In this episode, we talk with Elizabeth and Chris from Society for Information Management (SIM) Charlotte chapter, a professional society of over 5,000 IT leaders.  They share with us their passion and enthusiasm for promoting STEM through SIM’s three avenues of outreach: K-12 STEM/STEAM education programs, educational scholarships, and adult training. The future business community needs an ample supply of talent and SIM is helping individuals acquire the skills they’ll need to succeed. There are lots of different STEM job opportunities besides software developers and coders. All jobs fro ..read more

Do you know BOSCH, a global Fortune 500 company, has invested in the FIRST Robotics Program for the past 20 years.  We know a company like BOSCH wouldn’t invest in something without a good return.  So, what is the secret that makes BOSCH continue investing in FIRST Robotics Program and growing more teams in BOSCH communities? To understand this, I got an opportunity to talk with Susan Tippy to figure out what the secret is.  Susan is an engineering manager for BOSCH, also happens to be a female engineer, and has been a long term FIRST volunteer.  She also manages the FIRST ..read more

The National Society of Black Engineers, NSBE, is a professional society that aims to have 10,000 black Engineers graduate from college by 2025. By engaging the youth as early as 3rd grade in STEM, NSBE helps students and professionals develop the skills needed for a successful professional career. We learn more about NSBE from Tony Stanford and Quincy Smith, the president and vice president of the NSBE’s Charlotte chapter.  They touch on the most significant benefit from NSBE is the networking, which played a large role in their career success.  You will find the details about thei ..read more

Do you know IT jobs are growing fast in North Carolina?  Todd wants to let everyone know, especially if you are young, that getting training in IT would be a great way to get a job placement.  From Todd and Diadre’s viewpoint, the IT career has the advantage that the need exists in every industry plus its flexibility for remote work.  It is the best career as they suggested. In this episode, we touched on the skillset as well as the benefits of a diverse background.  Not surprising that they believe communication is one of the most important skills, instead of coding for an ..read more

Professional societies have played important roles in various industries.  They have been  a critical force that set up best practices, standards, or certifications.  In today’s ever changing environment, the professional societies remain critical but may need to adopt different approaches with different focuses.  We witness some of them grow while some of them disappear.  One thing for sure, the need for everyone to identify the best way to advance one’s career remains important as ever. In this episode, we are going to highlight SIM, the Society of Information Manage ..read more

How early should we introduce STEM to students?  At least as early as middle school is Keith’s conclusion and that is our discussion in the episode.  Keith Burgess is a science teacher and a Kenan Fellow with strong passions in STEM.  He also believes that education is a part of solutions to improve students’ economic mobility. During this episode Keith started from explaining the issues regarding diversity in the STEM field.  He pointed out that without role models to help students to see themselves in those good STEM roles, students may not realize they are capable of bec ..read more

I have Rob Seymour, a small business owner, as our guest in this episode.  Rob is the founder and CEO of Seymour Advanced Technologies, a business focus on custom automation.  Rob has a successful career as an engineering leader before starting his own company. In our conversation, we talk about the role of human vs robots.  I love his viewpoint on we should focus on our role, no need to worry about robots taking over our jobs.  Even more interesting is his viewpoint on degree and education.  It is interesting to hear him talk about the talents that he is looking for ..read more

Ever wonder how someone becomes the president of a museum?  The truth is not everyone understands what he/ her wants to be when they were young.  Stephen Sauier took us through his journey from an Anthropology & Biology major to his current role as president working on reopening the Carolinas Aviation Museum.  During this episode, we also got a chance to discuss the vision of our new museum right here in Charlotte.  Stephen also uses his unique journey to point out how to prepare for the future of works.  He encourages the younger generation to try exploring becaus ..read more

Charlotte is growing fast in certain sectors of business that drive up demand in several jobs.  One of the faster growing jobs is software engineer.  Jocelyn Keung is a senior software engineer, but she doesn’t have a computer science degree.   Jocelyn points out that software is a career with very diverse applications.  She believes one of the most important skills to success in this field is problem solving, not coding like many people think.  In addition, Jocelyn is in Charlotte Inno’s “Inno Under 25”, a collection of bright young tech leaders.  She founded the ..read more

Jocelyn Keung is a young software engineer.  Frustrated about the lack of diverse learning opportunities about women in tech, she decided to create one on her own.  That became the birth of the Fleurix Conference in Charlotte.  That also made her on Charlotte Inno’s “Inno Under 25” list, a collection of bright young tech leaders. You can also watch this episode by subscribe YouTube Channel: Joint STEM Initiative Fleurix Conference - https://www.fleurixconf.com/ Inno under 25 - https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/inno/stories/inno-insights/2020/09/24/charlotte-inno-under-25.ht ..read more