"Let’s Talk STEM" with Dr. Calvin Mackie

NEW ORLEANS - Dr. Calvin Mackie, host of the Let’s Talk STEM podcast, talks with Kate Ayers, director of STEMM education and outreach at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, about the challenges advancing science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education for Black and Hispanic students in Memphis. “We take a variety of approaches to addressing issues of equity and access to STEM learning experiences,” Ayres says. “A lot of our work focuses on developing school partnerships to offer afterschool programs within the school or hosting curriculum collaboratives to really work with the educators to co-create and integrate more science into the learning day. And that's especially true at the elementary school grade levels.” Ayres leads the Cancer Education and Outreach Program at St. Jude, a community outreach program that increases diversity of the biomedical workforce by addressing inequities in K-12 STEM education. Ayers works with educators to co-create science learning modules that integrate cancer concepts into the classroom curriculum. In addition, Ayers established the St. Jude Science Ambassadors Program, which connects Memphis youth to diverse scientists to dispel misconceptions related to who scientists are and who can be a scientist. She is also a founding member and chair of the Memphis STEM in Medicine Ecosystem, a city-wide initiative aimed at addressing inequities in STEM education specific to the Memphis area. Ayres is frank in acknowledging that the education system in Memphis and many other urban areas do a disservice to children of color. Calling the inequities “an education debt,” Ayres says, “Let's be honest. There are Black and Brown children who have not been served by our education system. And that becomes generational, a generational debt has been accumulated.” She is not comfortable calling the disproportionate education levels between Blacks and Whites a gap. “It's not a gap,” she insists. “It's a debt that's owed. We have to work as communities to make sure that we are paying tribute to that debt that is owed to these communities that have not been served.”

– On the new episode of the Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie podcast, guest Louie Lopez, director of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education and Outreach office at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD STEM), outlines their cradle-to-career approach that engages nearly a million students a year in STEM learning. Noting that DoDSTEM partners with STEM NOLA, the leading affiliate in Dr. Mackie’s STEM Global Action movement, Lopez says the DoD collaborates and funds organizations nationwide to provide STEM learning opportunities and offers scholarships and internships to thousands of students each year. Further, Lopez talks about the important role that parents play in the career paths of their children and the need for them to be informed. “Parents have a lot of influence, especially in many of the cultures that we work with in underserved communities,” Lopez says. “It's really important that parents are educated with these opportunities so they can pass on that information to their (children). The last thing that we would want to see is for the parents to not be informed about these opportunities and continue a cycle of belief that (their children) don't belong in a (STEM) profession.” Moreover, Lopez says they help parents recognize that “their kids do belong.”  In fact, the mission of DoD STEM is to attract, inspire, and develop exceptional STEM talent across the education continuum to enrich the current and future DoD workforce to meet defense technological challenges.  Dr. Mackie calls it “critical” for parents, educators, and advocates for young people to know about the array of DoD programs and how children can benefit. “I have spoken often about the economic benefits of STEM careers,” he says. “There are jobs that pay well, have upward mobility and are sustainable. Unfortunately, many students from traditionally underserved backgrounds and communities have been underrepresented in STEM education and careers in STEM fields... DOD has career opportunities that our young people deserve and our young people need.”    Lopez notes that DoD sponsored programs allow students to engage in a wide range of technology projects. For instance, he says, many technologies used by the general public started with research first conducted by DoD, such as the internet and voice recognitions.  He adds that “it is important to have diversity in the workforce.” As an organization that develops technologies for our men and women in the military, those who defend our nation, he says, “we believe that innovative technologies are driven by diversity, by the diversity of the workforce, the diversity of thought, lateral diversity, academic diversity.” Dr. Mackie adds: “DoD depends on a strong workforce that is comprised of STEM professionals. These are STEM based careers where they can use their talent to solve real world problems and make a real and lasting impact on our community and in our nation.” ABOUT STEM GLOBAL ACTION  Dr. Calvin Mackie founded STEM NOLA in 2013. The New Orleans non-profit is committed to expanding STEM education, especially in communities of color.  In July 2021, Dr. Mackie launched STEM Global Action, a campaign and network pursuing STEM education for children, parents, and communities. His initiatives have impacted more than 100,000 students, 20,000 families and 5,100 schools across the U.S., and in five countries. 

