Black Girls Code. She has served as the Director of G.Y.R.L.S. (Giving Young Renewed Ladies Strength) and currently serves as a board member of HenRose Cares, a nonprofit organization focused on reducing college related expenses for students from underserved communities. Meet Kiley Summers Kiley Summers is an entrepreneur and champion for equity and inclusion for black and brown founders. He, himself, is the Founder of SpenDebt, a financial technology company whose mission is to save one million people from financial fatalities every time they swipe their debit card or have a banking transaction. Kiley and his wife became debt free, paying off over $100K+ of consumer debt. They quickly noticed the growing problem of consumer debt and were encouraged to help others through behavior economics to become financially healthy. SpenDebt’s app launched in 2018 while bootstrapping, they raised over $300K through many pitch competitions and several accelerator investments, and earned Capital One as their payment processor. To date, SpenDebt has helped consumers pay off credit cards, student loans, auto loans, medical debt and the like, averaging nearly $80 per month per user. The Summers were nominated by Stephanie Hurtado Lonard, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Technically Minded Talent™.

"I believe I can do anything if I just try." ― Granville T. Woods About Granville T. Woods Known as "Black Edison," Granville Woods was an African American inventor who made key contributions to the development of the telephone, streetcar and more. He was born to free African Americans, held various engineering and industrial jobs before establishing a company to develop electrical apparatus. Woods registered nearly 60 patents in his lifetime, including a telephone transmitter, a trolley wheel and the multiplex telegraph. Born in Columbus, Ohio, on April 23, 1856, Woods received little schooling as a young man and, in his early teens, took up a variety of jobs, including as a railroad engineer in a railroad machine shop, as an engineer on a British ship, in a steel mill, and as a railroad worker. From 1876 to 1878, Woods lived in New York City, taking courses in engineering and electricity — a subject that he realized, early on, held the key to the future. Back in Ohio in the summer of 1878, Woods was employed for eight months by the Springfield, Jackson and Pomeroy Railroad Company to work at the pumping stations and the shifting of cars in the city of Washington Court House, Ohio. He was then employed by the Dayton and Southeastern Railway Company as an engineer for 13 months. During this period, while traveling between Washington Court House and Dayton, Woods began to form ideas for what would later be credited as his greatest invention: the "inductor telegraph." He worked in the area until the spring of 1880 and then moved to Cincinnati. Living in Cincinnati, Woods eventually set up his own company to develop, manufacture and sell electrical apparatus, and in 1889, he filed his first patent for an improved steam boiler furnace. His later patents were mainly for electrical devices, including his second invention, an improved telephone transmitter. The patent for his device, which combined the telephone and telegraph, was bought by Alexander Graham Bell, and the payment freed Woods to devote himself to his own research. One of his most important inventions was the "troller," a grooved metal wheel that allowed street cars (later known as "trolleys") to collect electric power from overhead wires. Woods's most important invention was the multiplex telegraph, also known as the "induction telegraph," or block system, in 1887. The device allowed men to communicate by voice over telegraph wires, ultimately helping to speed up important communications and, subsequently, preventing crucial errors such as train accidents. Woods defeated Edison's lawsuit that challenged his patent, and turned down Edison's offer to make him a partner. Thereafter, Woods was often known as "Black Edison." After receiving the patent for the multiplex telegraph, Woods reorganized his Cincinnati company as the Woods Electric Co. In 1890, he moved his own research operations to New York City, where he was joined by a brother, Lyates Woods, who also had several inventions of his own. Woods's next most important invention was the power pick-up device in 1901, which is the basis of the so-called "third rail" currently used by electric-powered transit systems. From 1902 to 1905, he received patents for an improved air-brake system. By the time of his death, on January 30, 1910, in New York City, Woods had invented 15 appliances for electric railways. received nearly 60 patents, many of which were assigned to the major manufacturers of electrical equipment that are a part of today's daily life.

