Roneagle in Spotlight: Dr Calvin Mackie

Governor John Bel Edwards announced his selection of three leading Louisiana advocates of STEM preparation to represent Louisiana at the inaugural State-Federal Science Technology Engineering and Math Summit to be hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in Washington, D.C.  The Louisiana attendees for the June 25-26 summit will be Dr. Calvin Mackie, founder of STEM NOLA, AT&T Louisiana President Sonia Perez and Susana Schowen, director of workforce initiatives for Louisiana Economic Development’s LED FastStart program.

The State-Federal STEM Education Summit will convene a diverse group of state STEM leaders, including officials from governors’ offices, educators, workforce and industry representatives, state policy experts and non-governmental organization executives. They will participate in the development of a new federal five-year STEM education strategic plan in compliance with the America COMPETES Act of 2010.

“I am extremely excited to have been chosen by Governor John Bel Edwards to represent the State of Louisiana at the White House for the inaugural State-Federal STEM Summit along with two other leading advocates, Sonia Perez and Susana Schowen” said Dr. Calvin Mackie. “I would like to thank Governor Edwards for supporting the effort to expose our children to the careers of the future and providing the motivation for their dreams.”

Alongside the White House in planning and carrying out this summit are the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the Smithsonian Institution. STEM leaders from all 50 states, as well as U.S. territories and tribes, will attend the summit to illuminate and advance state-federal STEM alignment.

Dr. Calvin Mackie is an award winning mentor, inventor, author, former engineering professor, internationally renowned speaker and successful entrepreneur. Dr. Mackie is the founder of STEM NOLA, a non-profit organization founded to expose, inspire and engage communities about the opportunities in STEM. In 5 years, STEM NOLA has engaged over 18,000 low-resourced K-12 students in hands-on project based STEM activities in New Orleans communities.

Mackie graduated from Morehouse College earning a BS in Mathematics in 1990 and was simultaneously awarded a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech, where he subsequently earned his Master’s and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 1996. He served on the engineering faculty at Tulane University for 12 years. Mackie has won numerous awards including the 2003 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring in a White House ceremony and curre