Plugging the Leaks in the STEM Pipeline

Last week I spoke at the SXSWEdu Conference for the second straight year.  I am so honored to have shared the podium with Sonia Gaillard, Dr. Raphael Travis and Zakiya Larry.  This year our topic was Plugging the Leaks in the STEM Pipeline.  Last year we focused on Diversifying the STEM Pipeline and the idea this year was to continue that conversation and offer solutions to how we can plug some of the leaks that we identified last year in terms of minorities being under represented in STEM.  I must say I had a wonderful time.  The conference is such a great networking opportunity and there is so much to learn.

I arrived on Monday afternoon and met my friend Dr. MateenDiop of San Antonio.   Dr. Diop was not on the panel but he made his presence felt as an educator who had much to say during the Q&A period at some of the most interesting sessions.  After completing the registration process, we spent most of the day connecting with the other members of my panel and conducting our final preparations before our session on Tuesday morning.  I am always amused by how many professional, educated African Americans who are involved in education are not aware of this conference.  Mateen and I are already discussing panel ideas for next year.  We both agreed the conference needs more educators and more people of color.  After lunch, and a quick perusal of the schedule we decided to attend a panel on Saving America’s Black Boys. 

I also re-connected with a couple of my friends.  Right after registration I connected with Qiana of Edlio.  She and I met last year at the National Black Information Technology Leadership Organization NBITLO Conference in Miami, Florida.  We have stayed connected via Twitter.  I was also able to connect with Lani Fraizer.  Lani and I were in the same doctoral cadre at Pepperdine University.  She was working with InBloom.  It was great seeing both of them.  The opportunities to learn about new technologies and connect with folks who are working in the spaces where I am playing were abundant.  As a matter of fact, InBloom hosted a code-a-thon.  I entered a team but we heard about it late and did not have time to adequately prepare.  However, I must give credit to my colleague Kevin Williams who showed up and gave it the college try.  The InBloom product may be very helpful to school districts but I need to study it further before I can make a recommendation.  We also spent a few moments listening to the remarks during the opening session.  I spent most the evening continuing to prepare for my Tuesday morning session.

 On Tuesday morning things started off slow as it was time for our panel to meet in the green room and we were missing two of our panelists.  But true to form, both of them showed up right before show time and ready to roll.  We had a great discussion and many of our attendees got right to the point regarding the challenges they face as teachers working to encourage young people of color to pursue STEM.  The diversity of our panel served us well.  After the session, I met Ainissa Ramirez.  She came up to the panel to introduce herself.  I have downloaded her book Save Our Science and I can’t wait to read it.  I am looking forward to working with her as she and I are both working in the same space.  I think we did an excellent job and we received good feedback..  The highlight of the day was attending a session by Saul Paul.  The session was entitled Schools Not Prisons, Education Not Incarceration.  It was a brilliant session and we attended a freestyle concert later that evening on 6^th. Street.  The concert was amazing and we learned of the #HipHopEd Twitter chat that I will be helping to promote.

I was not able to attend SXSW Interactive.  Although I was scheduled to speak I had to withdraw as the session conflicted with my daugther’s birthday.  Next year I intend to speak at both conferences and I have already arranged with my wife that we will celebrate my daughter’s birthday in Austin.  Lani and I have vowed to stay connected during the year so we are better positioned to make an impact next year.  Dr. Travis has vowed to do the same.  I have already reached out to Anissa and Mateen and I will present on a panel next year together.  For me SXSWEdu was a huge success and I can't wait until next year.

Graduating with Technology

Provided by: http://www.learnstuff.com/

Are We There Yet?

This week I interviewed Jason Young of MindBlown Labs on my BlogTalkRadio program, The Kai Dupé Show.  You can listen to the interview here.  Mr Young is the founder of The Hidden Genius Project.  The Hidden Genius Project provides black male youths with the knowledge, skills, mentors and experiences to obtain and create technology jobs.

Also, as I mentioned in the previous post, last month I participated in the Congressional Black Caucus' (CBC) Annual Legislative Conference.  I was invited to speak on the topic of Beyond the Digital Divide.   While I was at the conference last month I spoke with Dr. Irving McPhail, CEO of The National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME).  

Dr. McPhail also spoke on several panels.  I had the opportunity to attend one of his panels.  During one of his talks he mentioned all of the great things that NACME has done for the past 30 years to increase the number of minorities pursuing careers in STEM.  There is an intense focus in America today to increase the number of underrepresented groups that are participating in the STEM fields.  

The programs range from the NewME Accelerator, focused on increasing the number of technology startups founded by people of color, to Black Girls Code, an initiative dedicated to increasing the number of women of color in the digital space by empowering girls of color ages 7 to 17 to become innovators in STEM fields, leaders in their communities, and builders of their own futures through exposure to computer science and technology. [from BlackGirlsCode.com]

What struck me as I sat and listened to Dr. McPhail give his thoughts on the subject was that that these efforts started back in the 1970's.  Granted there are more efforts at the grass-roots level today such as the examples give above,  but this focus is not new.  What hit me like a thunderbolt that day was that for the most part the needle has not moved.  For all of these efforts African Americans are basically just as under represented in the technology fields today as they were in the 1970's.

Am I wrong?

The 42nd Annual Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference

Last month I was invited by Mr. Arthur Sidney, on behalf on Congressman Hank Johnson of Georgia, to participate in a panel discussion that took place at The Congressional Black Caucus’ Annual Legislative Conference in Washington DC.  The panel entitled Beyond the Digital Divide:  Capitalizing on the Technology Economy was focused on solutions and I was honored to be a part of a group that included Hank Shocklee of the legendary hip-hop group Public Enemy.  This was simply one of the best experiences of my life.  I can’t believe that this year was the first I have ever heard of this event but I have already decided that going forward I will be in attendance every year whether I am invited to speak or not.  The room was packed and we had a very spirited discussion on the issues confronting our people as it relates to becoming participants in the digital society.  I am certain that moving forward this conference will focus much more on the issue of the digital divide as technology and science continues to increase in importance in our society and the global economy.  For years I have felt that digital divide is the civil rights issue of my generation and I am so very grateful to have had the opportunity to share my thoughts with those who are involved in crafting the policies that will move our nation forward.

