From academia to energy to volunteer organizing, Calvin Mackie has recorded a variety of steps in his career. Stopping at Binghamton University Thursday to share his book “A View from the Roof,” he took a break to share his priorities and professional secrets with college students.
Initially, Mackie said, he was turned away from his top choice colleges because of his low SAT scores, but he went on to become one of only 11 African Americans in 1996 to get a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. Mackie went on to become a tenured engineering professor Tulane University, where he taught for 12 years.
After leaving Tulane, Mackie went on to create Golden Leaf Energy Inc., an alternative energy company that produces biofuels from waste streams.
Mackie’s talk in the Innovative Technologies Complex (ITC) began with a video featuring STEM NOLA, the organization he founded with the purpose of inspiring and engaging members of underserved communities in the STEM field. According to Mackie, STEM NOLA volunteers have engaged over 2,200 kids in hands-on project-based activities.
Mackie emphasized the importance of reaching out to these communities that are not getting as much attention, instead of revisiting the same communities that have already been exposed to the STEM fields.
“The numbers in STEM, especially as they relate to minorities and women, are not changing at all,” Mackie explained. “We think we’re doing outreach not leaving our office.”
Mackie’s talk was sponsored by the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). The organization’s alumni adviser, Christina Miller, said she wanted students to know that STEM careers are not limited to a certain group.
“We felt that Dr. Calvin Mackie could help jump start us on the outreach we want to do,” said Miller, a first-year graduate student studying industrial and systems engineering. “STEM really is for everybody. Really we just have to push ourselves and nothing is unreachable.”
After leaving Tulane due to the elimination of the engineering program, his pastor told him that God had given him the ability to pursue what he had been too scared to do, and this is something he said he agrees with.
“There is no doubt in my mind that this is what I’m supposed to be doing,” Mackie said. “Entrepreneurship is about mindset. When you get the right mindset, then you get the right idea.”
Whether a student is majoring in engineering or not, Mackie said that he thought his message of overcoming adversity was one that could be applicable to anybody. According to Stella Abayev, a junior majoring in accounting, this was true.
“I agreed with everything he had to say,” Abayev said. “If you didn’t have parents that had given you a head start, it’s always harder on you because you have to be the one to build that empire he was talking about. I’m currently building my empire.”
The society’s president, Donashia Johnson, said Mackie was an inspiration for those who don’t start out on the right track.
“We know how important STEM is to our community and our world as a whole,” said Johnson, a senior majoring in systems science and industrial engineering. “Dr. Calvin Mackie’s an amazing speaker. He’s accomplished so much within his lifetime. It really gives you hope and inspiration for your future.”