2025 Black Engineer of the Year Awards: Honoring Excellence in STEM as They Pave the Road to the 40th Anniversary

BALTIMORE - Oct. 21, 2024 - PRLog -- The Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) will celebrate its 39th annual BEYA Awards Ceremony, spotlighting the nation's top engineers, scientists, and technologists in government, industry, and academia. The 2025 event, themed "Pathway to the 40th: Engineering the Future Together," highlights the extraordinary contributions of Black professionals who continue to pave the way in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

This year, the prestigious Black Engineer of the Year honor will be awarded to Ron Johnson, Chief of Staff and Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Johnson's leadership and strategic vision have made significant impacts in academia and beyond, making him a standout in STEM education and innovation.

In addition to the Black Engineer of the Year award, the BEYA Awards Ceremony will honor a diverse group of individuals for their outstanding achievements including:

Career Achievement in Government:

• John Dargan, Ph.D., Principal Director, Office of Science and Engineering, Department of Homeland Security
• Jonathan Ransom, Ph.D., Deputy Director, Engineering Directorate, NASA Langley Research Center

Career Achievement in Industry:

• Jimmie Davis Jr., D.Eng., Project Leader, Subject Matter Expert, The MITRE Corporation
• Markeeva Morgan, Ph.D., Vice President and Program Manager, The Boeing Company

Community Service:

• Myron & Tiera Fletcher, Executive Fleet Program Chief of Staff & Executive Fleet Program Integration Office Senior Manager, The Boeing Company
• Deonte Thompson, Senior Director, CPG Program Management, Dell Technologies

Dave Barclay Affirmative Action:

• LTC Jarvis Buchanan, Executive Operations Officer, United States Army Futures Command
• David Cade, VP BDS Core Contracting Global Supply Chain and Integration, The Boeing Company
• Kellye Randle, Senior Manager, University and Outreach Programs, Raytheon Engineering

Educational Leadership:

• Ryan Lakin, Divisional Vice President, Digital Solutions, Abbott (Corporate Promotion of Education)
• Thomas A. Searles, Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of Illinois Chicago (College-level Promotion of Education)

Entrepreneur Leadership:

• Diedre Windsor, CEO and Founder, Windsor Group, LLC

Lifetime Achievement:

• George Parker, Ph.D., Boeing Technical Fellow, Boeing Designated Expert Technical Lead Engineer, The Boeing Company

The 2025 awards ceremony will also celebrate emerging leaders, recognizing the Most Promising Engineers and Scientists across government and industry sectors. Among them:

• Shatara Walker, Industrial Engineer, US Air Force
• Moses Ike, Ph.D., Principal Member of the Technical Staff, Sandia National Laboratories
• Richard Baidoo, Ph.D., Research Investigator, Corteva Agriscience

Outstanding Technical Contributions will be acknowledged through honorees like Glenn Hines, Ph.D., Chief Engineer for the Navigation Doppler Lidar Instrument, NASA Langley Research Center, and Kelly Smith, Principal Partner, Cyber & Strategic Risk, Deloitte & Touche, LLP.

BEYA's legacy is rooted in recognizing Black excellence in STEM, fostering diversity, and empowering future generations of innovators. This year's event sets the stage for an even bigger celebration as BEYA approaches its 40th milestone in 2026.

The 39th annual BEYA STEM Awards will be held during the BEYA STEM Conference in Baltimore, February 2025. This event continues to provide a national platform for discussions on the future of engineering, technological innovation, and inclusive leadership in STEM fields.

https://www.beya.org