Boeing Company Applauds its Valuable Partnership with STEM NOLA
NEW ORLEANS – The Boeing Company, which has ranked 40th on the Fortune 500 list, is committed to investing in communities where their offices and plants are located. In New Orleans, where the company does critical work on NASA’s Space Launch System, Boeing has been an important sponsor of the STEM NOLA program that provides K – 12 STEM education in under-resourced area communities.
Emmanuel Tormes, who leads Boeing’s Government Operations for Louisiana, said the multi-international company has a strong interest in expanding STEM education.
“We’re working on developing that future generation of STEM workers, that future workforce pipeline,” he said. “We need future engineers, future technicians, future rocket scientists and more. There is a high demand for those jobs now and in the future and we want to help ensure that New Orleans has workers who can fill those positions.”
The STEM NOLA program, he said, also appeals to Boeing because it takes students who may not have been previously exposed to STEM skills and activities, and gives some that first experience. It can also make a strong impression on those who come from under-resourced communities where the awareness of STEM is not always high.
“A lot of those kids don’t necessarily grow up thinking they can help design a rocket or be an aerospace engineer, but STEM NOLA can expose them to those experiences and possibly set them on that path as a career goal,” said Tormes. “We enjoy being a partner that can help STEM NOLA expose students to these career paths and opportunities.”
Boeing Team at recent STEM NOLA Rocket Day
Finishing touches on a new Boeing aircraft
Tormes said some Boeing officials had recently visited a STEM NOLA learning session. “Dr. Mackie and his team have been doing an excellent job,” he said. “They’re extremely passionate about everything that they do. I think that’s a key to their success, being super passionate. It is a contagious feeling that runs down to the instructors, the volunteers and the students.”
He added: “We are very excited about our partnership and we look forward to future opportunities. It is amazing what they do. And we’re grateful for the opportunity to participate in this excellent work that is raising awareness and providing a direct impact on the students of today that are going to be our future workers and engineers and technicians. “
In April, Boeing demonstrated its commitment to diversity and racial equity by releasing its diversity report to the public for the first time. The report found that 22.9% of the company’s workforce are women, including nearly one in three (31.8%) executives and over one in five (22.2%) managers. With regard to racial and ethnic diversity, the report found that Asian Americans are significantly more represented in the Boeing workforce than in the general population (14.2% versus 5.4%). Likewise, they are statistically over-represented among executives (8.3%), managers (7.9%), engineers (17.6%) and production workers (16.6%). Asian Americans are also 13.9% of new hires.
Meanwhile, the numbers for African Americans and Latinos were lower, with Black employees representing 6.4% of the overall workforce and Latino employees 7.0.
Emmanuel Tormes
Some disparity may be caused by the fact that 40% of the Boeing workforce is in Washington State, where Blacks are under-represented in the general population and Asian Americans are over-represented. But the company isn’t making excuses. It vowed to do better. Boeing CEO David Calhoun wrote in a corporatewide email “we are on a par with the aerospace industry, and we have made advancements in some areas, but we are not where we want to be.”
Further, the company has implemented an “equity action plan” in an effort to add more diversity to the workforce, while establishing a Racial Equity Task Force to help guide its path to more inclusion.
“We acknowledged that there’s a way to go,” said Tormes. “And that is part of the reason why we invest in programs like STEM NOLA that can raise awareness of STEM opportunities and help produce more people who want to engage in STEM careers and become STEM professionals. Their work sparks the imagination and the interest. We’ve been investing throughout the country in order to grow that next generation.”
Tormes said the company has also been working with veterans and active-duty military, trying to prepare them for STEM related jobs. He noted that there are plenty of STEM jobs available that don’t require college or graduate degrees. “People with certificates in certain technical fields are finding jobs quickly,” he said. “More people just need to be aware of these opportunities.”
Regarding STEM NOLA, Tormes noted the popularity of their rocket launch sessions, where the kids work with instructors and STEM professionals – some from Boeing – and build rockets that actually take off. “They are so excited to make them with their own hands,” he said. “There is such a positive vibe with the bonding that goes on. The hands-on experience has such a great impact on the students.”