Carlotta Berry

Carlotta Berry is an American academic in the field of engineering. She is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. She is co-director of the Rose Building Undergraduate Diversity (ROSE-BUD) program. She is a co-founder of Black In Engineering and a co-founder of Black In Robotics.

Early life and education

Berry received bachelor's degrees in mathematics (1992) and electrical engineering (1993) through a dual degree program between Spelman College and Georgia Tech. At Georgia Tech she observed the scarcity of female and African-American students and faculty within the engineering program, which sparked her desire to become an engineering professor to encourage greater participation of underrepresented populations in the profession.^[1] After graduation, she worked in industry to repay her student loans^[2] while concurrently pursuing a masters degree at Wayne State University. She earned her masters in control systems from Wayne State University in 1996, and a year later left industry to pursue a doctoral degree at Vanderbilt University.^[3] Berry was part of the Vanderbilt University Intelligent Robotics Laboratory (IRL), and was advised by Kazuhiko Kawamura and Julie Adams. Her doctoral thesis was on human-robot interface development for a mobile robot, specifically the enhancement of the interface through graphical visualization of the robot's short-term memory.^[4]

Career and research

Berry is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, where her academic interests include educational mobile robotics, human-robot interaction, and recruiting and retention of underrepresented populations in engineering.^[5] In 2008, Berry and her colleague Deborah Walter created the Rose Building Undergraduate Diversity (ROSE-BUD) program, which attracts talented female and underrepresented minority students in computer science and electrical, computer, and software engineering through scholarships and other program activities.^[6] Berry also worked with a cross-department team of faculty at Rose-Hulman to establish a multidisciplinary robotics minor degree program,^[7] for which she continues to serve as co-director. Berry has been a guest speaker at several Women in Engineering outreach events,^[8] and she has written articles for the New York Times^[9] and ASEE Prism magazine^[2] on her experiences as a professor from an underrepresented group.

Awards and recognition

Berry has received several awards for her work increasing diversity in STEM fields, including the Women and Hi Tech Leading Light award^[8] and the INSIGHT Into Diversity Inspiring Women in STEM award.^[10] In 2020, Berry was named Indiana FIRST Game Changer,^[11] One of 30 women in Robotics You need to Know about^[12] and Reinvented Magazine Interview of the Year award on Purpose and Passion.^[13] In 2021, Berry was named Dr. Lawrence J. Giacoletto Endowed Chair for Electrical and Computer Engineering.^[14] She was also awarded the TechPoint Foundation for Youth Bridge Builder award as part of the TechPoint Mira awards.^{[15],[16],[17]}

In June 2021, Berry was named Distinguished Fellow by the American Society for Engineering Education and IEEE Senior Fellow.^{[18][19][20][21][22][23]} In 2022, she earned multiple accolades and awards including 2023 IEEE Undergraduate Teaching Award,^[24] Society of Women Engineers 2022 Distinguished Engineering Educator Award,^[25] 2022 Distinguished Educator Award from the American Society of Engineering Education Electrical and Computer Engineering Division,^[26] and 2022 Open Source Hardware Trailblazer Fellow.^[27] In 2023, Berry was awarded the Abie Educational Innovation Award by AnitaB.org at the Grace Hopper Celebration in Orlando, FL.^[28]

Selected publications

• Ardell, C. Elevated Inferno, Rebellion Lit, July 2022.
• Berry, C.A., Remy, S.L. and Rogers, T.E., “Robotics for All Ages: A Standard Robotics Curriculum for K-16,” IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Vol. 23 (2), 40-46, June 2016. https://doi.org/10.1109/MRA.2016.2534240
• Berry, C.A., Mobile Robotics for Multidisciplinary Study: Synthesis Lectures on Control and Mechatronics, Morgan and Claypool, 2012. https://doi.org/10.2200/S00407ED1V01Y201203CRM004
• Berry, C.A., “Mobile Robotics: A tool for application-based integration of multidisciplinary undergraduate concepts and research”, Computers in Education Journal, Vol. 1, No. 3., pp. 102–111, 2010. https://peer.asee.org/15642

References