President Jackson to open event with keynote address

Troy, N.Y. – Rensselaer students and faculty are participating in the 30th annual convention for the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) in Dallas, Texas, March 17-21. More than 10,000 collegiate students, technical professionals, middle and high school students, and representatives of top technical corporations and universities from across the country are expected to attend.

Rensselaer President Shirley Ann Jackson will open the NSBE convention with a keynote address. William Baeslack III, dean of the School of Engineering at Rensselaer, also will speak at the convention.

Twenty students from Rensselaer are attending, including Naila Stephens, a computer and systems engineering senior who is a finalist in the Undergraduate Studies in Technical Research (USTR) competition at the convention. The USTR program is designed to encourage African Americans and other underrepresented collegiate members to participate in technical research projects that will lead to the pursuit of graduate degrees in technical fields.

Stephens' project, which has made it to the USTR finals, enhances speech recognition systems tailored for selecting channels on a satellite radio within a moving vehicle. Several speech recognition systems use a "prompt and response" method, dictating the format and language commands that must be used. Stephens designed a flexible speech recognition system that can "think" for itself and react to various voice commands to control the satellite car radio. Stephens completed the project during an internship at General Motors.

"Just being able to present this project is a reward for all the time and work I've dedicated to it," said Stephens. "The competition celebrates what you have already accomplished and drives you to go even further. I've truly enjoyed participating in it thus far."

Rensselaer's NSBE chapter conducts pre-college student activities, university academic support, and career guidance programs. The annual national NSBE conference offers important networking opportunities for Rensselaer and its students, according to Ken Durgans, vice provost for institute diversity.

"For minority engineering students, the convention is an eye-opening and bonding experience," said Alainia Morgan, president of the Rensselaer NSBE chapter and academic excellence chair for the regional NSBE chapter.

About NSBE
The National Society of Black Engineers with more than 15,000 members, is the largest student-managed organization in the country. NSBE's mission is to increase the number of culturally responsible black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally, and positively impact the community. NSBE comprises more than 300 chapters on college and university campuses, 75 Alumni Extension chapters nationwide, and 75 Pre-College chapters. These chapters are geographically divided into six regions.

Contact: Mary Cimo
Phone: (518) 687-7174
E-mail: cimom@rpi.edu