PSE Junior, Alexia Lipscomb wins CNR Equity and Inclusion Seminar

This first ever, college wide symposium was modeled after the diversity symposium that the PRTM Department has championed the last three years under the leadership of Dr. Kim Bush and Instructor Janell Moretz.

The keynote speaker was Mickey Fearn, Professor of the Practice, Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, NCSU.  Undergraduate students across the college were encouraged to participate by presenting posters addressing issues related to diversity in their major.

Alexia Lipscomb, who is a junior in the Paper Science and Engineering program  won the poster/presentation contest with her research on Women in Engineering.  Alexia was awarded prizes totally $1,000.  During her research, Alexia found out that as of 2012, only 14% of engineers are females, and that having more women in the field of engineering would increase the population of engineers involved in design, innovation, and technology.  Likewise, a more diverse engineering workplace provides a better match of products and services to equally diverse customer bases.  When asked what surprised her about her research, Alexia commented about an article she found where a very experience professional named Kim tried unsuccessfully to switch jobs for four months without even an offer to interview.  It wasn’t until he put “Mr.” in front of his name on his resume that he started receiving offers.

Alexia is from Cary, NC and likes the small, close knit family environment of PSE more than anything.  She has interned with First Quality Tissue in Anderson, SC and will intern with Sonoco in Holyoke, MA in the summer of 2014.  Alexia’s prizes included two $500 gift cards to the NC State book store.  These gift cards were presented by the College of Natural Resources Community for Diversity and International Paper.

Thank you to all who had a hand in sponsoring, planning, promoting and facilitating this event.  It was an eye opening experience.