Osan Engineer receives award at BEYA conference Published March 6, 2013 By Maj. Richelle A. Dowdell 7th Air Force Public Affairs Office OSAN AB, Republic of Korea -- Williams Dicks, an ISR Field Engineer stationed at Osan Air Base, Republic of Korea received an award Feb. 7 at the Annual Black Engineer of the Year Awards conference, an annual event to recognize and honor African-Americans in technical career fields. The Black Engineers of the Year awards program recognizes servicemembers, students, executives, educators and professionals who demonstrate outstanding performance and help to shape the course of engineering, science and technology for the future. Dicks was selected from among hundreds of submissions to represent Raytheon and according to Williams his BEYA experience was simply exhilarating. "Personally for me, I am honored and thankful to be recognized by Raytheon for this prestigious award," said Dicks. "I was delighted to share my experience about the journey I had to endure to get to where I am at today." He went on to thank his management in Osan, and recounted the talented engineers he was able to meet during his time at the conference. Among the highlights of the conference was the annual Stars and Stripes Military Dinner that honors top African American men and women in the United States armed forces as well as a career fair that provided information about colleges and careers in engineering. Dicks stated the Stars and Stripes dinner was amazing and that the ballroom was full of 4-star and 3-star general s from all branches of the Armed Forces. "The military has a profound influence on the BEYA conference and it showed." Guests were treated to several speakers and an amazing marching band. "I was fortunate to meet some very talented Raytheon engineers at the Discussion Panel at Dulles. They have done some remarkable achievements within the organization and outside in their communities. Overall, it was an experience I will never forget," said Dicks. "The BEYA is like the Grammys for black engineers. Superstar engineers who are striving for excellence and not letting anything stand in their way." The 27th Black Engineer of the Year Award (BEYA) and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Global Competitiveness Conference was held in Washington, D.C. Feb. 7-10. The BEYA STEM Conference is the largest gathering of STEM professionals and leaders who are committed to increasing the percentage of people from historically underrepresented communities in the technology workforce. Col. Shane Hamilton, Commander 694th ISR Group, Osan was especially proud of the Dicks accomplishments, "Mr. Dicks is a tremendous positive example for all our Airmen to emulate!" African-Americans have been making significant contributions in STEM for generations. Granville T. Woods was a railroad worker when he became interested in engineering. Using books he asked White acquaintances to check out for him, because Blacks were not allowed to use public libraries at the time, he taught himself details of concepts had picked up from White rail workers. Woods later attended college and invented several electrical mechanisms, including a system that helped prevent accidents by warning engineers how close they were to other rail cars. He held more than 50 patents in his lifetime. Elijah McCoy learned mechanical engineering as an apprentice in Scotland. When he was unable to find work, he, too, took a job with a railroad company. He invented a system that allowed train parts to lubricate themselves as the train ran; previously, the work had to be done by hand after the train stopped. In 1920, McCoy founded the Elijah McCoy Manufacturing Company, where he invented everything from the folded ironing board to the lawn sprinkler. Garrett A. Morgan invented the gas mask and the automatic traffic signal.