This Spring twenty-three members of Rose-

Hulman’s National Society of Black Engineers

(NSBE) chapter attended the NSBE National Con-

vention in St. Louis, Missouri. The convention

provided opportunities for these members to attend

professional workshops, a two-day career fair with

about 250 companies, a Graduate School fair, and

to take practice GMAT and GRE tests. Several

awards were given out to recognize accomplished

members, chapters, and regions. Members of the

Rose-Hulman Chapter were pleasantly surprised

when Rose-Hulman was announced as both the

NSBE Region IV and National Small Chapter of

the Year.

The winners of these prestigious awards

are chosen through submitted Institute for Chapter

Development (ICD) reports which document efforts

each chapter has made towards growth and expan-

sion. For the Rose-Hulman chapter, these efforts

were seen through various programs. The chapter

increased its visibility on campus through events like

Soul Food Sunday and the annual NSBE Talent

Show. The chapter also increased its significance in

the Terre Haute community by tutoring at Chauncey

Rose Middle School, which helped cultivate interests

in math and science among middle school youth.

Members of the Rose-Hulman chapter also participate

in several campus-wide events like Bikes for Tykes

and the recent Arbor Day tree-planting. Others host

multiethnic high school seniors who have been ac-

cepted to Rose-Hulman during the extremely success-

ful Senior Weekend, which won recognition as Rose-

Hulman’s Best Student Event in 2011.

This year’s goals were only achieved

through outstanding leadership, efficient communica-

tion, and increased member involvement. The chapter

hopes to build upon its achievements through new

and improved programs concerning retention, aca-

demics and cultural awareness. This will help the

chapter continue to fulfill the powerful NSBE Mis-

sion Statement, which is “To increase the number of

culturally responsible Black engineers who excel

academically, succeed professionally and positively

impact the community.”

Grace Johnson-Bann, Chapter Secretary

I N S I D E

T H I S

I S S U E :

Battle of the

Engineers

2

NSBE Talent

Show

2

Senior

Weekend

3

Soul Food

Sunday

3

Region IV

Executive

Board

4

Boeing Flight

Competition

5

Outgoing

President

Remarks

6

R O S E - H U L M A N

I N S T I T U T E O F

T E C H N O L O G Y

C H A P T E R

NSBE Small Chapter of the Year

NSBE News M A Y 8 , 2 0 1 1 V O L U M E 4 , I S S U E 1

The Rose-Hulman Chapter at the NSBE National

Convention Golden Torch Awards

The Rose-Hulman Chapter shows off the National

Small Chapter of the Year Award

Rose-Hulman chapter earns

Regional and National

recognition

P A G E 2

Rose-Hulman’s BOE team

From Left: Kim Secrist, Mor-

gan Crawford, Andria Smith ,

and Mansur Blackman. Not

pictured: Jasmine Brown

NSBE Talent Show 2010

Battle of the Engineers at FRC The 2010 Fall Regional Confer-

ence (FRC) took place in Indianapolis, IN

and consisted of workshops, competi-

tions, and a career fair for Region IV PCI, collegiate, and alumni members to attend.

One of the competitions at FRC was the

Battle of the Engineers (BOE) competi-

tion. The Rose-Hulman team excelled in

the competition. The participants in the

competition were captain Kim Secrist—

Junior Chemistry/Engineering Physics

major, Mansur Blackman—Junior Elec-

trical Engineering major, Morgan Craw-

ford—Junior Chemical Engineering ma-

jor, Andria Smith—Senior Civil Engi-neering major, and alternate Jasmine

Browne—Senior Mechanical Engineering

major.

BOE was a temporary replace-

ment competition for the annual Academ-

ic Technical Bowl (ATB). The purpose

of ATB was to prepare students for the

Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam,

and was put on hold so that it could be

revamped for next year. BOE was de-

signed to prepare students for the FE

while also allowing them to demonstrate practical problem-solving applications for

technical problems.

The competition consisted of three

rounds. It began with a quiz round where all

participating teams took turns answering FE-

style questions. The teams accumulated points that would carry over to the next

round, with the highest scoring teams ad-

vancing. The second round was a written

exercise to solve a set of engineering prob-

lems. Each team submitted one test, and that

test’s score was added to the first round’s

score to determine who would go on to the

final round. The third round was a jeopardy-

style competition covering topics from math-

ematics, statistics, statics, dynamics, chemis-

try, electrical engineering, material science, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, heat

transfer, black inventors, and NBSE history.