LET’S TALK STEM WITH DR. CALVIN MACKIE EXTOLS THE EXTRAORDINARY SEVETRI WILSON, A BLACK WOMAN WITH A FLOURISHING TECH COMPANY AND DREAMS THAT CAME TRUE NEW ORLEANS – The new episode of Let’s Talk STEM With Dr. Calvin Mackie spotlights the amazing journey of Sevetri Wilson, a Louisiana native who pursued her dreams. Wilson turned a desire to help non-profits succeed into a tech company that raised an astounding $50 million in venture capital, including $35 million in a Series B venture funding round. One of the single highest amounts ever raised by a Black female-operated technology company. What’s more, as Wilson, 35, explains in this exhilarating conversation with Dr. Mackie, she began as a non-techie, someone without any coding experience.  On the podcast, she details the major steps that lead to her success. And the grit and determination it required. Her company, Resilia, was launched in 2016 to revolutionize how socially conscious leaders develop, sustain, and grow nonprofits, corporations, cities, and other enterprises.  It's extraordinary listening as Wilson explains the magic carpet ride from idea, to building a team, to gaining the confidence of investors. She provides a blueprint for young entrepreneurs wanting to follow a path to success.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused “tragic” damage to the education of America’s children on par with the devastating impact of World War II, declares Ron Ottinger, a national leader and expert in STEM learning.  Ottinger, Executive Director of the STEM Next Opportunity Fund, is a special guest on the new episode of the Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie podcast. Ottinger maintains that organizations on the ground, such as Boys and Girls Clubs and others that provide afterschool programs, are essential in getting kids back in those programs and engaged with learning.  He noted, however, that the pandemic and rising prices has left many parents struggling to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads.

ACCOMPLISHED STEM LEADER SHAWNA YOUNG declares that the nation must improve STEM access for Black & Brown children during her appearance on the new episode of the Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie Podcast. Young, former executive director of the Scratch Foundation, says it’s critical for Black & Brown students to have access to STEM education. In a lively conversation with Dr. Mackie, she talked about the importance of Black and Brown children having role models in STEM, the scientists, technicians, and engineers who they can look up to and hope to emulate. “Representation matters,” Young says. “People seeing themselves in leadership, in organizations and career fields makes a difference in particular for this generation.”

On the fall 2022 debut of the Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie podcast, Dr. Mackie discusses the importance of greater equity in STEM education with Frank L. Gettridge, president, and CEO of the National Public Education Support Fund (NPESF). In the wide-ranging conversation, Dr. Mackie states that there is still much to be learned and work to be done across all sectors to achieve racial equity in STEM education. Meanwhile, Dr. Gettridge says he is working on improving the understanding and sees significant progress.

