We are a small team of talented individuals with a wide range of skills and experience. We love what we do, and we do it with passion. We look forward to working with you.
Dr.Arlene Maclin
President & CEO, MacSmith STEM Enterprises
Ph.D., Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics, Howard University
M.S., Theoretical Nuclear Physics, University of Virginia
Post-Baccalaureate Fellow, Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges
B.S., Engineering Physics, cum laude, North Carolina A & T State University
Internationally recognized and recently chronicled in The HistoryMakers for her outstanding achievement as an educator, researcher, administrator, and mentor, Dr. Arlene P. Maclin is a physicist by training and has spent the past 40 years in a combination of academic and government service positions. Her academic service includes more than 15 years of teaching at the levels of associate and full professors with administrative experience at the level of an associate dean of a college of arts and science, and a director of research. She has also served as the director of several major research grants in excess of $10M. She is currently the president and CEO of a non-profit company called MacSmith STEM Enterprises dedicated to increasing the numbers of minorities and women receiving degrees in STEM fields. Prior to this, Dr. Maclin served as the senior project director for the Howard University Partnership Design and Development Project. Previously, she served as the Executive Director of Mid-Atlantic Consortium- Center for Academic Excellence at Morgan State University that included four HBCUs in the Mid-Atlantic Region and reported to a Governing Board which included college presidents and high-level corporate and government officials.
Dr. Maclin has an extraordinary track record for developing undergraduate and graduate programs in optical physics and optical engineering. She has developed numerous science education programs for K-20 students. She has extensive experience developing and evaluating science and mathematics programs for teachers and students in high school and postsecondary education. She has also worked with STEM township teachers in South Africa on the development of inquiry based and hands-on learning. Dr. Maclin is a leader in developing opportunities in science and mathematics for minorities and in ensuring that STEM students have a global education by supporting more than 200 students since 2004 with cultural immersion experiences in South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, China, Japan, and India. She has served as the Director of Diversity for an NSF-funded Engineering Research Center. She is an active recruiter of undergraduate and graduate students for STEM programs throughout the nation. She has published more than 50 technical papers and abstracts in refereed journals and has made more than 250 presentations and talks to technical audiences throughout the world including the United States, Japan, South Africa, India, China, and Nigeria. Her current areas of research include theoretical investigations of nanostructures and STEM research on new pedagogies for teaching and learning.
Contact: 202-237-8915
Email : arlene.maclin@macsmithstem.org
Dr.Sonya Smith
Vice President, MacSmith STEM Enterprises
Ph.D., Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, University of Virginia
Dr. Sonya Smith has extensive experience in science and engineering, and is committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. In 1995 she was the first African-American woman to obtain a Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from The University of Virginia (UVA). Since then, she established an interdisciplinary theoretical and computational research laboratory at Howard University entitled the Applied Fluids-Thermal Research Laboratory (@FTERLab). She has received support for her research from NSF, NIH, NASA, DOD and industry.
Dr. Smith serves President of Sigma Xi: The Scientific Research Honor Society from June 2019-July 2020. She is also a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Her memberships in other professional societies include the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO), the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE), the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), and the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE).
Her work for women’s leadership in STEM is both a national and international initiative. In July 2020 Dr. Smith will become president of the Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN). WEPAN the leading champion in North America for leveraging research and best practices to propel the inclusion of women in the field of engineering. WEPAN’s network connects advocates who actively pursue strategies and implement solutions to increase participation, retention and success of women and other under-represented groups in engineering from college to executive leadership.
Dr. Smith works with the South Africa Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) on several initiatives. She is also the HBCU-HDI Women in STEM Conference series held alternatively in South Africa and the U.S. The conference brings together leaders from academia, industry and government to collaborate on strategies to attract and retain women in STEM. Particular attention was targeted on attracting, promoting, and retaining women of color in STEM from HBCUs in the US and from Historically Disadvantaged Institutions (HDIs) in South Africa.
Dr. Smith’s personal goal is to be a mentor and resource to all students and young faculty/professionals, but especially to those underrepresented in STEM.
Contact: 202-826-3330
Email: sonya.smith@macsmithstem.org
MacSmith STEM Enterprises 