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new”. ― Albert Einstein About John Thibodeaux John Thibodeaux is the Global Improvement Leader for the instrument discipline at Dow, Inc. He has a BS Electrical Engineering degree from Louisiana State University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Houston. He is a Six Sigma Black Belt and a member of the International Society of Automation (ISA). He resides in Pearland, TX with his wife, Lavaille. John joined Dow 32 years ago where he spent the first half of his career in design engineering, process automation and the bulk of that time in maintenance where he served as plant I&E reliability engineer and worked on several capital project commission & startups. The second half of John’s career found him serving as Maintenance Leader for Instrument & Electrical Technical Services in Texas as well as leading a global instrument technology team within Dow. From there, John took on regional and global leadership roles within the instrumentation function. John’s passion has always been learning something new every day, helping those around him to get better, and making a difference. What does Black History Month mean to you? Black History Month has had several meanings to me through the ages. As a young kid growing up in a small southern town, it gave me inspiration by giving me examples that showed that I can achieve just as much as the next person. Later in my life, Black History Month gave me the opportunity to pass along that same inspiration to my daughter. Now, Black History Month is a reminder that I still have much to offer and should not bend to any excuses to do anything but my very best. John Thibodeaux was nominated by Shadrach Stephens, Global Improvement and Reliability Director, Dow Inc. and Founder of Re.engineer. Shadrach's reflections: My list of career accomplishments exists because of a man named John Thibodeaux and there are so many professionals who would not hesitate for a moment to say the same. John has been an unsung hero within the manufacturing industry for decades, not just because of his revolutionary work to reduce equipment and process failures which has become a standard rework process in many facilities across the world, not just because of his ability to usher in diagnostic, analytical technologies that enable predictive maintenance, not just because of his genuine nature of caring for people from all walks of life. John is an unsung hero because through his own hands, he has done what many can only hope to accomplish - - Empower the next generation of diverse STEM professionals and leaders. John took me in as a young engineer who didn't even know what a process instrument looked like to years later, coaching me as I led a team that would generate millions of dollars of value using those very instruments. He is the only leader that I know who has produced not one but two ethnic diverse engineers that have both been the recipient of a Plant of the Year and a 40 under 40 Engineering Leader award, and because of his humility, most would never even know. If I am the Founder of Re.engineer, John is The Godfather, as my foundation in value creation, respect of diversity of thought, and collaboration comes directly from being his apprentice. John showed me what possible looked like and it's an honor for me to pay it forward.

“Try everything and keep looking until you find something that you like. Don't worry about how much money it will give you. As long as you can make a living at it. The very important thing is to have job satisfaction everyday when you go to work”. ― David Blackwell About David Blackwell Born and raised in Illinois, David Blackwell was a pioneering statistician and game theorist. In addition to the monumental work that defined his career, Blackwell also fought and broke numerous racial barriers and was the first African American to be inducted into the National Academy of Sciences. Blackwell was known for his independent invention of dynamic programming, which is used today in finance and in various areas of science, including genome analysis. Blackwell, the son of a railroad worker, taught himself to read as a boy. He initially planned to become an elementary school teacher, and at age 16 he entered the University of Illinois, where his early aptitude for mathematics blossomed. He earned bachelor’s (1938), master’s (1939), and doctorate (1941) degrees, and, after a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey, he briefly worked for the U.S. Office of Price Administration. Blackwell sent applications to numerous African American colleges, and he worked as an instructor at Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Clark College, Atlanta, before receiving an appointment in the mathematics department at Howard University, Washington, D.C., in 1944; he became head of the department in 1947. In 1954 Blackwell was invited to join the faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, where he became that institution’s first African American tenured professor. He also served as chairman (1957–61) of the statistics department there. He was additionally appointed professor of mathematics in 1973, and he retired in 1988. While working (1948–50) as a consultant at the RAND Corporation, Blackwell applied game theory to military situations by analyzing the optimum timing of theoretical armed duelists. Blackwell was known for his independent development of dynamic programming. His importance can be gauged by the theorems that bear his name, including the Blackwell renewal theorem, used in engineering, and the Rao-Blackwell theorem in statistics. His many publications included the classic Theory of Games and Statistical Decisions (1954; with M.A. Girshick) and Basic Statistics (1969). Blackwell was elected (1976) an honorary fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and won the John von Neumann Theory Prize in 1979. On October 3, 2014, President Obama awarded Dr. Blackwell with the National Medal of Science posthumously. The award was accepted by two of his children, Hugo Blackwell and Sara Blackwell Hunt. Blackwell married Annlizabeth Madison, a 1934 graduate of Spelman College, on December 27, 1944. They had eight children together. David Blackwell died of complications from a stroke on July 8, 2010, at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley, California.

“My journey in STEM and entrepreneurship, is really a journey of me learning and being comfortable with who I am and within my own skin.” ― Dr. Tracee Gilbert About Dr. Tracee Gilbert Dr. Gilbert is the owner of System Innovation, which has provided engineering services to various clients in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (OUSD) and the Department of Navy Modeling and Simulation. Additionally, System Innovation is engineering next generation technologies (i.e., blockchain, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing). Dr. Gilbert was the contractor chief architect to develop and lead the concept, strategy, and implementation of Digital Engineering across the Department of Defense, Military Services, Industry and Academia. Dr. Gilbert has a passion for helping people of color, women, and entrepreneurs succeed in STEM. She has created a STEM camp, sponsors senior capstone projects at George Mason University (GMU), holds STEM workshops, raised and given over $80,000 for scholarships and STEM activities, and provided support to over 30 small businesses that were affected by COVID. Dr. Gilbert received her B.A. (Physics, Minor Japanese) from Lincoln University and her M.S. (Systems Engineering), and Ph.D. (Industrial and Systems Engineering) from Virginia Tech. She also studied abroad with the Institute for the International Students in Tokyo, Japan while working as a staff editor for Tokyo Classifieds. She chairs the AAAS S&T Policy Fellowship Advisory Committee, is a member of the GMU Mechanical Engineering Board, a board member of Boys Town DC, and a member of Arlington County Equity and Excellence Committee. She is a wife and mother to her three beautiful children (Gabby (15), Brianna (13) and William (9) - who also work for System Innovation).