 What does it mean to be a culturally responsible engineer? In this episode of the podcast in honor of Black History Month, we're speaking with Julius Hudson of the National Society of Black Engineers on Cultural Responsibility and Engineering and what the society has done for his career. Let's do it! All right, now I'd like to welcome our guest for today's episode, Julius Hudson. Julius is currently the National Professionals Chair of the National Society of Black Engineers and he's also a practicing civil engineer. Julius, welcome to the Engineering Career Coach podcast. Oh, thank you for having me, Anthony. So Julius, just to get us started off for today, why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about your engineering career and kind of what you do on a day-to-day basis? Sure. I currently reside in Dallas. I am civil engineer, graduated from Preview A&M University, been working in the civil engineering space for about the last 18 years. After getting my degree, went back home to Chicago to work a little bit in that same space, getting some good construction experience, came back down to the South where I reside in Dallas and have been since oh six, oh five and been working with different companies and different projects here in the Dallas Metroplex area. Luckily, to still be in the space of civil engineering as my profession. And then now I'm a dad and a husband. That's a dad of a three-year-old and a husband of an educator. So we're just living here in Dallas and joining. Great. That's awesome. And we're going to talk about your role at the National Society of Black Engineers in a moment. I mean, it's Black History Month. However, before we get there, your LinkedIn profile says that you are a STEM advocate. Tell me more about it. Okay. I mean, ever since even in high school, going before I went to college to start engineering, I went to high school at Whitney Young and it was a college prep high school and it really involved us in the STEM fields. So ever since then, I've been interested in STEM. Luckily, I've been afforded the opportunity to develop a career in it. And I see it's fruit from experience, from a monetary perspective, just everything from actually saying things from beginning to end. So as a STEM advocate, through my extracurricular activities and also through my employment, I try to continue to give back to those that are coming up right behind me or either somewhere further down the line, like maybe in high school and really promote STEM science, technology, engineering and math as a field of choice, as some exciting things to do and other opportunities for the young high school kids to kind of go into outside of sports. So really just promoting what STEM is from a functionality perspective and then also holistically from a career perspective. So just really an advocate for that STEM space. That's great. And you said that, you know, you enjoy giving back and another way that you give back, of course, is you're involved at the national level with the National Society of Black Engineers or NSBE. What is NSBE? Tell us about that organization. Oh, great. NSBE, NSBE, the National Society of Black Engineers is an organization that was really started in 1975 by the nickname Chicago Six, though those were six engineering students that Purdue University. And then started in 75, as you know, around that time, heavy and segregation and racism and things of that sort. And to have engineering students in a prestige university like that needed to really find a common ground to kind of help each other. So they actually started NSBE as what you see in 2020. So it started there on the campus and it's interpolated to like over 300 collegiate chapters, maybe 88 professional chapters. But the mission of NSBE is to really increase the number of socially or culturally responsible black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community. And it started, ironically, our college students. And that's really the biggest thing or fact that people don't know about NSBE. It's the largest collegiate grant or collegiate governed organization in the United States. My national chair, I am the chairman of the professional branch of the society, but my national chair is a doctor student. And some years, you know, they're actually, you know, collegiate students who are getting their bachelor's or either master's. So it varies, you know, throughout the years. But that's a very important piece of the society because, I mean, even now we're managing $13 million budget. And it's kind of amazing to know that, you know, this is really ran by college students. Yeah, it is. I mean, I had no idea. And, you know, that's kind of why I wanted to have you on the show was, you know, being that it's Black History Month. And I think a lot of engineering professionals aren't aware of NSBE. And even there's other organizations like NSBE that have done a lot of really good work. And it's really interesting to hear that it came from college students and has gone into become such a big operation at this point, as you mentioned. And talk about your experience with NSBE. How did you get involved from the beginning? Based in its root, I was introduced to NSBE while I was in college. I was a freshman in college, went to a historically Black college. I just saw a lot of guys, you know, competing in different competitions on campus and saw that NSBE was very prevalent. That was my first introduction to it. But because of my work schedule and other things you have to do in college, I really didn't participate and get the full benefit of NSBE while I was in undergrad. So I'm one of those few members that really got engaged once I became a professional. So when I moved to Dallas, I really got in LinkedIn with the professional chapter. And a lot of the professional chapters really start off by mentoring and being that source of their resource for the different colleges in the area. So I started off as a college initiative chair there, where that's essentially what I did. I really was the, I guess you would say, the middle person between the collegiate members and the DFW Metroplex to the professional members just to try to bridge that gap, provide some of the soft skills, and just really just be a professional in that city. Since NSBE is an international organization, different people from different cities can land in Dallas. They may not have went to school in Dallas and they may need to have a network to kind of get involved. So that was my start, really being that avenue, helping the collegiate chapters start a few younger professionals, more so the pre-college chapters, and really just giving back to them and being a resource and introducing them to the professionals. And what made you Julius, at what point did you decide that this is an organization that I really want to get more involved with? First day. It was really, because like I said, I'm a STEM advocate. I love that part. That is really my bread