By Catherine Pugh,
Special to the AFRO
For three days I observed the glorious precision of the Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) Conference that occurred in Baltimore Feb. 15 – Feb. 17. People from across the globe filled downtown hotels, many not checking out until the last few waning hours of the weekend. It was “Black excellence at its peak.”
BEYA (Becoming Everything You Are) left Baltimore 12 years ago. This year denotes its 38th year of existence, as it returned with the theme “People Process, Technology.” BEYA is a multicultural event and has been contracted to be in Baltimore through 2027, which will represent its 40th year.
Tyrone Taborn, president of Career Communications, is at the center of this effort. He created BEYA and then went on to pursue and convince top engineering and technology companies and all branches of the Armed Forces that his brand of diversity hiring and inclusion at their organizations would be to their advantage. More importantly, his company has provided a singular platform to meet talented individuals for internships and employment with the BEYA STEM conference.
Taborn declared he would improve opportunities for Black STEM professionals and salute members of the military, along with the pioneers of the leading Black STEM companies and organizations.
Taborn would be the first to admit that this conference planning and staging was hard work that could not have happened without the teams he assembled, including his wife Jean Hamilton and son Ty Taborn, who serve as officers in the company. A host of supporters and corporations also helped underwrite the cost of putting on such a first-class event. He thanked them all in the three publications distributed during the conference and featured them on the Career Communications website. They are also highlighted in STEM City USA, the metaverse his company created. Artificial Intelligence (AI) was showcased throughout the conference and a topic of many of the leaders who addressed conference attendees.
Attendance at BEYA exceeded all expectations. Early estimates put the numbers at more than 12,000 people crowding hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues. The economic impact on Baltimore City is yet to be determined.
Thousands of young people seeking to expand their careers in STEM fields flocked to the Baltimore Convention Center, where over 100 exhibitors staked out their locations for interviews.
Young people arrived by the busloads, from colleges within driving distance, while others came by airplanes, trains and public buses.
If for any reason you have lost hope for the future of our young people you need only to have attended BEYA. You would have observed, as I did, youth as young as 16, dressed uniformly in suits– young men and women looking professional and projecting the image of tomorrow’s leaders; your faith in them and our country would have been restored.
Among the many stories shared was a conversation I had with Peter Brooks, vice president of General Dynamics Talent Acquisition, IT. He told me he hired a young man he’d interviewed at BEYA. During the interview, the young man revealed he had taken a two-day bus ride to Baltimore to attend the BEYA conference. “I hired him,” he said, “because I knew anyone who would travel for two days on a Greyhound bus for an opportunity, would be a great employee.”
Brooks’ colleague Kori Montague, a graduate of Morgan State University School of Engineering, is now senior program manager of strategic programs for his organization. She spent a great deal of her time at the conference recruiting and building new relationships. While at the conference, she told Dr. Von Nebbitt, who is heading a new research institute at Morgan State University in the School of Social Work, that she looks “forward to building a relationship…to help Morgan in its research area.”
The opening reception for the conference was left with standing room only, offering a prelude to the packed events that would follow each night.
The Stars and Stripes Dinner, in its 19th year, saluted a number of leaders in the armed forces. Gov. West Moore addressed his fellow members of the military with gratitude and U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.-07) was also in attendance. The renowned Morgan State University Choir performed as Morgan president, David Wilson,Ed.D. looked on with pride.
The formal culminating event, the Engineer of the Year Awards celebrated visionary achievements in engineering excellence for a number of industry STEM leaders. The top award, Engineer of the Year, was given to Ken Washington, a pioneer and innovator in STEM. Washington serves as vice president and chief of technology and innovation officer of Medtronic.
The event ended with a vocal salute from Washington’s wife, Angela Tribling. The couple met when she was emcee of the event years ago at BEYA. In his acceptance speech, Washington committed to “merging science and technology with the medical field.”
If you missed it this year, mark your calendars as a reminder– you won’t want to miss the BEYA STEM conference in 2025- same place- Feb. 13-15.
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