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About Us

Promoting Minority Representation and Diversity in STEM

The 2022 Inaugural CEC Diversity Gala was brought to you by the following founders and has become an annual event hosted by the University of South Carolina's College of Engineering and Computing diverse student organizations. This year the second annual Diversity Gala will be hosted on April 13th, 2023. We would love to have you attend!  

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Our Story

In the 2021 fall semester, Brian McCaster, the Inclusive Programs Coordinator for the College of Engineering and Computing Student Services, hosted a dinner among the CEC student organizations, one of the first in-person professional events after the pandemic. This dinner brought upon an idea by the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), where they envisioned hosting a professional networking event exclusively for the College of Engineering and Computing, inviting students, faculty, and professionals from various companies. Considering that SHPE is a minority CEC organization on campus, our vision was to promote representation of not only Hispanics in STEM, but other minorities as well. Therefore, SHPE reached out to other CEC minority organizations on campus including the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), Alpha Omega Epsilon Sorority (AOE), and Women in Computing (WIC), to help bring the Inaugural 2022 Diversity Gala to life as well as spread our mission to promote diversity in STEM. The second Diversity Gala, in the spring of 2023, has expanded their contributions from other organizations on campus, including the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and Pi Tau Sigma honor society (PTS) to further spread our mission of diversity in STEM. 

Meet the 2022 Founders

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Gabriel Carrilho

Event Coordinator

SHPE Vice President

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Brian McCaster

Event Faculty Advisor

CEC Inclusive Programs Coordinator

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Karolina De La Paz

Event Experience Director

SHPE Executive

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Eboni Brown

External Outreach Director

NSBE President

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Ricardo De La Paz

Financial Director

SHPE Executive

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Anna Beynon

Internal Outreach Director

AOE President

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Katrina Wohlgemuth

Marketing Director

SWE President

Meet the 2023 Team

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Karolina De La Paz

Event Coordinator

SHPE President 

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Ricardo De La Paz

Event Co-Coordinator

SHPE Vice President

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Brian McCaster

Event Faculty Advisor

CEC Inclusive Programs Coordinator

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Mumin Adhami

Event Experience Director

ASME member

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Humberto Bermudez

External Outreach Director

PTS Vice President

ASME Outreach Chair

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Denise Garcia

Financial Director

SHPE Executive

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Caroline Howard

Internal Outreach Director

PTS Communications Officer

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Neve Steger

Marketing Director

AOE President

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Sapaydia Rosales

Secretary

NSBE President

 

Our 2023 Committees

Sand Dunes

1

Event Experience 

  • Keshawn Blakely

  • Nolan Nimrick

  • Korebami Adebajo

  • Alexandria Ford

  • Maeve Walsh

  • Lauren S

2

External Outreach

  • Christian Medina

  • Ian Montandon

  • Bryan Montano

  • Jonathan Ramos

  • Sowmya Raghu

3

Finance 

  • Ta'Rajay Bowie

  • Sapaydia Rosales

4

Internal Outreach

  • Jacob Vaught

  • Dylan Maldonado

  • Maeve Walsh

5

Marketing

  • Lillian Self

  • Jacob Vaught

  • Andrea Saltos

  • Alanah Buinauskas

Our Sponsors

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