Rose made it through to the final

round, and came out in third place. Many

qualified teams participated in BOE, and the

Rose team had enjoyed participating in the

competition and getting to know the other

teams. The chapter plans to send at least one

team to the newly improved ATB competi-

tion next year—and will hopefully get first

place!

Morgan Crawford, Chapter Vice-President

processes. Currently, the program is offered

in Washington D.C., Oakland, CA and Co-

lumbus, OH with the hopes of starting a pro-

gram for the Chicago area this upcoming summer. The program relies on donations

from corporations as well as private donors

in order to offer the program to the students

for free. NSBE’s mission is “to increase the

number of culturally responsible Black Engi-

neers, who excel academically, succeed pro-

fessionally, and positively impact the com-

munity”. This summer program helps fulfill

our mission by encouraging students to pur-

sue fields in engineering, math, science, and

technology fields.

Kim Murray, Former Finance Chair

This year our chapter decided to

host a Talent Show, “Talent for a Cause”,

for the NSBE SEEK program. We raised

approximately $500 at the event. There were a great group of performers, from

singers and dancers, to pianists and a bag-

piper. Additionally, we had an art exhibit

for attendees to view and vote for their

favorite piece. Judges for the show, that

provided great comic relief, were Mr.

Dexter Jordan, Dr. Debra Walter, Dr.

Yosi Shibberu, and Dr. Nadine Shilling-

ford. Information about the SEEK pro-

gram follows below.

SEEK is a month long program that exposes children in grades 3-8 to

engineering and the engineering design

Artwork was displayed and

voted on a the annual NSBE

talent show. Pictured above:

a work by Candice Cornetet

N S B E N E W S

NSBE Senior Weekend

V O L U M E 4 , I S S U E 1

Senior Weekend is an event

where high school seniors, who have been

accepted to Rose-Hulman, are given the op-

portunity to get to know the culture of the school through

an overnight visit. Members

NSBE believe they made the

right decision in choosing to

attend Rose-Hulman and

would like others to have the

opportunity as well.

Some of the visiting

seniors want to attend Rose-

Hulman, but they are wary of

the high tuition. Senior Week-end also provides the oppor-

tunity for both the students

and the parents to ask ques-

tions directed at Rose-

Hulman’s Financial Aid de-

partment as well as other de-

partments unique to Rose-

Hulman, like, Rose-Hulman Ventures. Par-

ents and students also learn about opportuni-

ties available to them through talks from the

Admissions Office and Career Services.

Several short activities are planned at

night for the visiting students to reinforce their

interest in their expected major and encourage

them to start thinking like an engineer. Team-work and communication are stressed heavily.

This year, engineering activities included virtu-

al hip replacement surgery, balloon-powered

car design, and Popsicle stick bridge design.

Senior Weekend does not just reach

out to local minorities that have been accepted

to Rose, but invites people from coast to coast

to come see what Rose-Hulman has to offer;

thereby spreading the name of Rose-Hulman

Institute of Technology. This year’s Senior

Weekend was divided into two sessions. The first Senior Weekend session accommodated

25 and the second session attracted 9 accepted

seniors from several high schools across the

nation. These students had an opportunity to

not only learn about Rose-Hulman but the

Rose-Hulman NSBE chapter. They saw how

Rose-Hulman NSBE members are a close-knit

family and wanted to be part of it!

Kim Secrist, Chapter President

-American music and a slideshow

with enticing African-American information including the history

of Jazz, the history of Gumbo, and an explanation of Kwanzaa.

Even though February is a very difficult time for students

since it is at the end of the winter

quarter and final projects and ex-ams are very close, we managed to

have an excellent turnout for the event with over 50 students in attendance and who enjoyed the food and

games. We hope to continue the Soul Food Sunday tradition on the Rose-Hulman campus in years to

come. We also look to build on this event with more like it and make Black History Month an especially

meaningful time to Rose-Hulman students.