On the new episode of Let’s talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie, James Burroughs, a top executive at the Children’s Minnesotahealthcare system, asserts that Black & Brown children must have role models in STEM professions to build the confidence that they can also succeed in those careers. But, too often, they don’t exist. Burroughs, a senior vice president at one of the nation’s largest freestanding pediatric health systems, cites the major STEM professions at their facilities - doctor, nurse, medical assistant, certified surgical assistant, radiologist, technician, laboratory technician. “I see nobody looks like me,” he maintains, adding that the lack of people of color can send the wrong message to young minorities, that these jobs are not for them. Young people, he says, may think “maybe this is not for me, but I see everybody in the basketball court, they look like me, okay. I need to go play basketball. All my boys are playing football. Let me go play football. And not saying either of those things are wrong. But if that's the only thing I think I can be that determines sometimes my trajectory of what I think I can be.” Further, Burroughs talks about the positive images that can be portrayed with the right scenarios and narratives. He extols Dr. Mackie, his classmate at Morehouse College, for creating STEM NOLA, the rapidly growing program that excels at giving K-12 children from under-resourced communities hands-on experience in STEM fields. “The things that you do with your STEM Saturdays, the young people in white coats, that innovation, that creative knowledge create solutions for the things in the future, the problems of the future, is what we need,” Burroughs says. “One of the things that I love (is) seeing the young kids in white coats. Once you put on that white coat, and I'm sure you've seen it, that confidence goes up. That level of ‘I could do anything goes up’ and that is what I love to see in our young people. So, when they do decide to get into medicine, you know, they've been wearing a white coat since they've been five years old. So, they get their white coat when they graduate medical school, it's where they're supposed to be. It's not a new thing to them. It's where they were supposed to be. And you have put them in a place to say, ‘okay, this is my rightful place. I need to own it.’” Listen to their engaging conversation. Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie is a podcast series featuring interviews with guests from all aspects of STEM – entrepreneurs, educators, corporate leaders and students – who discuss the importance of STEM in their lives today, and how to start STEM careers. The founder and leader of STEM Global Action seeks to expand STEM education, especially in Black & Brown communities. Since 2013, when he launched his flagship affiliate, STEM NOLA, his programs have directly impacted more than 100,000 students, 20,000 families and 2,150 schools across the U.S., and in five countries abroad.

On the new episode of the Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie podcast, Special Guest Jackie Smalls, Chief Programs Officer at Code.org, talks about the racial divide in STEM education and technology. She says the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the gap between STEM learning in White communities versus more limited opportunities in many predominantly Black & Brown schools across the country. “In terms of the gaps, we knew gaps existed, but I think the pandemic just really exposed how big those gaps were and who actually has access,” Jackie tells host Dr. Calvin Mackie. “And it's a shame. We shouldn't have to park a bus in a neighborhood to make sure that all students have access to WIFI. It baffles me how we think that this is not something that should be free and accessible to everyone.” Jackie is the Chief Programs Officer, managing Code.org’s curriculum, professional learning programs, and its nationwide network of regional partners & facilitators to expand computer science opportunities in schools. She worked in large and diverse school systems as an experienced teacher, science curriculum writer, and STEM Administrator. Jackie held various leadership roles with Discovery Education, a K-12 Digital curriculum resources provider, running national professional learning programming and education partnerships impacting tens of thousands of teachers and students. Combining her passion for education and STEM she was the head of programs at Black Girls Code with the oversight of (14) City Chapters Workshops, Enrichments, Summer Camp Programming and Strategic Partnerships impacting thousands of girls of color. In the conversation with Dr. Mackie, the topics include what it takes to overcome racial barriers to excelling in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields; why it’s critical for Black & Brown students to have access to STEM learning; and the important role that mentors play in encouraging STEM careers. Calling out technology companies, Jackie says if they want to make a difference in our society, they should be providing Wi-Fi everywhere. Jackie knows racial barriers are real. “I had a student tell me that she walked into a college computer science class, a Black girl…The professor, came to her and said, ‘Are you in the right class?’“  At code.org, “we are trying to make sure computer science is accessible for all students,” says Jackie. The nonprofit is dedicated to expanding access to computer science in schools and increasing participation by young women and students from under-resourced communities. “You’re teaching a society,” lauds Dr. Mackie, who leads STEM Global Action. “I believe you have a voice that every mother and every father need to hear because it's credible, it's transparent and it's authentic.”                                                       ### Dr. Calvin Mackie founded STEM NOLA in 2013. The New Orleans non-profit is committed to expanding STEM education, especially in communities of color. In July 2021, Dr. Mackie launched STEM Global Action, a campaign and network pursuing STEM education for children, parents and communities. His initiatives have impacted more than 100,000 students, 20,000 families and 5,000 schools across the U.S., and in five countries. An archive of Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie episodes on YouTube is HERE.

