Pursuing diversity, equity, and inclusion is hard work. It seems like no effort is ever good enough. In this last episode of Engineering the Future: Diversity Dialogues, we’ll share what success stories look like. 

At the end of every previous episode, our host Wanda Sigur asked each guest for two stories. She asked them to share a time when the diversity of a team they were working with resulted in an enhanced solution, something better than they’d have otherwise. And she asked them for an example of when a diverse team helped the members of that team understand and appreciate the people they were working with. Our distinguished guests came through with wonderful, inspiring stories from their lives and the lives of those before them. 

Featured Guests: 

Dr. Wanda Austin,  co-founder of MakingSpace, Inc., and the author of Making Space: Strategic Leadership for a Complex World. 

Dr. Ivuoma Onyeador, assistant professor in the Management and Organizations Department at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University

Dr. Gilda Barabino, the president of the Olin College of Engineering

Dr. Nicole Smith, chief economist at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce

Dr. Percy Pierre, professor of computer and electrical engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park

Megan Smith, CEO and Founder of Shift 7, third Chief Technology Officer of the United States

Dr. Ken Washington, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at Medtronic

Dr. Latonia Harris, senior director at the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson and Johnson

Dr. Angela Byars-Winston, professor of internal medicine at the University of Wisconsin, Madison

For more information about the National Academy of Engineering, please see our website. 

Meritocracy is the best way to get the best people, right? Surely, the best people will always win out! Sadly, our history and our present shows that’s not true. Because becoming the best isn’t a matter of raw talent and hard work. It’s about opportunities and talent development and even luck. 

In this episode, host Wanda Sigur will speak with Dr. Nicole Smith, chief economist at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, and Dr. Raphael Bras, Kay Harrison Brown Chair and Regents Professor of civil and environmental engineering and earth and atmospheric sciences at Georgia Tech. They’ll talk about how to get more raw talent into programs, to build the capability and confidence of new engineers. And they’ll talk about why the outcomes of the US and the world economy depend on future engineering talent. 

For more information about the National Academy of Engineering, please see our website. 

Guest Bios

Nicole Smith is a Research Professor and Chief Economist at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce where she leads CEW’s econometric and methodological work. Dr. Smith has developed a framework for restructuring long-term occupational and educational projections. This framework forms the underlying methodology for a report that projects education demand for occupations in the US economy through 2030. She was the recipient of the Sir Arthur Lewis Memorial Prize for outstanding research at the Master’s level at the U.W.I. and is co-recipient of the 2007 Arrow Prize for Junior Economists for educational mobility research. She received her PhD in Economics from American University in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining CEW, Dr. Smith was a faculty member in Economics at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, and the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus. She is a co-author of “The Inheritance of Educational Inequality: International Comparisons and Fifty-Year Trends,” published in 2007 by the B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy.

Rafael L. Bras is a professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He holds the K. Harrison Brown Family Chair. Previously, he was the provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Distinguished Professor and Dean of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering of the University of California, Irvine. Prior to joining UCI he was a professor in the departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at MIT. He is past Chair of the MIT Faculty, former head of the Civil and Environmental Engineering department and Director of the Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory at MIT.  Dr. Bras was a director of the American Geophysical Union.  Dr. Bras has received many honors and awards, including: honorary degrees from the University of Perugia, Italy and Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in Puerto Rico; Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Award Hall of Fame member; NASA Public Service Medal; John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship; the Athalie Richardson Irvine Clarke Prize; Simon W. Freese Environmental Engineering Award; and National Hispanic Scientist of the Year Award, Museum of Science and Industry, Tampa, Florida. He is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, the Academy of Arts and Sciences of Puerto Rico, and is a corresponding member of the Mexican National Academy of Engineering and the Mexican National Academy of Sciences. He has been elected Distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The data are clear: Diverse teams make better decisions 66 percent of the time, and if you include diversity of age and geography, diverse teams make better decisions 87 percent of the time. And yet, diversity in engineering itself is lacking. How do we make engineering more inclusive?