Mansur Blackman,

Chapter Programs Chair

This year our chapter was involved in a

few different Black History Month activities. We continued our tradition of a Black History Month

theme for the Hulman Union calendar and put Black History facts on the napkin holders in the

cafeteria. This February we also expanded our events to include a new event in our Black Histo-

ry Month repertoire, Soul Food Sunday. Our for-

mer treasurer, Andria Smith, originally brought the idea to our attention of having a Black History

Month dinner for the campus where we would bring the celebration of Black History to campus

in a much more personal way than we have in the past.

We accomplished this by offering the campus free traditional foods from the African

American culture like Gumbo, Greens, and Can-died Yams. We also offered a hospitable environ-

ment complete with games like Dominos and Mancala. The event included African and African

Soul Food Sunday

Accepted multiethnic seniors explore unique features of Rose-Hulman

P A G E 3

P A G E 4

“Rose gave

me the

courage to

run for the

regional

executive

board.”

Right: Sabre Evans, NSBE

Region IV Chair addresses

the region at FRC

Rose-Hulman on the Region IV Board

Rose-Hulman’s success has not

only been at the chapter level, but also at the

Regional level. For the past two years Rose-Hulman has had members from its NSBE

chapter in key positions on the regional

board. Ms. Shaina Steward, a Rose-Hulman

alumna from 2007, was the Region IV Fall

Regional Conference Planning Chairperson

during this school year. A more recent

alumna from Rose-Hulman, Ms. Sabre Ev-

ans (Mechanical Engineering graduate of

2010) was the Regional chairperson for the

2010-2011 school year, and will be return-

ing to that position for 2011-2012 school year. Lastly, Mr. Damien Harris, who will

be graduating this year (2011) as a Biomedi-

cal Engineer was the 2010-2011 Regional

Treasurer and will hold that position for an

additional year.

It is no consequence that some of

the highest positions on the Region IV exec-

utive board are filled by Rose-Hulman

alumnae and current students. The small

size of the Rose-Hulman chapter enables

students to move up to leadership positions

quickly. Both Sabre and Damien were Jun-ior Executive Board members (a board that

is filled by freshmen who want to begin

making a quick impact) and then took chap-

ter executive offices during their sophomore

years. Each spent time studying the Region-

al and National Executive Board while hold-

ing a chapter executive board position prior

to running for a position on the Regional

Board.

Sabre Evans held a position on the

chapter level as Vice President her sopho-more and junior years before stepping up to

Regional Parliamentarian. She quickly “learned

that the position [she] was in was easier than

Vice President on the chapter level.” This real-

ization gave Sabre the confidence she needed to run for Region 4 Chairperson the next year.

Sabre believes that “the time management skills

needed to balance vice presidency and balanc-

ing classes at Rose gave [her] the courage to run

for the regional executive board” as well as the

ability to thrive in her role.

Similarly, Damien Harris was the

chapter Treasurer for Rose-Hulman for two

years before he stepped into the Region 4 Treas-

urer position. As treasurer on the chapter level

Damien ascertained “that essentially everything

comes through the treasurer” because “most

things require funds.” This understanding car-

ried through to the regional level as he wit-

nessed “exactly the same thing happened, but

on a larger scale.” With this preparation and

cultivation from the rigors of Rose-Hulman and

the ability to excel in a small school/ small

chapter environment, Rose-Hulman has not

only seen success on the chapter-level, but has

had the opportunity to affect change regionally

and even nationally.

Jasmine Browne,

Chapter Vice-President 2009-2011

N S B E N E W S

Damien Harris, Region IV Treasurer

Shaina, Steward, Regional Conference Planning Chairperson

Boeing Flight Competition

V O L U M E 4 , I S S U E 1

This year Boeing sponsored the

annual collegiate flight competition at

NSBE’s National Convention. The contest

challenged members work in teams repre-

senting their schools to design a balsawood

plane with the greatest flight radius. Awards

were also given out for Best Presentation,

Best Team Participation and Best Design.

Rose-Hulman entered as the RHIT Sky

Team, which included myself, Donnita Rob-

inson along with Donna Marsh, Kim Mur-

ray, and Mansur Blackman.