Gerald Solomon, founder and executive director of the North America Scholastic Esports Federation (NASEF), calls esports  a “job machine"  for STEM orientated youth on the new episode of the Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie podcast.  Rapidly expanding  electronic sports gaming platforms are preparing young people with the skills they need for the workforce of tomorrow.  “It's a multibillion-dollar industry and there are all facets within it,” Solomon says, adding that he frequently tells parents about the opportunities for jobs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) throughout the esports / gaming industry. “You may watch kids playing on a computer, but who built the game,” Solomon asks. “Who coded it?  Who set up the event? Who created the networking? Who's doing the coaching? Who did the data analytics and used mathematics statistics to determine how to play better? Who's doing the streaming and shoutcasting, which is the play-by-play announcement? Who created the art? Who did the logos? Who did the marketing? Who did the business development on it? Who created the IT infrastructure? That's all STEM. And that's the future.” Exactly, how big is esports? Solomon says an event at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn sold out 19,000 seats in three hours, but that's isn’t even the real story." The real statistic is more people watched kids play computers against other kids on the digital platform called Twitch than the total number of people that watched the Super Bowl, watched the NBA championships and watched the Major League Baseball Championship combined,” he says. “Imagine what it's like when you have an audience of hundreds of millions of people who just sit there and watch kids play on computers. That tells you the impact of esports gaming.” Listen to our enlightening podcast to learn more. Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie,  a podcast series that features interviews with guests from all aspects of STEM – entrepreneurs, educators, corporate leaders, students – who will talk about the importance of STEM in their lives today. They are the mentors for the next generation of STEM leaders, models of success for others to follow. ABOUT STEM GLOBAL ACTION Dr. Calvin Mackie founded STEM NOLA in 2013. The New Orleans non-profit is committed to expanding STEM education, especially in communities of color.  In July 2021, Dr. Mackie launched STEM Global Action, a campaign and network pursuing STEM education for children, parents and communities. His initiatives have impacted more than 100,000 students, 20,000 families and 5,000 schools across the U.S., and in five countries

On the new episode of the Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie podcast, the host talks about the importance of astronomy and exploring space with his special guest Michael Paolucci, founder and CEO of Slooh. The company’s gamified education platform teaches students to explore space via a network of 12 online telescopes located on mountaintops in the Canary Islands and Chile. Paolucci created The Online Telescope, the world’s only scalable solution for astronomy education. Slooh makes real-world, real-time space exploration accessible for students by providing access to online telescopes in the classroom that students can personally control and capture their own photos with. It’s a remarkable invention that brings access to space to schools and students, who don’t have the resources to obtain it otherwise.  Their conversation explains the importance of allowing children to vastly expand their imaginations, to search beyond their immediate environments and enjoy a component of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) that is too often off limits because of their socioeconomic status and geographical location. The Online Telescope is enabling students to explore new worlds as if they were part of the crew on the Star Trek Enterprise or Discovery by becoming the new Guardians of the Galaxy as they follow a game-like learning progression, earning badges and scoring Gravity Points along the way. In 2013, Dr. Calvin Mackie founded STEM NOLA, a New Orleans-based, non-profit committed to expanding STEM education at churches, community centers and schools, particularly in communities of color. His goal is to make STEM education available in ALL communities. In July 2021, Dr. Mackie launched STEM Global Action, a campaign and network of affiliates that pursues STEM education for children, parents and communities across the U.S., and abroad. His initiatives have impacted more than 100,000 students, 20,000 families and 2,150 schools across the U.S., and in five other countries.  