and butter why I became active member of NSBE is that it provides me with that vehicle to help younger, younger upcoming professionals. So once I saw that opportunity, once I really bought into the mission and actually saw it work, and it's really easy to see results when you deal in this kind of demographic, because you got four years before you matured, played into a professional, and you can see you can mentor someone as a freshman and four years out of college. And you say, okay, you've made a difference in that person's career choice. So it was really from the start, saw the impact and really enjoyed. You went to school, I think we're similar in age. You were in college probably like around 20 years ago, you know, 15 to 20 years ago, when you first got involved with NSBE. So yourself as a student, as a black engineer, did you find that there were, you know, challenges because of that and NSBE helped you with that? Or do you think that, you know, just trying to get your feel for how the society impacted you as you were going through college to give you extra support? It provided again, I can speak vicariously through my colleagues, because I saw, you know, I felt as a professional, I missed a big opportunity in participating heavily in college and NSBE, but just living through my colleagues and also seeing the impact that NSBE has now with college students. And we really look at NSBE as a family, you know, we really have a thing we call NSBE love, because it's not just, you know, I have a curriculum to follow and I go through there. A lot of times as a college student, you get connected to your next intern opportunity or your next full-time, or even taking it to the simple fact that when you're in college, you know, just getting through the rigorous courses that you have in engineering, you know, to have like-minded people bounded by just the society really, really joined together by the struggles of engineering. You know, engineering, as you know, is not an easy thing. So to actually have, you know, a collective unit, a collective group of people that are struggling through at the same time that builds a family. And, you know, from a collegiate standpoint, that's how you got from freshman to senior year. And then from a professional standpoint, I mean, I couldn't tell you how many networking opportunities for the next job. The job that I'm in now, I got unofficially. It wasn't like I went to a career fair and things like that. I just, I knew the guy. You know, we networked and he, you know, then our paths crossed. I know this company for eight years, you know, starting the business. So it's really those things that are very hard to measure. But if you probably reach out to any NSB member, I guarantee you have a story similar to that that relates to family. So that's, that's essential to the society. Now, there are other professional societies out there, many great ones. And I'm sure you're involved with other societies, potentially to whatever level, what's different about NSB for you? It's not, well, in some societies, the NSB is not always about the number. It's truly invested in its membership. And some of the other organizations, you know, just as a person who wants to give back in general, you kind of do some of the same things, but it's not design, you know, our programming is designed in NSB to foster the next leaders, you know, it's truly designed to empower, you know, empower members as, as, as young as, as young as third grade, you know, we have three demographics. We have a, we have a pre-college, NSB junior demographic, the college demographic and the professional demographic. And, you know, encompassing this same mission. I mean, you don't really, the goals will be the same in some of the other societies or organizations that I'm a part of, but the application and how the members within those organizations contribute is, is a lot different. And I would say NSB by far, you get invested. It's a truly, it's a true healing investment into the society, which makes it a little bit different than some others. It feels like a family, like you said before. So in terms of helping, you know, you mentioned earlier on that NSB is really focused on, you know, cultivating leaders, right? Helping your members to really be those leaders to really, I believe the mission is around increasing the number of black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and possibly impact the community. How does NSB do that specifically? Are there reach out ways or there are ways to support? Like what does that look like? What does the framework for that look like? Well, it's kind of three things that we hit. You know, the first part is increasing the number of culturally responsible. It's really in our name, the National Society of Black Engineers, based on kind of what I stated, how we were founded and the need for the society at that moment. It's really integral to keep that as we progress even now into the future, because the times are different, but some struggles can be comparable. So that cultural piece is really, really embedded in the programming that we do from an aspect of responsible black engineers who excel academically, of course, with these leadership opportunities. Psychic board of directors were broken up into six regions. Each one of those regions have their own boards. These are all high visible training grounds for the next executive leader. So these opportunities for college students to participate in these positions are available. So that's one of the ways we do it. But then we also do it in our programming as well. We have, right now, Nesbius is on an initiative to have 10K, it's called 10K by 2025. And what that is is we want to graduate 10,000 black engineers annually by the year 2025. And this was brought upon because of some surveys and studies that we looked at back in 2013 that had the average number of engineers graduating was about close to like 3,600 a year. I'm happy to say now we're close to like 5,500 a year. But still keeping that goal, if you do the math quick, we're trending up, but we're not going to hit that number unless we do some more creative things, which the leadership here at Nesbius is really actively looking at ways to kind of increase that number even more. So that initiative is key. We feel that if we position people because retention is key. We get a lot of engineers, a lot of people that come, but not even a lot, it's not a lot, but you get a good amount of students that get into the field of engineering, but the retention piece is not there. So we work with universities, we work with partnering organizations like SWE and SHIP who have similar missions just to increase that number. And it's not just because of the number. It's because we feel that once we have that 10k by 2025, you will really see an impact from the black community in the field of staff because we have more access. That's awesome. Wow. I mean, it's great to hear that. I