As a freshman, the Boeing Flight

Competition was a great experience to be-

come more involved with NSBE during

National Convention. It allowed me to not

only become closer with people in my chapter,

but also I was given the chance to meet people

from other schools and witness engineering at

its best.

Each team was given the same goal, yet

every plane was different. It was interesting to see

the various ideas and creativity that other compet-

itors had. Because of this, our team learned differ-

ent ways to launch, build, and decorate a plane

and gained a new respect for those who could do

it well.This isa splace holder so it won’t loo

This task was not easy. Our team, the

RHIT Sky Team, spent weeks preparing for the

competition and the presentation of our produc-

tion. Through this experience, we gained insight

on improving our plane for the future as well as

winning second place for our presentation.

The entire experience made me appreci-

ate the work of engineers in industry who build

planes many times as large and more complicated

that our simple balsawood plane. With a new

appreciation and knowledge of plane design, the

RHIT Sky Team will come back next year pre-

pared to fly.

Donnita Robinson, Chapter Treasurer

RHIT Sky Team Member Kim Murray shows off the team’s prize check.

really helped to remove some of the apathy and

ignite passion. This year I saw a lot of the fresh-man, many who attended our Senior Weekend

event, come into NSBE with great passion and a desire not only to maintain what we have done, but

to improve certain aspects of it to make us better in the long run. This passion was only multiplied by

the excitement and motivation of going to the Na-

tional Convention for the first time and being able to feed off the passion of fellow NSBE members.

This passion for NSBE has been so great these last few years that it has pushed many to go into the

higher positions within the society and make im-pacts on that level.

Overall we have come far, but there is still some much progress this chapter can make. I feel

that the new leadership that has just taken over will take the foundation laid from before and move it to

the next stage. There is also so much support on campus and within NSBE that is available to our

chapter. As long as all those who care about the Rose chapter and the mission of NSBE continue to

provide our support, then I have no doubt that the

future will be bright.

Ejimofor C. Oruche,

Chapter President 2009-2011

As outgoing President of the chapter, I feel

that we have accomplished a lot. This year alone was full of accolades for our chapter, from the Rose-

Hulman MLK leadership award to being the National Small Chapter of the Year and Region IV Chapter of

the Year in the Society. I feel that these awards rep-resent the success of our chapter, which is culmina-

tion of the hard work of the current members and

those that have come before us. Looking beyond that, I can see the many

ways in which our chapter has progressed. Compar-ing from when I came in as a freshman to now, I can

see that there is a larger sense of team unity and coop-eration. I believe that this has been and will be a ma-

jor reason of the chapter will succeed in its future endeavors. Every person within our chapter brings a

vital perspective that can only be leveraged through open communication channels and cooperative action.

I believe these same attitudes are what help us to maintain the family atmosphere that so many of us

cherish and that also attracts other to us as well. Another big thing that I have seen is a surge

in passion. There have been moments before and during my time here at Rose-Hulman where there has

been major apathy for NSBE. I think the underlying question that causes this apathy is “How do I benefit

from being in NSBE?”. We all realized that helping people to answer this question and answer it early

Remarks from the Departing President “...I have no

doubt that

the future will

be bright.”

Ejimofor C. Oruche, Departing Chapter President

P A G E 5

5500 Wabash Avenue CM 5035

Terre Haute, IN 47803

Phone: (812) 877-8018

E-mail: NSBE.rhit@gmail.com

What is NSBE?

The National Society of Black Engineers is the largest

student run organization in the nation at over 31,000

members worldwide. NSBE strives to create an at-

mosphere that will cultivate successful minority engi-

neers. NSBE was created by the Chicago Six at Pur-

due University under the name Black Society of Engi-

neers in 1975. The organization has since spread and

opened chapters across the world.

What does the logo symbolize?

The torch which represents the members everlasting

desire to achieve success in a competitive world. The

two lightning bolts represent the striking impact that

will be felt through out the club and industry by the

members.

The National Society of Black Engineers’

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Chapter

The NSBE Mission: “To increase the number of culturally

responsible Black engineers who excel

academically, succeed professionally

and positively impact the community.”

Check us out online! Rose-Hulman Chapter-

www.rose-hulman.edu/NSBE Region IV- www.region.nsbe.org/region4

National- www.nsbe.org

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