It's Conference Time

I am eagerly anticipating traveling to Baltimore this year for the 2012 National Black Data Processing Associates (BPDA) Technology Conference.  The conference is taking place on August 1st through August 4th at the beautiful Hilton Baltimore.  I have not attended since 2008 and coincidentally this was the same year I learned of and became a member of BDPA.

My recent Take Five Feature on the BDPA Education and Technology (BETF) Blog highlights my road to discovering BDPA.  I had a great time at that conference and I am certain this year's conference will not disappoint.  There are always fantastic speakers and so much to learn and so many people to meet.  


Attending this conference was the first time in my 25-year career as an information technology professional that I did not feel alone at a technology conference.  I had a great time communing with all of the attendees.  I was also a presenter.  


I presented on the then new virtual world of Second Life.  Not only was there much knowledge and information to be shared but there was also plenty of networking opportunities not to mention the incredible parties.  Every strata of technology professional were in attendance from project managers to software architects.  Perhaps my favorite part of the conference was seeing our young people not only engaged but mastering the the emerging technologies of the day.

Oh did I mention there was also a booming career fair as well as awards banquet, I.T. Showcase and the High School Computer Competition and much, much more.  I was not able to attend all of the events and I still had a fantastic time.  If you are in Baltimore and you are an African American technology professional you simply can't miss this event.  If you live in another part of the country, do yourself a favor, make the trip.  You won't regret it.  The conference is ONLY 15 days away.  


If you want to learn more, please take a moment to visit the BDPA portal here.

What Did You Create?

I must admit this ad bugs me. I thought about writing this post back in February when it originally aired during the Super Bowl. At a time when the country is struggling to attract young people to STEM fields, particularly women, Latinos and African Americans, it is disturbing that this ad featured none of the above. The premise of the ad is to highlight folks who have created or invented technology that has changed the way we live. But it fails to depict one person of color or a woman for that matter. How can this be? Where is IBM’s Mark Dean? Where is Roy Clay of Hewlett Packard?

I decided not to write the post in February. But, today as I was working out I saw the commercial again and again it irritated me. To be fair this is not meant to pick on Best Buy most tech ads share this same point of view. I do not recall seeing a brown or black hand swiping across an iPhone screen since that product has debuted. And yes I am aware of the new Apple ad that features Samuel L. Jackson (the actor), but he is in the usual role as a consumer.

The problem is that African Americans, Latinos and Women are severely underrepresented in technology. We know this. We also know there is an effort underway now to attract underrepresented minorities to technology fields. It has been documented that one of the reasons they are underrepresented is due to a lack of role models in their communities.

One way to do that would be to show these groups folks that look like them participating in the production, invention and creation of these world-changing products. Of course these business can do whatever they wish in their ads and feature whomever they desire. This is not to say that all commercials exhibit this trend, but certainly most of them do. Either minorities are omitted from the conversation as is the case in the Best Buy ad or we are in our usual rapping and singing mode. Do you remember the dancing grandma in the Verizon commercial for their Rezound Smartphone?

Are there not any African Americans, Women or Latino’s who have contributed to this space? If so, would it not do wonders for young women, young African Americans, and young Latino’s to see them featured prominently as creators of cool technology the way they see ball players and rappers?

When An Opportunity May Not Be An Opportunity

Recently I visited the nation's capitol to attend a symposium on the lack of Minority Males in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). The symposium was awesome. After the event, on our way to dinner I became involved in a conversation with a old friend regarding the need for such a symposium. My friend wanted my thoughts on why I thought this was a problem. He wanted to know if I thought this was an issue with the system or if it was an issue with Black people. His question was more focused on Blacks since we are both Black. I want to be clear that I am not diminishing the underrepresentation of other groups that were a part of the discussion of the symposium.


While I am less concerned with who is at fault and more concerned with providing a solution I do understand that it is critical to fully understand a problem before trying to provide solutions. The issue of the lack of Blacks and other "minorities" in STEM is a complex social issue. But let us be clear. It is not NEW. And Black folks are NOT at fault. It is very puzzling to me particularly when it comes to Black folks, that we tend to blame the victim. Why is that? Do we think Blacks do not want to take part in the economic boon that is happening in the country. Are we averse to the way the world is being led by 21st century technology? I was in the middle of trying to familiarize him with the historical factors that have contributed to this gap when he abruptly interrupted and ask the following question:


Do you think the problem is with the system or do you think the problem is with Black people?

The tone of his voice suggested he had already decided who was to blame. He went on to state. “The opportunity is out here and we are not taking advantage of it.” The fact that we are not taking advantage of opportunities that are abundant is not a point that I would argue. But when we get into the reasons as to why we are not taking advantage of these opportunities, ah there is the rub.

Let us ask that question. If there is an opportunity made available to me but I have been conditioned to BELIEVE it is not for me thus I do not pursue the opportunity am I to blame for my behavior? The same argument can be made for girls and math. In fact in can probably be made for all of the under represented groups as it relates to STEM.

Girls are conditioned to believe that “math is not for girls”. This happened in the past and it happens now. This social conditioning is a huge part of the problem and if we are not going to address the conditioning it does not matter how much money is allocated to purchase hardware or wire schools. There needs to be a change in mindset. A change in beliefs. The social conditioning must be removed and replaced with a more empowering mindset.