Contact: Bob Ratliff
A new Mississippi State University faculty member is included among the nation's outstanding minority women in the sciences and technology.
Sonetra A. Howard, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, was among 50 from a variety of disciplines named recently to the National Technical Association's Top Women in Sciences and Technology.
Howard and the others are featured in the fall issue of the Journal of the NTA.
Founded in 1925, the Philadelphia, Pa.-based association is the nation's oldest organization for minorities in technical professional fields. Its membership includes scientists and engineers whose common goal is to ensure that minorities, women and youth have opportunities to obtain skills needed for science and technology careers.
Howard is the first African-American female to complete a doctoral degree in electrical engineering at North Carolina State University. At MSU last year, she became the first black faculty member in the department of electrical and computer engineering.
A Waynesville, N.C., native, she also holds bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from NCSU.
In addition to her teaching duties, Howard is a researcher at MSU's National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center.