In this episode, host Wanda Sigur will speak with Megan Smith, the CEO and founder of Shift 7 and the third chief technology officer of the United States, and with Dr. Gilda Barabino, the president of the Olin College of Engineering, about how we can widen our networks and include everyone on a team. They will speak about the work required at all levels of engineering to make sure that everyone is included. 

For more information about the National Academy of Engineering, please see our website. 

Guest Bios

Megan Smith is an award-winning entrepreneur, engineer, and tech evangelist. CEO and founder of shift7, a company working collaboratively on systemic social, environmental and economic problems -- finding opportunities to scout and scale promising solutions and solution makers and engage proven tech-forward, open, shareable practices to drive direct impact, together. Smith served as the third U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Assistant to the President from 2014-2017 -- working on issues from AI, data science and open source, to inclusive economic growth, entrepreneurship, structural inequalities, government tech innovation capacity, STEM/STEAM engagement, workforce development, and criminal justice reform. Smith spent over eleven years as vice president at Google leading new business development including acquisitions of Google Earth, Maps, Picasa, she led Google.org, co-created WomenTechmakers, and SolveforX. Earlier she was PlanetOut CEO, at General Magic where she worked on early smart phones, and Apple Japan. Board member of MIT, Vital Voices, LA Olympics 2028, Think of Us; Co-founder of the Malala Fund and UN Solutions Summit; Algorithmic Justice League advisor and member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the National Academy of Engineering.

Dr. Gilda A. Barabino is the second president of Olin College of Engineering. She served as Dean of the Grove School of Engineering at the City College of New York and held appointments in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering as well as at the City University of New York School of Medicine. Dr. Barabino has also held academic and administrative appointments at Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University and Northeastern University. At Georgia Tech, she served as the inaugural vice provost for academic diversity, and at Northeastern, she served as vice provost for undergraduate education. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the Biomedical Engineering Society. She is Board Chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest interdisciplinary scientific society. 

 Good engineers know that nothing gets done without a team. The best teams are those with diverse points of view, working toward the same goal. But not every group of people is a team. What makes a team truly inclusive and successful? 

In this episode, host Wanda Sigur will speak with Dr. Latonia Harris, senior director at the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson and Johnson, and Dr. Susan Fiske, head of the intergroup relations, social cognition and social neuroscience lab at Princeton University. They’ll talk about how to make a team truly work together, to synergize, and to make sure that the team’s results don’t perpetuate racial and gender bias. 

For more information about the National Academy of Engineering, please see our website.

Every successful engineer has had at least one mentor that has guided them in their careers. Most have had several mentors they credit with their success. How do we foster those mentoring relationships to promote inclusion? 

In this episode, host Wanda Sigur will speak with Dr. Angela Byars-Winston, professor of internal medicine at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Dr. Percy Pierre, a professor of computer and electrical engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park, about their mentoring experiences, and how to encourage mentors and mentees alike in engineering. Good mentorship opens up opportunities for the mentee, and increases achievement, retention and career commitment. If it’s built into academic and professional systems, it can do a lot to increase equity in engineering. 

For more information about the National Academy of Engineering, please see our website. 

Guest Bios

Dr. Angela Byars-Winston is a tenured faculty member in the Division of General Internal Medicine within the Department of Medicine. She is also the inaugural Chair of the University of Wisconsin Institute for Diversity Science, associate director in the Collaborative Center for Health Equity, and faculty lead in the Center for the Improvement of Mentored Experiences in Research. In 2011, Dr. Byars-Winston was selected as a Champion of Change by the White House through President Obama's Winning the Future initiative for her research efforts to diversify science fields. In 2022, she was the recipient of the Innovation in Mentorship Research award from the Association of Clinical and Translational Research. Dr. Byars-Winston chaired the National Academies of Sciences’ 2019 consensus study report, The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM. She is an elected Fellow in the American Psychological Association and is currently an appointed member of the NIH National Advisory General Medical Sciences Council.