David and Christine Vernier, co-presidents of Vernier Science Education, one of America’s leading producers of STEM-related teaching technology from devices to instruments and software, said the nation’s schools in under-resourced communities need more role models (teachers) and resources to better engage students of color in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) learning.  Appearing on the new episode of the Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie podcast, Mr. Vernier says, “I think we all have to be part of the solution. To me it's a lack of role models.  There are not enough teachers of color in our schools. And, I think we all have to do whatever we can, like Dr. Mackie does, to reach out to teachers and help them bring underserved kids into the fold and get them interested in science.”Further, Mr. Vernier notes the disproportionate resources in wealthy school districts versus those in under-resourced communities.  “It's also true that it's so unfair on this distribution of resources,” he says.  “We talk to schools that literally are throwing away two-year-old computers to get new ones and other schools that are using Apple IIs (1977) to this day. It's a very unfair world. And, of course, that's a lot associated with poverty and race. It's a difficult situation.”Dr. Mackie, who founded STEM Global Action (SGA) and STEM NOLA to advance STEM education in under-resourced communities, says, “The inequities are absolutely real.”   He asserts that it’s “educational malpractice” when comparing resources at many schools in White neighborhoods to others in Black & Brown communities.   Dr. Mackie explains that SGA affiliates around the country bridge the gap and provide students and teachers with programs and materials to help engage students. Mrs. Vernier says, “I think the whole Black Lives Matter has made all of us realize that it sort of takes a village. We all need to do what we can do to make lives better for underrepresented students. In our newsletter, we're publishing articles, thought articles, for black history month and for, native American heritage month, that highlight scientists of color who are doing things in STEM.  And hopefully those are passed on to students.”Please listen to this engaging conversation.Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie is a podcast series that features interviews with guests from all aspects of STEM – entrepreneurs, educators, corporate leaders, students – who will talk about the importance of STEM in their lives today. They are the mentors for the next generation of STEM leaders, models of success for others to follow. 

With two special guests from the Society of Actuaries (SOA), the new episode of the Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie podcast highlights the important role that actuaries and mathematics play in American society and the dire need to increase the number of Blacks in a profession that is a mystery to many people. Joe Wurzburger, SOA Managing Director in Strategy and Innovation, and Jamala Arland, a former Chair of the SOA’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, explain how to become actuaries and their impact. Both are SOA Fellows, the highest designation earned through exams, training and other requirements. Arland acknowledges their diversity challenge: there are less than 250 Black actuaries around the world. Arland discusses SOA’s efforts to help members and candidates feel fully included and have equitable opportunities.  She also cites the rewarding experiences she enjoyed in the insurance industry. “I worked at insurance companies for the majority of my career,” she says.  “I've done a lot of really cool things. I've done things related to developing cool new, innovative insurance products. I've done things related to analysis of stock market increases. I've done analysis related to the impact of pandemics even before we were in the middle of a global pandemic.” Wurzburger adds: “There is no one size fits all actuary, right? There are so many different kinds. Actuaries are business professionals who make or influence decisions affected by risk. The cool thing within that is for people who want to use math as a foundation to make a social impact. Those decisions often safeguard things in society that people value most.” The Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie podcast series features interviews with guests from all aspects of STEM – entrepreneurs, educators, corporate leaders, students – who talk about the importance of STEM in their lives today.  

