Hispanic Heritage Month Virtual Panel Discussion: Engaging Latinos in STEMM

Monday, September 21, 2020, Noon to 1:30 pm
Campus: 
Dayton
Audience: 
Future Students
Current Students
Faculty
Staff
Alumni
The public

We invite you to attend the Virtual STEMM Panel where you’ll be able to hear inspiring stories from Latino/Hispanic students and leaders in government, industry, and academia throughout the Ohio Miami Valley.  Learn about the amazing career opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Medicine, and be encouraged by the incredible internship and scholarship opportunities for STEMM students.

Attendees can participate by phone, tablet, or computer.  Panelists will offer a brief introduction and then engage with questions, answers, and discussion about entering the STEMM professions, developing a rewarding career, and most importantly, bringing up the next generation. 

Panelist Biographies:

Aurea Rivera, Riverside Research – Ms. Rivera is Senior Technical Project Manager at Riverside Research.  In 2013, following a highly distinguished career with the US Air Force where she retired a Senior Leader, she launched Imagineering Results Analysis Corporation that applies engineering, science, and information technologies to a variety of applications.  She is a staunch proponent of STEMM and can always be found coaching and mentoring young engineering students.  Ms. Rivera also holds multiple certifications in project management and is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Ohio.

Miguel Maldonado, US Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) – Mr. Maldonado currently serves as special Liaison for the US Air Force Research Lab to Headquarters, Air Combat Command.  He previously served as the Chief of the Fuels and Energy Branch of the Propulsion Directorate at the Air Force Research Lab.  Miguel also led the Air Force Research Lab’s Diversity Council, served as Region 6 Vice President of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), and co-founded the Southwest Ohio Professional chapter of SHPE.

Dr. Silvia Newell, Associate Professor, Wright State University – Dr, Newell has a Ph.D. in Geosciences from Princeton University and did a postdoc at Boston University. She has worked on the biogeochemical cycling of nitrogen in aquatic environments from the Gulf of Mexico and the Arabian Sea to Lakes Erie and Taihu. Currently, her work at Wright State focuses on nitrogen as a driver of harmful algal blooms in eutrophic Lake Erie, Lake Okeechobee, Lake Taihu (China), and Estonian lakes, as well as local research on the Great Miami River and Ohio wetlands. She is the President of the Lake Erie Area Research network and the co-Chair of the Great Lakes HABs Collaborative.

Dr. Samuel Rivera, Research Engineer, Matrix Research, Beavercreek – Dr. Rivera specializes in problems of machine learning and pattern recognition. After graduating as an Electrical Engineer from The Ohio State University in 2012, he spent two years as a postdoctoral researcher studying cognitive development and the mechanisms underlying concept and language learning. He now does applied research within the industry that leverages his machine learning and data science expertise.  

Dr. Megan Rúa, Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences, Wright State University –  Dr. Rúa earned a Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Rice University and a Ph.D. degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She completed NSF funded postdocs at the University of Mississippi and the National Institute of Mathematical and Biological Sciences in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her research seeks to understand the ecological and evolutionary processes that structure plant microbial relationships. Research from her lab currently focuses on capturing microbial function to restore degraded soils in both natural and applied settings. She is a 2019-2020 awardee of the Wright State University Presidential Early Career Award.

Dr. Michael A. Saville, Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering, Wright State University – Dr. Saville teaches courses in electromagnetics, radar, and senior design. His current research interests include machine learning and radar imaging. He previously served 27 years in the US Air Force; first as an enlisted electronics technician, and later as a commissioned officer in engineering jobs for radar and electronic warfare systems analysis, engineering management, and culminating as Deputy Head, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, US Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio. Dr. Saville is also a Senior Member of IEEE, a registered Professional Engineer, a Life Member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), and advisor to the student chapters Tau Beta Pi and SHPE.  

LANA will celebrate this month-long celebration virtually this Fall with a series of virtual events running Sept. 15 through Oct. 15th.

https://wright.webex.com/meet/mia.honaker

For information, contact
Mia Honaker
Associate Director
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