Diane Lane, Ph.D. Named Visionary of the Year
Eight Others Recognized for Regional STEM Education Impact
February 28, 2013 – Diane Lane, Ed.D., Cecil College’s vice president of student services and institutional effectiveness, has been named the 2013 Visionary of the Year by NMTC, the Northeastern Maryland Technology Council. Lane and eight others were recognized for their impact on STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering and Math – education in Cecil and Harford counties at NMTC’s annual awards ceremony and membership meeting Feb. 28 at the Richlin Ballroom in Edgewood.
Lane has worked in higher education for more than 30 years. She transformed a region by responding to the workforce needs spurred by BRAC and by developing strong transfer agreements with four-year partners. She is actively involved in launching programs for elementary and middle school students to build awareness of the value of education, especially STEM Education. As chair for the NMTC’s STEM Summit’s Student Pipeline Committee, she led the effort to annually offer STEM and Beyond nights at five middle schools which, to date, more than 1,000 students and 1,500 family members have participated.
Eight other recipients received awards and recognition for their work in STEM education.
Joe Wienand, technical director, Edgewood Chemical Biological Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground, received NMTC’s Leader of the Year award. Wienand was honored for significantly advancing STEM education through helping develop, supporting and overseeing a structured, multi-faceted education outreach program.
NMTC awarded an Innovator Award to, a program manager for the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center. Doak personally negotiated formal partnership agreements with the public school systems for both Cecil and Harford counties. Ms. Doak’s inspirational guidance is helping create the next generation of innovators and a STEM talent pool.
NMTC presented another Innovator Award to Marty Healy of W.L. Gore in Cecil County. Healy’s innovation came from not one program but from more than a decade of innovation where he provided leadership for the Cecil County Business and Education Partnership Advisory Council (BEPAC). He matches Gore scientists and engineers with STEM teachers seeking classroom activities and real world applications. He has mentored students and supported Project Lead the Way.
Nina Lamba, Ph.D., president of CCL Biomedical, Inc., received NMTC’s third Innovator Award for 2013. As a member of the NMTC Board of Directors, she proposed and led development of its Science Café program. Science Cafés present scientific topics in an informal setting. The idea is to help the public learn how science and technology impact everyday lives, create a forum where fundamental questions can be asked confidently and to encourage parents to support STEM-related careers for their children.
NMTC awarded a Mentor Award to Dave Brown, Ph.D. Brown has mentored senior students for the past five years at the Science and Math Academy at Aberdeen High School as they conduct and complete research projects. For years he has volunteered with the Boy Scout program and coaches a FIRST Robotics Competition team. Brown is a consulting engineer for the MITRE Corporation and for the Institute for Defense Analyses. He also teaches graduate courses for Johns Hopkins University. He is retired from the Senior Executive Service where he served as executive director for Test for the Army Future Combat Systems program and director for Test and Technology for the Army Test and Evaluation Command.
A second Mentor Award was presented to Sandra Young, Ph.D. Young is the Army Research Lab-Aberdeen Proving Ground STEM Outreach Program Director. When she came to APG for a post-doctoral research fellowship in 2000, she took an interest in the various youth mentoring programs within ARL and across post and noticed most operated not knowing that similar programs existed. By coordinating networking opportunities, programs became more cohesive and focused. Under her direction, ARL provides STEM outreach across the nation, reaching more than 10,000 students each year.
NMTC presented a third Mentor Award to Ted Welsh, corporate proposal director for SURVICE Engineering. Welsh helped craft the first STEM Night held at Youth’s Benefit Elementary School in Harford County. He also proposed, nurtured and now supports the First Lego League and First Robotics Club programs at Youth’s Benefit Elementary School in Harford County. The school fielded six teams its first year, and five the next, with one team advancing to state competition.
NMTC recognized Kimberly Williams as its Rising Star of the Year. Williams is the only teacher in Cecil County qualified to teach Project Lead the Way, the biomedical sciences program at Perryville High School in Cecil County. An estimated 250 students have taken its coursework, filling nearly 500 seats in the four courses making up the program, and every single one of them was taught by Williams. She now teaches the program to other teachers each summer.
NMTC’s annual Visionary Awards are in their second year, and are designed to celebrate individuals making a difference in technology advancement and STEM Education. About 200 people attended, with keynote speaker Aris Melissaratos, senior advisor for technology enterprise development to the President of Johns Hopkins University, former Secretary of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development and coauthor of the book, Innovation: The Key to Prosperity, stressing the need for STEM education to stay competitive in our increasingly global economy.
The NMTC connects the world’s most successful technology companies, growing technology enterprises, and government and academic leaders to accelerate economic growth and expand the STEM Educated Workforce in Maryland. Created in 1990 and organized in 1991, the NMTC is Maryland’s fast growing technology council with more than 180 members.
The NMTC operates from offices in the HEAT Center, 1201 Technology Drive, Aberdeen, MD 21001, www.nmtc.org.
