2021 Bridge Builder Award Winner - Professor Carlotta A. Berry

Dr. Berry is a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. She is one of a team of faculty who created the first multidisciplinary minor in robotics. She is the Co-Director of the NSF S-STEM Rose Building Undergraduate Diversity (ROSE-BUD) Program and advisor for the National Society of Black Engineers. She is a mentor for her daughter’s Girl Scouts FLL and VEX robotics team, Gamer Girlz.

“I became an engineering professor 20 years ago while sitting in class and realizing that I had never had a professor who looked like me, acted like me, or even seemed interested in me. I wanted to change the face of engineering by showing that the profession could be cool, interesting, exciting, engaging, and, most importantly, diverse,” said Carlotta. As a result during 2020, she worked with colleagues around the world to start two non-profit organizations, Black In Engineering and Black In Robotics. They have a mission to bring awareness to systemic racism and inequity in STEM, build community, advocate for diversity, equity, inclusion, and connect with allies and sponsors. 

Her research interests are in robotics education, interface design, human-robot interaction, and increasing diverse representation in STEM fields. She has a special passion for diversifying the engineering profession by encouraging historically marginalized and minoritized populations to pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees. She feels that the profession should reflect the world that we live in in order to solve the unique problems that we face.

“Carlotta has been an advocate and provider of STEM education for students for over a decade helping bring competitive robotics to the forefront of education and helping support students who are typically not represented in STEM fields.” said George Giltner, the Foundation’s President and CEO, “She has been a valuable partner of the Foundation and we are honored to recognize her efforts in the STEM community at the 2021 Mira Awards.”