mean, you really have a clear goal and a clear focus and a goal like that where you say 10,000 engineers each year. To me, even if it's a lofty goal, it's great to have such a defined goal because then you have people on your board really focused on that. Each year you can see the progress you're making and really inspires people and pushes them forward, which is great. One question that I have for you in terms of, I'm assuming, let's say there's engineers that are listening, they might be interested in NSB. Okay. What is, when you say culturally responsible, talk about that term a little bit. What does that mean? Why maybe use those words? Talk to us about that because that to me, that sounds really interesting. It sounds like a really great kind of goal to kind of move forward. Culturally responsible, it's kind of, this is my interpretation of what I feel and what I breathe in the mission. But when I feel or when I say culturally responsible, I have a responsibility to myself and I have a responsibility to African Americans to assist where I can. And I feel that and I buy into that because it happened to me. I actually got assistance from NSB. I got assistance from my dad or other colleagues in my university. So the responsibility is really on us to provide avenues to introduce, soften a little, make easy, expose the next generation to still, you know, to the science. This is the basis of so many things that we actually do use and include in our everyday lives. So it is my responsibility culturally to actually do that. And in doing that, you know, it's a holistic, it's a holistic help, a holistic approach. But I really do have to keep in mind that because of some of the struggles that we do have as African Americans in STEM field and in society when we become professionals, you know, every little bit helps and every network helps. So keeping that cultural peace is, like I said, I think earlier, it's very important. Yeah, you know, I agree with you and that that's why I was asking the question. I think that I think that just for everyone, you know, knowing, learning about your heritage and your background and being able to any way you can apply it into your career, into what you do on a daily basis, I think is a very important thing. I mean, I have my great grandfather came here from Italy early 1900s, and I took a lot of time trying to learn about, you know, his, what he went through. And it's been helpful for me in my career. And that's why, you know, I really like what you said there and that you feel like there's a responsibility to give back. And, you know, NISB for you provides an avenue to do that, which is great. There are also great organizations like you mentioned in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, the Society of Women Engineers that we've, you know, done some work with as well. So there are, there are societies and there are groups out there for you of engineers in all cultures. And it's important to find those people, like Julia said, they can become like a family to you in terms of your career development, your support, your progression. And that's really why we wanted to, you know, take some time during Black History Month to highlight NISB and have Julius on to talk a little bit about his experience and how it's helped them and how, you know, groups like this can help you in your career. So Julius, before we let you go, how can our listeners find out more about NISB, assuming go to the website and they can check it out there, right? Yeah, that would be the first opportunity if you go to www.nsbe.org. This is really the main hub of where you can connect with NISB holistically. As stated, we are in six different regions across the United States, which also we have some international chapters in Ghana and other areas. And then it also ties you into access to one of our, I guess, I would call it a huge event that NISB actually puts on each year is our national conference, where it's going to be in San Antonio this year from March 23rd, March 25th to the 28th, 29th. And it's in different locations each year. Last year, we were in Detroit and we actually had over 15,000 NISB members in the city throughout that full four to five day conference. And, you know, of course, we generate revenue from the city, but the biggest thing is that we have those three demographics that I expressed, the NISB junior, the collegiate and also the professionals all in one area. And we have a huge career fair, you know, it's over like 350 companies, 4,500 companies, they're looking to hire on the spot, you know, this is one of the biggest draws for our collegiate students is that they get a chance to, you know, get opportunities with any company you can name, looking to hire talent on the spot. So this is going to be in San Antonio this year. It moves around each year. So this is another way that if you're in that area, of course, we're on different social media platforms as well, using kind of the same tags of NSBE or either NSBE professionals. Awesome. All right, Julius, one last question for you. From your experience with NISB, for you personally, you know, what has been the most positive, what's been the most positive experience that you've taken away from NISB? Or, you know, what's been most impactful for you about the whole experience? Well, I talked about just my experience about NISB, but being in now, I guess you would call the executive role of National Director for the professionals and other roles leading up to that. It's just really a good opportunity to serve. I mean, it's been challenging, but in those challenges, the rewards are better. Getting the chance to actually develop strategic practices to reach our goals, working with great teams each year, you know, meeting different members with different disciplines and engineering over the years. Don't know where I would have gotten that kind of exposure with so many talented, talented people. So it's really, it's the story behind NSBE, but it's also the role getting into it. It's what I really appreciate. And then actually seeing the results afterwards. That's awesome. Well, Julius Hudson, Julius is the National Professional Chair of the Society of National Society of Black Engineers, and he's a practicing civil engineer. And Julius, thanks so much for spending some time with us here on the Engineering Career Coach podcast. It was a pleasure to have you. And I appreciate the invite. Thank you, Pat. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Please leave your comments and your questions in the comments section below this video. Also, if you'd like to view the full show notes for this episode, visit engineeringmanagementinstitute.org or see the link in the video description. There you will find the key points discussed in today's episode, as well as links to any of the resources, websites or books mentioned during the episode. Until next time, I wish you the best in all of your engineering career endeavors.