Coordinator with The Engineering Place receives Presidential Award in Washington, D.C.

Elizabeth Parry of The Engineering Place, a K-20 engineering education and outreach program at North Carolina State University, received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM) in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, June 16.

The award is given by the White House to individuals and organizations to recognize the crucial role that mentoring plays in the academic and personal development of students studying science and engineering – particularly those who belong to groups that are underrepresented in the field. This year’s award was given to 14 individuals and one organization.

Parry and the other recipients were honored at the White House and received a $10,000 cash award funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as part of the award recognition.

As the coordinator for STEM partnership development in The Engineering Place, Parry has managed multimillion-dollar grants from the NSF GK-12 Program and is a certified Engineering is Elementary teacher trainer.

Parry works with teachers, schools and districts to implement engineering for all students at all levels. She is part of a team that develops workshops and conference presentations that train educators on how to enact engineering principles in their classrooms in a sustainable way. In her time with The Engineering Place, she has held a variety of leadership positions in the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), a group of more than 12,000 professionals engaged in educating engineers at the post secondary level.

Parry has worked in The Engineering Place since 1999. She is a former manager at IBM who earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering management/mechanical engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla (now Missouri University of Science and Technology) in 1983.