Dr. Percy Pierre is an Adjunct Professor in the Clark School and Glenn L. Martin Endowed Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Pierre has over 50 years of experience in academic administration and the administration of military research and development. His service in academic administration includes Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies at Michigan State University, President of Prairie View A&M University near Houston Texas, and Dean of Engineering at Howard University in Washington DC. He also served on the Board of Trustees of the University of Notre Dame and the Board of Trustees of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. His service in military R&D administration includes service as Acting Secretary of the Army in 1981, as Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research, Development, and Acquisition, and as a researcher at the RAND Corporation. Pierre is recognized as the first African American to earn a doctorate in electrical engineering. Pierre was elected to National Academy of Engineering membership in 2009.

So often when we hear about DEI initiatives, we hear about the ones that fail. This episode, it’s time to focus on what works. 

In this episode, host Wanda Sigur will speak with Dr. Wanda Austin, the CEO of Makingspace, Inc, and Dr. Ivuoma Onyeador, assistant professor in the Management and Organizations Department at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, about the research around workplace diversity and what works, from increased advocacy to having authentic conversation about race, gender and more. 

For more information about the National Academy of Engineering, please see our website. 

Guest Bios

Dr. Ivuoma Onyeador is an Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern Univeristy. Her research examines how people judge and respond to group-based discrimination and disparities. She has been named a "Rising Star" by the Association for Psychological Science, selected for the SAGE Early Career Trajectory award by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology and for a Mission Award from the Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science. In 2022, she was named one of the best 40 under 40 MBA professors by Poets & Quants. Professor Onyeador earned her B.S. in Psychology, with distinction, from Yale University, her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from UCLA, and was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Wanda M. Austin is co-founder of MakingSpace, Inc., a systems engineering and leadership development consultant and motivational speaker. She is the author of Making Space: Strategic Leadership for a Complex World, which explores the leadership principles she learned during her decades-long journey as an engineer, space industry executive, daughter, wife and mother. She is the former president and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation, an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to the application of science and technology toward critical issues affecting the nation’s space program. Austin served on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology until January 2017. She is a member of the Defense Science Board and the NASA Advisory Council, an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), a counselor of the National Academy of Engineering, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  She is a trustee for the University of Southern California and on the Board of Directors for the Chevron Corporation and Amgen.

Achieving equity in engineering means having a team that includes everyone. Where do you find that team? It’s not longer time to think about an engineering pipeline. We need to think of pathways instead. 

In this episode, host Wanda Sigur will speak with Lieutenant General Tom Bostick, a strategic advisor at Gingo Bioworks and the 53rd Chief of Engineering of the United State Army and Commanding General for the US Army Corps of Engineers, and Dr. Earl Lewis, professor of history at the University of Michigan. They will speak about the history of people of color in engineering, the pathways of those people into STEM professions, and how we can join those pathways to create a more inclusive future. 

For more information about the National Academy of Engineering, please see our website. 

Guest Bios

Earl Lewis is the Thomas C. Holt Distinguished University Professor of history, Afroamerican and African Studies, and Public Policy and director of the Center for Social Solutions at the University of Michigan. From March 2013-2018, he served as President of The Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation. A noted author and esteemed social historian, he is past President of the Organization of American Historians. A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2008) and the American Academy of Political & Social Sciences (2022), he is the recipient of

twelve honorary degrees, and the National Humanities Medal (2023). Lewis has held faculty and administrative appointments at Michigan (1989-2004) and the University of California, Berkeley (1984-89). From 2004-2012, he served as Emory University’s Provost and Executive

Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of History and African American Studies. 

Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Thomas P. Bostick serves as a Strategic Advisor at Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA). Previously, he was the Chief Operating Officer and President, Intrexon Bioengineering (NASDAQ: XON). He was the 53rd Chief of Engineers and Commanding General of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Bostick helped lead the nation’s response to Superstorm Sandy. He was the Army’s Director of Personnel, and previously, the Commanding General of U.S. Army Recruiting Command. He deployed with the 1st Cavalry Division during Operation Iraqi Freedom. During 9/11, he was the senior watch officer in the Pentagon’s National Military Command Center on the Joint Staff where he controlled the keys to the nation’s nuclear codes. He was an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at West Point. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, Bostick is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, holds Master of Science Degrees in both Civil and Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University, an MBA from Oxford University, and a PhD in Systems Engineering from George Washington University where he is a member of the School of Engineering and Applied Science Hall of Fame.

Dr. Percy Pierre is an Adjunct Professor in the Clark School and Glenn L. Martin Endowed Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Pierre has over 50 years of experience in academic administration and the administration of military research and development. His service in academic administration includes Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies at Michigan State University, President of Prairie View A&M University near Houston Texas, and Dean of Engineering at Howard University in Washington DC. He also served on the Board of Trustees of the University of Notre Dame and the Board of Trustees of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts. His service in military R&D administration includes service as Acting Secretary of the Army in 1981, as Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research, Development, and Acquisition, and as a researcher at the RAND Corporation. Pierre is recognized as the first African American to earn a doctorate in electrical engineering. Pierre was elected to National Academy of Engineering membership in 2009.

Engineering has changed our lives in so many ways. Those changes were driven by people–by human knowledge and creativity. And that creativity gets a boost when diverse perspectives, skills and backgrounds are included in the conversation. 

This is Engineering the Future: Diversity Dialogues, a podcast from the National Academy of Engineering. Our host, Wanda Sigur, spent her career at Lockheed Martin, tackling the difficult challenges of human spaceflight. Now, she brings her skills to an even greater challenge–bringing down barriers to equity and inclusion in engineering. In our first episode, Wanda speaks with Dr. Nancy Cooke, professor of Human Systems Engineering at Arizona State University, and Dr. Ken Washington, senior vice president and chief technology and innovation officer at Medtronic, about how teams with many different perspectives can produce the best solutions. 

For more information about the National Academy of Engineering, please visit our website. 

Guest Bios

Nancy J. Cooke is a professor in Human Systems Engineering at the Polytechnic School, one of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University (ASU).  She also directs the ASU Global Security Initiative’s Center for Human, AI, and Robot Teaming.  Dr. Cooke received her PhD in Cognitive Psychology from New Mexico State University.  She is a past president of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and the past chair of the Board on Human Systems Integration at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. She also served as a panel chair and co-editor of the National Academies consensus study on “Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science.”

Ken Washington serves as senior vice president and chief technology and innovation officer at Medtronic. Prior to joining Medtronic, Dr. Washington was vice president and general manager of Consumer Robotics at Amazon. Prior to that, he was chief technology officer at Ford Motor Company, overseeing development of the company’s technology strategy including next-generation vehicle architectures, controls and automated systems. He also spent seven years at Lockheed Martin in various leadership roles including chief technology officer, chief privacy officer and vice president, Advanced Technology Center, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. He earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in Nuclear Engineering from Texas A&M University and is a fellow of the MIT Seminar XXI program on International Relations.

Technology moves fast, powered by the unparalleled creativity of engineers, leaders and their teams. Together, we envision the future and bring it into being. Meeting our next innovation challenges will require the ideas and engagement of everyone. How can we shape that future? 

Join our host, celebrated engineer Wanda Sigur, for the first season of Engineering the Future. 

This podcast, from the National Academy of Engineering, brings together the brightest minds in academia, government and industry. Sigur spent her career tackling the hard problems in spaceflight. Now, she and her guests take on the tough challenges that face the future of engineering. This season, they’ll find out what works to build a team that generates better ideas, and how to break down the barriers to equity in engineering and tech.