Rice helps honor Hispanic high achievers

Rice helps honor Hispanic high achievers
Academic host welcomes 20th annual conference, awards ceremony in October

BY MIKE WILLIAMS
Rice News staff

Half a century after President John F. Kennedy lifted our thoughts to the stars in his famous speech at Rice University, the institution will co-host a conference with the theme ”Houston … We Have a Solution” to honor Hispanic high achievers in science and engineering.

Rice will serve as academic host of the 20th annual Hispanic Engineering National Achievement Awards Conference (HENAAC), which takes place Oct. 9-12 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston.

More than 3,500 high school and college students, graduate students, academics and professionals will take part in the event that, in a sense, comes home this year, as Rice was the academic host for the first 10 of its 20 years.

Ellen Ochoa, deputy director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, will be honored as Hispanic Engineer of the Year at the conference. She and other award winners were selected this summer by a panel led by Sallie Keller-McNulty, dean of the George R. Brown School of Engineering at Rice.

Rice President David Leebron points out in his letter to conference attendees that the university is ”a national model for producing Hispanic Ph.D.s in the mathematical sciences and engineering.”

HENAAC, established in 1989, documents and honors the contributions of outstanding Hispanic Americans in science, engineering, technology and math. It also seeks to educate, motivate and enable students to achieve their career goals, as well as develop and leverage Hispanics to play leadership roles.

The event is co-hosted by the University of Houston-Downtown and Lockheed-Martin. Professionals and students may register at www.henaac.org/conference/2008/registration/. Students may register through Sept. 26.

For information about exhibitors and a schedule of seminars and awards ceremonies, go to http://www.henaac.org.