SHPE - Fall 2008 - (Page 22)

BROWSER 2008 Education Summit Set for September The Competitive Crisis Council has partnered with the University of Southern California to host the Education Crisis Summit: Securing Our Competitiveness in a Global Market on September 19-20, 2008. It will highlight issues surrounding the state and national educational crisis and advocate for solutions such as an efficient educational pipeline in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Larry Lim, director of precollege programs, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, has been instrumental in preparing this year’s plan for USC officials and securing their support. The forum kicks off at the USC Davidson Conference Center with a panel of high-level state and regional policy makers discussing the state of California’s education. The afternoon will include a private screening of the documentary “2 Million Minutes,” immediately followed by another panel discussion. The second day will be hosted by the California Science Center and will feature interactive breakout sessions and professional development workshops for STEM teachers. It will also feature outreach programs for more than 350 middle school students and their parents. The day will conclude with a technology fair. Since the first summit last September, the CCC made significant progress in several areas. In the area of policy, the message delivered by the Congressional Hearing panel marked the first significant advocacy milestone in which the importance of science, technology, engineering and math education was directly conveyed to Washington policy makers. This accomplishment was highlighted at the STEM Teacher Training meeting and the Baker Forum, both held during the spring at California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo. The CCC leadership is planning trips to Sacramento with the California Council on Science and Technology and other business leaders to advocate for policy that implements STEM programs in California. In February, Manual Arts High School teacher John Santos enlisted the aid of the CCC when the Los Angeles Unified School District decided to discontinue one of the school’s most critical programs. It came at a time when students were preparing for the greatest number of competitions such as the Science Bowl, JETS team Engineering Exam, the MESA Math Competition, the Solar Boat Race, the U.S. FIRST Robotics Competition and the PIASC Academic Technical Decathlon. The CCC activated its network and sent a stream of protest letters to LAUSD, which resulted in the program being reinstated within several days. In the area of teacher training, the CCC has formed a partnership with the Copernicus Project, based at the University of California, Riverside. Through this partnership, the CCC has served as a liaison between the University of California and the California State University systems to integrate their approaches for statewide teacher development. The Copernicus Project has also agreed to host teacher training sessions on inquirybased learning at the upcoming summit. With regard to STEM funding, through the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA), Congress recently allocated significant funding for Hispanic Serving Institutions engaged in the STEM disciplines. Over the summer, the CCC and Cal Poly submitted a proposal for funding based on Cal Poly Pomona’s support for the CCC Summit and commitment to addressing the STEM crisis. “STEM education is critical to U.S. national security and economic prosperity,” said Mitchell Suarez, CCC chairman. “Science and technology will continue to be a vital part of the 21st century economy, creating jobs in established fields as well as those of the future. The Competitiveness Crisis Council has become a leading advocate for STEM programs providing forums for leaders to raise the awareness in the STEM crisis. We call on other leaders across the nation to join these efforts and join us in September at USC for the California Education Crisis Summit.” For more information visit www.competecalifornia.com. ■ SHPE ❘ Fall 2008 NOTAR In May, lifetime member Jeet Bindra, president of Chevron Global Manufacturing, was named a 2008 recipient of the University of Washington College of Engineering’s prestigious Diamond Award. His alma mater selected him for the award because of his outstanding knowledge and significant contributions to the field of engineering as well as his academic and personal accomplishments. The award also recognizes Bindra’s strong leadership and commitment to excellence throughout his distinguished career at Chevron. Lifetime member John A. Aldrete was recently promoted to Operations and Plant manager with the International Dioxcide Inc., a DuPont company located in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Aldrete has operations responsibility for the global Chlorine Dioxide business (IDI) toward completing the full integration and transition of the business from a wholly owned subsidiary into DuPont’s Chemical Solutions Enterprise. Hector E. Cavazos has been promoted to coordinator of the MidContinent/Alaska Business Unit Diversity of Chevron. In this position, he is responsible for support in developing, implementing and managing diversity initiatives and programs and the recruiting efforts within the MidContinent/Alaska Business Unit. SHPE-Phoenix president Gustavo Barajas is now a lead industrial engineer with ALLSOURCE.ORG, a leading non-profit and supplier of fresh skin for burn and wound care applications. He is responsible for leading and supporting process efficiency projects and improvement initiatives as well as coordinating the review and approval of validations and process improvements to ensure FDA and AATB compliance. SHPE-Phoenix board member Brenda Harris recently joined the Salt River Project (SRP), an Arizona utility company, as a rotation engineer. For the next two to three years, she will gain experience within SRP’s 25 departments. Her first assignment is with the Electric Reliability Compliance Department. ELI alumnus Mario Montoya has accepted a promotion as a lead project engineer with the Advanced Development Group of Albany Engineered Composites. He was also admitted into the 2009 class of Systems Design & Management, a graduate program at MIT that incorporates a systems approach to leadership and innovation. Dr. Concepción Jimenez-Gonzales, Region VII vice president, was recently named director of Environment, Health and Safety New Product Support at GlaxoSmithKline. She is responsible for the development, implementation and direction programs to integrate EHS into the development of new pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and biological (vaccines) products. She also is responsible for developing and deploying company-wide strategy and programs on sustainable manufacturing, green chemistry and technologies and life cycle assessment. Jose Gonzalez, a senior designer at General Motors, worked closely with engineers in designing the new Malibu, which was named “Car of the Year” at the North American International Auto Show. CNN Money named it one of the top 10 cars to look for in 2008. Editor’s note: Have you been promoted or have significant career news to share? If so, you can appear in SHPE magazine’s Notar section. For more information contact Leilani Rangel at SHPE_Leilani@comcast.net. 22 http://ALLSOURCE.ORG http://www.competecalifornia.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of SHPE - Fall 2008

SHPE - Fall 2008 Contents President's Letter From the Vice President Calendar of Events National Board of Directors The Great '08: Chapter Leaders Learn to Spread 'SHPE Fever' Browser National Retreat Provides a Redefinition An Engineer and a Politician Capitalizing on Engineering Talent Grupos de Afinidad A Focused Approach to Getting the Job You Really Want SHPE Conference 2008 IPC Update Programs & Services Keeping Warm with 'Yuper' Familia Spirit Promise of Spring Recruit, Engage and Retain Regional Student Representatives Regional Roundup Advertisers Index

SHPE - Fall 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.