GIVING. PRAYING. FASTING
4
Engineer Encourages Girls
and Young Women to Pursue
S.T.E.M. Careers
By Karen A. Stewart-Ross
One day during the summer of 1999, when the R & B group
Destiny’s Child was singing about bills, bills, and more bills, and
the world was bracing itself for what could very well be its
demise, a seed planted by a determined mother long ago was
being cultivated in a young Tracee Walker Gilbert. On that day,
she sat mesmerized by an inspirational speech being given by
an incredible woman-a N.A.S.A. engineer and the first AfricanAmerican to earn a doctorate in mechanical engineering from
Howard University.
“I remember her distinctly and I can just remember the impact
of her just coming and talking to us and just showing us that if
she could do it, then I had the potential to do it as well. …,” said