Honorary Chairman
The Honorary Chairman of this year's
conference was the Honorable
Al Green,
US House of Representatives,
9th Congressional District (TX).
Congressman Green was born in New Orleans,
Louisiana where his
parents taught him the importance of education
and instilled in him the drive and determination
to succeed. Congressman Green graduated
from Florida A&M
University in 1971 and went on to attend
Tuskegee Institute of Technology. In 1974,
Congressman Green earned his law degree from
the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas
Southern University, where he later served
as an instructor.
Trip Report
Kaiem Frink
ECSU Research Student
On September 29, 2005 through October
2, 2005 three students from ECSU attended
the 2005 National Technical Association
77th Annual National Conference & Technical
Career Opportunity Fair which was held in
Houston Texas. This year’s theme was
Energy within Powering Earth & Beyond.
Kaiem Frink in addition to Karitsa Williams
participated in the Oral Presentation as
well as Frink participated in the Poster
Presentation Session. Kaiem Frink research
was from his Freshmen Academic year research
while a member of Multimedia Team in the
Office of Naval Research. Bryce Carmichael
was also in attendance at this conference.
On Friday, September 30, 2005, there was
a workshop titled Technical Writing and the
instructor was Judy Glick-Smith, of The GlickSmith
Group, Inc. Ms. Smith during her presentation
mentioned that she was a past president of
the Society for Technical Communication (STC).
This is the world’s largest professional
association for technical communicators till
this day. Another workshop was Time Management
Strategies & Solutions by Scott Holyoak,
Baker Communications This conference
brought together the sciences, researchers,
academics, Technical Achievers, the government
communities as well as engineers to discuss
advancements and opportunities for continued
research in the Technical area of research
which can and are related to the various
sciences. Scientists and research faculty,
particularly from Minority Serving Institutions,
discussed future research and possibilities
during certain research. There were various
intuitions of Higher Education in attendance
at NTA Conference 2005. The University and
or college that were in attendance were,
Clark Atlanta University, Morgan State University,
Texas Southern University, Florida A&M
University, Elizabeth City State University,
NASA/Glenn Research Center), Tennessee State
University, Howard University, Virginia Commonwealth
University, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering,
Florida A&M University, FAMU-FSU College
of Engineering, , Cuyahoga Community College,
Prairie View A&M University. Students
were able to explore their interests in related
NTA areas. As well as the students were able
to interact with scientists, academicians
and professional’s engineers, Astronauts,
Provost/Vice President of Academic Affairs,
Directors, Strategic Planning, Security Directorate,
US House of Representatives.
There
were research projects that consisted of
Developing Software for Safety-Critical
Systems from Cynthia Calhoun of NASA
Glenn Research Center, Discussion of
Using a Reconfigurable Processor to
Implement the Discrete Fourier Transform
from Michael J. White, of NASA Goddard
Space Flight Center/Howard University.
Object Tracking and Data Production for
Situational Awareness and Synthetic
Battlefield Applications from Hamzat
Kassim of Morgan State University.
The presentations at the NTA conference
allowed me to distinguish what type
of competition is out in the real world.
I say this for the reason that I pick
up on do’s and
don’t of a conference. There were students
there incorporating religious beliefs within
there presentations as well as others who “thanked
the NTA conference for getting them out of
two tests. This demonstrates the level of
excellence we are held up to here at ECSU
in the various programs with Dr. Hayden.
The
Guest speakers were, Dr. Johnnie B. Cannon
Director, Strategic Planning, Security
Directorate Oak Ridge National Laboratory,
Robert L. Curbeam Jr. Astronaut, NASA
Johnson Space Center Commander. Curbeam
said during the luncheon “to not be good in many fields
but pick one field and become an expert in
that field so that this way you will allow
yourself to be indispensable. Commander Curbeam
elaborated on his expedition in space with
video footage and what’s it like to
use the restroom in space, Dr. Bobby L. Wilson
Provost/VP Academic Affairs, Texas Southern
University. Then the Honorable Al Green US
House of Representatives, 9th congressional
District (TX), Mr. Green was an inspirational
speaker in my opinion. Mr. Green touched
on key aspects of being a male minority in
today’s society. Mr. Green stated that “if
you think it’s hard now just imagine
how it was when I was coming up”. Listening
to these words of wisdom just lets me know
that there is light at the end of the tunnel,
and that if you surround yourself with the
right people then the world is yours for
the taking.
