More than 100 undergraduate, graduate, and pre-college students attended an awards banquet celebrating student achievement in engineering and math. The UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and its Center for Excellence in Engineering and Diversity (CEED) hosted the 20th Annual Scholarship and Recognition Banquet November 14 at the UCLA Bradley International Center.

"For the past twenty years, CEED, with support from industry, has been awarding promising young students in our community with scholarships that help them pursue studies in math and engineering," said Vijay Dhir, dean of UCLA's School of Engineering. "CEED has become an invaluable program for encouraging excellence in learning, scholarship and discovery."

CEED programs create opportunities for urban, educationally disadvantaged and underrepresented students to achieve success in engineering math, science and engineering. CEED programs range from career days to summer workshops to mentoring programs to teacher training sessions, impacting students from kindergarten to the university level.

Student scholars received over $200,000 in scholarship contributions at the banquet. ChevronTexaco, Hewlett Packard, Lockheed Martin, QualComm, Raytheon, Sandia Laboratories, Southland Industries, Verizon and Xerox - all members of CEED's Industry Advisory Board - contributed to this year's undergraduate and graduate scholarships. The CEED Directors Fund and the National Science Foundation also provided scholarship support.

The evening's master of ceremonies was Toni Guinyard, a news reporter known for her work on KCET's Life & Times, an award-winning television series that focuses on important issues for California, including education.

Roberta Moore, vice-president of core network operations at SBC Communications, was the keynote speaker. Moore, a 33-year veteran of SBC who is currently responsible for managing the Network Operation Centers in Sacramento, emphasized the importance of corporate support in helping underrepresented students become interested in and gain access to the high technology fields.

"With their commitment, these corporations are hoping to close the gap that separates minorities from reaching the high tech economy," said Roberta Moore.

Pre-college students and their parents had an opportunity to meet undergraduate and graduate engineering scholars, while CEED scholars at UCLA were able to discuss their career goals with industry representatives.

UCLA faculty members who joined Dean Dhir included Stephen Jacobsen, associate dean; Jack Judy, professor of electrical engineering; Adrienne Lavine, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering; and Vasilios Manousiouthakis, professor and chair of chemical engineering.

In addition to the Industry Advisory Board scholarships, several other awards were presented at the banquet.

MESA Incentive Awards
Five Los Angeles-area middle and high school students received Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) Incentive Awards. MESA is a statewide outreach program administered by the University of California, which received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring in 2000. The program provides academic support services to more than 24,400 students throughout California.

The MESA Incentive Awards were created to encourage students involved in the MESA program to excel in their academic endeavors. Award recipients were chosen based on academic performance, an essay, and teacher recommendations. Middle School recipients received $200 and High School students received $400. This year's award winners included Sara Estrada, Hamilton High School; Christopher Onwuka, Orville Wright Middle School; Luis Sanchez, Mark Twain Middle School; Lorena Ventura, Morningside High School; and Michelle Yashar, Palisades Charter High School.

Corporate Donor Recognition Award
Cindy Campos, Lockheed Martin Corporate Campus Relations Manager for the West Region, was recognized for her contributions to CEED's Industry Advisory Board, and selected as its new Chair for 2003-2004.

Cindy Campos has over 21 years experience in the area of human resources with a combined 15 years at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and Lockheed Martin Corporate. In her current position as a campus relations manager, she is responsible for the success of approximately 15 campuses. From 1990 to 1993, Campos was the associate director for the Minority Engineering Program at California State University, Northridge, where she provided academic, career and employment counseling to over 450 engineering and computer science students. She has also worked at Walt Disney Imagineering from 1993 to 1997, where she held positions in human resources and college relations.

"Participation in CEED as both a student and employer offers great opportunities," said Campos. "For students, the services to enrich and enhance one's academic and overall college experience are invaluable."

For more information about UCLA's CEED program, visit http://www.ceed.ucla.edu.

-Joyce Garry

12/10/03