This week's guest on the Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie podcast is Jan Morrison, Founder and CEO of the Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM.  A global leader in STEM education, Jan established STEM Learning Ecosystems after it was clear to her that educational programs teaching science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) needed to be more effective.  STEM Ecosystems is a Global Community of Practice with extensive sharing of resources and expertise among leaders from education, business and industry, non-profits, philanthropy and others. The 94 communities selected from across the world compose a global partnership demonstrating that cross-sector collaborations can deliver rigorous, effective preK-16 instruction in STEM learning.  “It became evident really fast that programs were not being as effective as they could be,” Jan  tells Dr. Mackie during the podcast. “There wasn't an infrastructure to grab it, to leverage it, to support it, to love it, to make sure that the children and the families and the communities were connected and to make sure business and industry were connected…for everybody to understand what it was going to take to create STEM jobs and opportunity.”Jan has served as the Senior Consultant for College Ready STEM Education as well as Post-Secondary Success for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Battelle Memorial Institute, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Innovate to Educate, S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, Senior STEM Education Consultant for the Ohio STEM Learning Network and many other statewide STEM networks, and served as an advisor with the White House and Department of Education for the past four administrations. Currently, Jan and TIES serve as the designer and lead for the National STEM Funders Network, a collaboration of more than twenty-eight STEM funders seeking to fund STEM for the USA with greater return on their investment and therefore for the nation’s students. Jan and TIES are co-designers of the STEM Learning Ecosystem Initiative of the STEM Funders Network and run its National Community of Practice, 54 STEM Learning Ecosystems current with 100 within three years.  Jan consults with MIT Center of Bits and Atoms, The Woodrow Wilson Foundation, Chevron, Siemens America, NASA, Virginia Tech, North Carolina New Schools Project, many state governments seeking to create statewide STEM networks, STEM platform schools, programs and many more STEM institutions."It is great to have a conversation about advancing STEM education with one of the world's most renowned experts on the subject," says Dr. Mackie.  "We have all learned from Jan Morrison and benefit from her work.   It was an honor to exchange ideas with her in this podcast."   Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie is a podcast series that features interviews with guests from all aspects of STEM – entrepreneurs, educators, corporate leaders, students – who will talk about the importance of STEM in their lives today. They are the mentors for the next generation of STEM leaders, models of success for others to follow. Dr. Calvin Mackie founded STEM NOLA in 2013. The New Orleans non-profit is committed to expanding STEM education particularly in communities of color. His goal is to make STEM education available in ALL communities. In July 2021, Dr. Mackie launched STEM Global Action (SGA), a campaign and network of affiliates that pursues STEM education for children, parents and communities across the U.S., and abroad. His initiatives have impacted more than 100,000 students, 20,000 families and 5,000 school.  SGA has an informative website at www.stemglobalaction.com with a data center, newsroom and newsletter.   

Appearing on the new episode of the Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie podcast, George Mason University President Gregory Washington provides insight on the challenges faced by America’s system of higher education. He proclaims that colleges and universities must transform to educate a higher volume of students and prepare workers for careers in the new knowledge based, digital economy.  Dr. Washington believes traditional higher education institutions aren’t currently structured to meet the nation’s future needs. “We're not structured to produce large numbers of graduates,” he says on the podcast. “We're structured to be highly selective and to produce outcomes from highly selective people.  Most universities in the country admit less than 40% of the students that apply.” He adds: "The best institutions in the future will be those institutions that are best positioned to educate everyone.  And we have to educate everyone for the right opportunities. We have 12 million unfilled jobs in the country. We have 10 million people unemployed, and those 10 million unemployed don't qualify for the 12 million job openings we have.  So how in the world do we have an unemployment problem and a labor shortage problem at the same time?  I don't remember a time in our history when we've had that issue. So that tells you that there's a fundamental problem with how we're educating and training.” At George Mason more than 70% of students graduate regardless of their race or ethnicity, including 73.7% of African Americans, compared to a national average of 44.7%, says Dr. Washington, who became president in July 2020.  Hispanic, White, Asian, and Black students at George Mason all graduate at rates between 69.2% and 73.7%. “This institution has put the mechanisms in place to ensure that everyone who comes here graduates and graduates at about the same rate,” Dr. Washington says.Dr. Mackie, who has known Dr. Washington since they were students at different institutions more than 30 years ago, applauded his friend for the high graduate rates.  “George Mason is doing an amazing job,” Dr. Mackie says. “And I was blown away when you gave me those statistics because I really didn't believe they existed in a place called America.”During the podcast, Dr. Washington, who like Dr. Mackie, has undergrad, graduate and doctorate degrees in engineering, discusses his humble upbringing, reveals that his mother was concerned because he kept taking apart his toys as a child, explains how he met Dr. Mackie and praises Dr. Mackie for advancing STEM education through STEM Global Action.  

