The Dallas Chapter of The Links, Incorporated’s second annual Women Who STEAM Awards Luncheon will honor eight women who have been outstanding in the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) fields and have also excelled in serving, teaching, excelling, aspiring, and mentoring at work and in their communities.

Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson will be the event’s honorary chair with Effie Booker Dennison and Mary Evans Sias, PhD, serving as the event’s co-chairs. The luncheon will take place via YouTube on Friday, Aug. 28 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The Dallas Chapter of The Links aims to cultivate the award to inspire young girls of color to pursue STEAM-related careers. This award helps show young girls the dynamic women in STEAM and recognizes how important it is to create a successful pipeline for young girls of color.

This year’s honorees include:

• Stephanie G. Adams, PhD, University of Texas at Dallas, Dean and Lars Magnus Ericsson Chair, Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science
• Ellen Barker, Texas Instruments, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer
• Holly Crowder, The Beck Group, Chief Human Resources Officer
• Koshi Dhingra, EdD, talkSTEM, Founder and CEO
• Temple S. Howell-Stampley, MD, MBA, FACP, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Chair and Program Director, Department of Physician Assistant Studies, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine
• Mylene Mayers, Toyota Motor North America, GM/Chief Customer Officer & CXO ITx Consumer Experiences Division
• Lily Cabatu Weiss, Dallas Arts District, Executive Director
• Deepali Palta, PhD, PepsiCo, Global R & D Director (Rising Star)

The Dallas Chapter of The Links says it’s dedicated to supporting young women, championing diversity and inclusion in STEAM, and honoring the contributions of women of color in STEAM. The chapter has been around for more than 60 years with more than 50 women serving in the organization who support the Dallas community through service and are involved with multiple community service programs.

The chapter’s 7th-12th grade STEAM Academy promotes innovation, creativity, and problem-solving skills for girls of color through activities that help build their self-confidence, critical thinking, and leadership skills. More than 400 girls receive programming through the academy that focuses on STEAM disciplines and career readiness.

“We are trying to reach as many young ladies as we can who otherwise may have never been introduced to these disciplines,” chapter member Tracey Nash-Huntley told NBC DFW. “Only about one in 10 employed in these fields right now are women of color. Often times, they just need to be introduced.”

The luncheon is the chapter’s biggest fundraiser of the year, which helps provide support for the academy and its scholarship program. For more information, go here.

The luncheon has a roster of support from the likes of Texas Capital Bank as the presenting sponsor; Texas Instruments as the digital sponsor; Thrivent as the valet sponsor; The Beck Group, Toyota Motor North America, PepsiCo, Southern Methodist University, the University of Texas at Dallas, and UT Southwestern Medical Center as the corporate sponsors; Veronica M. Frazier, Brenda Jackson, and Mary Evans Sias as the champion sponsors; Deborah Alves, Matrice Ellis Kirk, and Tracey Nash-Huntley as the catalyst sponsors; and Ingrid M. Buchanan, Belinda Marks Griffin, Charlotte McKenzie, Veronica M. Frazier, The Honorable Eddie Bernice Johnson, Sandra Dorsey Malone, Millicent McKnight, Gwen Satterthwaite, and Daisy Watts as the advocate sponsors.

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