Leadership Team
Terita Norton
Founder & Executive Director
Ms. Terita Norton is an Electrical Engineer with nearly 28 years of technical experience working in the Aerospace Industry at the Aerospace Corporation. Throughout her career Terita has held positions of increasing responsibility including being a Senior Project Leader in the Vehicle Systems Division, a Systems Director responsible for managing Aerospace systems engineering support to a large National Security Space program, a Senior Project Leader in the Corporate Chief Engineer’s Office responsible for mission assurance and space quality within the space industrial base, Project Engineer leading spacecraft integration & test, and digital communication subsystems, and Senior Member of Technical Staff leading digital electronic design projects.
As one of the few and sometimes the only black engineer in the room she has seen firsthand the lack of minority female professionals in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields. For more than 20 years Terita has used her platform to encourage and inspire youth and young adults to pursue STEM careers. She was the founding Director and NSBE Jr. Advisor for the Saturday Science Academy (SSA) in Inglewood, CA (2004-2010), a featured engineer and mentor with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) EngineerGirl platform (2010 – present), a former member of the Board of Directors for Girls Inspired and Ready to Lead (GIRL), Inc. (2016-2021), and an active senior member/lifetime member in a number of professional societies including the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), Society of Women Engineers (SWE), IEEE, AIAA, and WIA.
Terita has published several technical papers and has received numerous awards and recognition. She holds a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from Florida State University.
“Everyone is given the same 24 hours, what you do with it is up to you. I choose to invest mine in preparing the next generation of STEM leaders” – T. Norton
Dr. Terri Norton
President
Dr. Terri R. Norton is the Academic Associate Dean for the College of Engineering; Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Bucknell University. She is also the Executive Director of the Engineering Success Alliance. Dean Norton’s technical expertise is in the area of structural dynamics and structural vulnerability. Her research interests involve evaluating the effects of hazards on civil structures, debris management, and disaster reconstruction. Previously, she enjoyed a distinguished 11-year tenure at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and was a member of the technical staff with the Aerospace Corporation’s Structural Dynamics department. She was a Fulbright Research Scholar in Japan for her research on debris management and reconstruction following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami (GEJET). Norton has served as the PI on grants funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the US Geological Survey (USGS), the Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR), and the Department of Energy (DOE). She has also served as an elected member of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute’s (EERI) Board of Directors and is an invited member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Resilient America Roundtable. She has served as the major advisor for 3 Ph.D. students, 5 MS, 13 Masters of Arch. Engineering and 25 undergraduate research assistants. Moreover, Norton has been a presenter of structural dynamics and vulnerability in both the national and international arenas.
Col Luciana Augustine
Vice President
Luciana Augustine is an active duty member of the United States Air Force. Col Augustine formerly served as the C-5 Branch Chief, Robins Air Force Base, GA. She led the C-5 Airframe Branch in providing global management, sustainment, and integrated logistics support for C-5M aircraft. Luciana managed and executed an annual budget for the development and implementation of C-5 modernization and sustainment programs supporting worldwide operational mission requirements.
Prior to that, she was the Chief, assigned to Headquarters Air Force Executive Secretariat, where she developed and taught course curriculum and coordinated staff taskings for the Air Force’s Top 5 senior leaders and their respective staffs.
Luciana has held various program management and leadership positions in the Air Force across multiple platforms in aircraft, space, and intelligence where she was responsible for planning, programming, and budgeting.
Prior to joining the military, Luciana was an educator for five years where she taught 7th grade mathematics. Luciana received her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Louisiana and her master’s degree in Public Administration from Louisiana State University.
Luciana dedicates her time by volunteering at various food banks; outreach programs aimed towards female growth, development, and empowerment; homeless shelters; and rehabilitation programs for disabled and female veterans.
Luciana likes to spend her free time engaging in fun, energetic, and social activities such as running/jogging, lifting weights, yoga, attending music concerts, food festivals, watching movies/LSU football, traveling, and spending time with family and friends.
Vacant
Secretary
Ms. Terita Norton is acting Secretary
Dr. Yovonne Hendley
Treasurer
Yovonne Hendley, Pharm.D., CACP is the Pharmacoeconomics Program Manager at the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital in Tampa, Florida.
She received her Doctor of Pharmacy from the Florida A&M University College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2002 and completed a PGY-1 (post-graduate year one) Pharmacy Practice residency at James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital. She also completed a PGY-2 residency in Pharmacoeconomics and Formulary Management at San Diego VA Healthcare System, CA. In 2007, she served as an assistant clinical professor at the VA North Texas Health Care System and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) School of Pharmacy in Dallas, Texas where she worked as an Ambulatory Care Clinical Pharmacist providing direct patient care and management of various disease states, such as Diabetes, Hypertension, and Hyperlipidemia, prior to returning to Florida and becoming program manager in 2014.
Dr. Hendley believes in the importance of faith alone in Christ alone and sharing the love of Christ through community service and charitable giving, where she enjoys volunteering for different organizations such as Meals on Wheels of Tampa, and Hosean International ministries supporting missions and children in Haiti.