DAHLGREN,
Va. -The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) honored a Navy engineer for
leadership impacting NSBE's mission in Virginia, the Naval Surface Warfare
Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) announced, May 16.
Serita
Seright was named the NSBE Region II "Professionals Member of the
Year" at its 42nd National Convention, recently held in Boston, Mass.
I'm
humbled to be recognized for personifying the NSBE mission - to increase the
number of culturally responsible black engineers who excel academically,
succeed professionally, and positively impact the community," said
Seright, among a select group of high-achieving technology executives, students
and academics honored at the ceremony for their efforts in expanding diversity
in technology.
The
award recognizes individuals who make outstanding contributions to NSBE,
especially their chapter and region, in the areas of leadership, excellence,
service, and advancement of NSBE programs and mission.
"Serita
is positively impacting the community through her participation with all levels
of FIRST Robotics," LaShara Smith, Richmond Professionals Chapter
president, wrote in her nomination of Seright for the award, adding that the
NSWCDD engineer is also the co-chair of STEM-U-LINK.
STEM-U-LINK
- hosted by the Richmond Professionals chapter of NSBE - is a free career
exploration fair for all students, especially 8th to 12th grade minority
students. The event's objective is to show the versatility and range of career
paths a student can pursue as a science, technology, engineering and
mathematics (STEM) professional in a friendly judgment-free environment.
"STEM-U-LINK
is significant because it is the first career exploration fair for minority
middle and high school students in the greater Richmond community," said
Smith. "This half-day event touched over 100 minority students. Serita's
community service, role as PCI (pre-collegiate initiative) chair, and
individual mentorship will fill the pipeline leading to an increase in black
engineer and STEM professionals."
As
pre-collegiate and the collegiate-initiative chair for the Richmond
Professionals Chapter of NSBE, Seright assists the chapter to provide and
manage programming that fulfills the NSBE mission.
"It's
an honor and privilege to be surrounded by the Richmond Professionals chapter,
a family of talented and dedicated engineers," she said.
As a
college student, Seright competed in the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Southeastern Conference robotics competition in
2012.
The
Navy civilian electrical engineer returned to the IEEE robotics competition in
April 2016 as a judge and mentor to, "encourage teams during the
competition because I know from firsthand experience that the competition is
very challenging."
The
competing teams represented colleges and universities around IEEE Region 3,
encompassing southeastern states. The
competition - influenced by supply-chain logistics - required students to
deploy robots they designed and built to pick up color-coded containers, scan
the container barcode, and then place the containers in the appropriate storage
locations in the playing field.
"Paying
it forward is important to me because we can increase the number of black
engineers by using our knowledge and resources to create the next generation of
STEM leaders," said Seright, who is responsible for promoting technical
education and careers, interacting with academia from pre-school to graduate
school, and acting as a support system for NSBE student chapters.
NSBE is
dedicated to the academic and professional success of black engineering
students and professionals. NSBE offers its members leadership training,
professional development activities, mentoring opportunities, career placement
services and more. NSBE comprises 394 active chapters - 242 collegiate, 70
professional and 82 pre-collegiate - located in six geographic regions. NSBE is
governed by an executive board of college students and engineering
professionals and is operated by a professional staff at its World
Headquarters, located in Alexandria, Va.