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Robert Whitman
AISES Board Emeritus
AISES Positions Held: AISES Board of Directors ( (two terms) Member, Secretary and Chair (twice)), API Board of Directors (Member, Vice President and President), Student Chapter Advisor Univ of Colorado Boulder, Deputy Director, Professional Member, Sequoyah Fellow
I grew up in a rural area north of Church Rock New Mexico. I received my education from the University of New Mexico (BSEE), Colorado State University (MSEE) and University of Colorado at Boulder (PhD Electrical Engineering). I am the first Navajo to receive a PhD in Engineering. During my undergraduate years, I worked three summers as a Co-op student employee at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California. After receiving my BSEE, my professional career commenced with the IBM Corp. in San Jose California. After over a year, I moved to Boulder CO, then had assignments in Charlotte NC, Tucson AZ, Toronto Ont., Poughkeepsie NY and Austin TX. After 13 years with IBM, I left the company to pursue a Phd. Upon receiving my PhD, I was appointed as an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico for two years. Then, I moved to the University of Denver (DU) where I currently hold an appointment in the School of Engineering and Computer Science as a Senior Lecturer. In 2007, I gained an additional appointment as associate chair of the newly created Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. I have been at DU for 10 years. Awards: Two Division Awards from IBM, GE Foundation's Faculty of the Future Fellowship, Best Teacher Award from School of Engineering and Computer Science at University of Denver. I joined AISES in 1978. My first conference was in 1983 Albuquerque. My goal and interest are to get more Native American young people into the science and technology fields. There are a lot of opportunities in science and engineering careers. This is why I am so ardent about our Native youth participating in science fairs. Additionally, I would like to see more Native American faculty in science and engineering departments at universities. |