- Monica Lee Foley,  Chief of Staff for the NASA Johnson Space Center, joined the Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie podcast and shared her incredible story: an African American woman from Baton Rouge, LA who became a rocket scientist, flight controller for the international space station, overseer of its electrical power systems and manager of U.S. and Russia negotiations on behalf of the space program.  As a senior leader in the space program, she is a technical integrator for human spaceflight programs and is currently applying her expertise to meet NASA’s bold mission of landing the first woman on the moon and the first humans on Mars. She is an avid STEM and STEAM advocate. “I've been at NASA for nearly 25 years,” she says during the conversation. “I started off as a flight controller for the international space station. I was there from the very beginning of the building or the assembly of the space station.  I was responsible for the electrical power systems where I earned three certifications in that area, which was unheard of at the time. I was the first human being to do so, not the first female, not the first African American, the first human to do so.” Monica has over two decades of low-Earth orbit human risk mitigation, operational and sustaining engineering experience.  She has executed over 3,000 hours in the Mission Control Center-Houston as an International Space Station flight controller where she specialized in the Electrical Power Systems and was the first to earn three electrical power flight controller certifications.  The purpose of space exploration, Monica says, is to better understand the universe so it can influence quality of life on earth. “That's the whole purpose and vision of NASA. That's why we're going back to the moon. That's why we're going to Mars,” she says, adding that space travel may help us improve disease treatments, grow crops with limited water and soil or create clean water.    

On the new episode of the Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie podcast, the host and his guest, Dr. Carlotta Berry, an Electrical and Computer Engineering professor, provide a peek behind the curtain at the challenges faced by African American engineering professors working at predominantly white higher education institutions.   The engaging conversation between the two highly acclaimed engineering professors provides a fresh and earnest perspective of being Black in academia in the age of Black Lives Matters and Generation X, and the joys and pressures that come with it.    Further, Dr. Mackie and Dr. Berry discuss the importance of Black representation in higher academia, specifically, the ways we can use modern tools, practices and support groups to normalize the representation of Black professors, educators and scientists, and provide diverse students with the support needed to thrive. 

On the new episode of the Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie podcast, the founder of STEM Global Action (SGA) and Dr. Joyce Baynes, a lifelong educator, discuss actionable options for helping children of color overcome barriers that impede their learning of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills and becoming STEM professionals.  In an engaging conversation, they noted that parents must be more engaged in their children’s education, teachers need improved professional development, K-12 students should have STEM activities outside the classroom and parents should be guiding their children towards summer programs that can provide additional STEM learning opportunities. Dr. Mackie and Dr. Baynes acknowledged these measures are necessary because of the discrimination still rampant today that stigmatizes girls and minorities. “In the 12th grade, I took calculus as well as physics. The first day I went to my physics class I looked at the teacher, he looked at me, and he said, ‘I don’t think you belong here,’” recalled Dr. Baynes.  Similarly, Dr. Mackie described being confronted by a professor in a college thermodynamic class. “Are you in the right place?” the Black student was asked. Dr. Baynes is a nonprofit executive, retired school superintendent and mathematics educator from Teaneck, New Jersey. Thank you for joining us!

Special Guest: Dr. Brian Williams, who is a Clinical Professor and Director of the Alonzo A. Crim Center for Urban Educational Excellence at Georgia State University.   Dr. Mackie and Dr. Williams warn  that  all students aren’t being adequately taught science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills and are in danger of being left out of future jobs.  In an engaging conversation, Dr. Mackie and Dr. Williams raise concerns that while a 4th Industrial Revolution is spurring STEM jobs today and, in the future, not enough students of color are trained as the drivers and designers of the innovations. Instead, the two STEM education leaders said that too many students are on a path towards being the laborers, whose jobs may be threatened by automation and technology.        

Let’s Talk STEM with Dr. Calvin Mackie, a podcast series that features interviews with guests from all aspects of STEM – entrepreneurs, educators, corporate leaders, students – who will talk about the importance of STEM in their lives today.They are the mentors for the next generation of STEM leaders, models of success for others to follow.