Pratt Chat: L'Wade Lewin Describes Atmosphere, Energy at NSBE Convention

Rob McGuinness: Hello, everyone, and welcome to another edition of Pratt Chat. I'm Rob McGuinness with Pratt & Whitney Communications. I'm on the phone today with L'Wade Lewin. He's a test engineer on the Next Generation Product Family. He's joining us all the way from Thompson, Manitoba in Canada, where it's cold, and he's conducting ice testing on the PW1200G engine. L'Wade, thanks for joining us today.

L'Wade Lewin: Thanks for having me.

RM: L'Wade is going to talk to us today about the National Society of Black Engineers Annual Convention. That's coming up real soon, and he's going. [The convention runs March 23-27.] So he knows better than anyone what it's like at this event, and why it's an important event to attend. So you're going to the convention, you've been to a bunch of these. What's it like at the NSBE conference?

LL: The NSBE conference itself is an atmosphere of professional engineers, collegiate engineers and upcoming engineers - meaning high school students and middle school students. We also have a boatload of collegiate students. We have a two-day career fair, which is a highlight of the event. It's over 300 colleges, and 300 corporations at the career fair. The highlight of the event for me is to actually see the young engineers blossoming into soon-to-be professional engineers. What I mean by that is, in the past I've served three years as a regional advisor. And I've actually seen a lot of these students within the northeast plus New York, which is what we call Region 1, going from their freshman year into their senior year. Now, a lot of them are graduating. To actually see them come to the career fair, where I'll be recruiting, and not only hand me their resume, but talk to me in a soon-to-be professional manner. I remember talking to them as freshmen, and they were rough around the edges. Now, I've spoken to them, and they're polished.

RM: The theme for the convention this year is engineering a cultural change. So they're challenging the NSBE members to set a new standard by personally embracing the values of academic excellence, cultural awareness and professional success. L'Wade, what does that mean to you?

LL: Engineering cultural change means a lot to me. At a high level, what it means is - actually, let's break it down from an engineering standpoint.

RM: OK

LL: So, working in an engineering firm all my life, you have a culture within an engineering firm. You have a culture of product first or schedule first or integrity and ethics and so forth. When we say we're going to engineer a cultural change, it doesn't mean we're going to change any of that. What that means is that we're going to bring a new, diverse approach to it. Because we're going into a new generational awareness. So, myself, millennials, we're actually taking over these engineering firms. So now it's this whole process of adaptability for millennials. It's how the millennials - which I believe is one of the smartest generations - we're now taking over and we're now coming into corporate America and we're taking our knowledge and we're actually applying it to the engineering firms that we'll be entering as professionals.

RM: Why are organizations like NSBE so important to a company like Pratt & Whitney?

LL: It gives Pratt & Whitney the opportunity to see a diverse skill set. It gives opportunities for Pratt & Whitney to get talent from diverse areas, places that they wouldn't have gotten them from before. Let's say, for example, I was a recruiter at one of NSBE's regional conferences, and we recruited students into my department from NYU - New York University - Columbia University as well as Clarkson University. Typically not target schools of Pratt & Whitney, but schools that produced three diverse and talented young engineers who, not only did they get internships at Pratt, but also they accepted full-time offers.

RM: And how about for you personally, L'Wade? How has NSBE helped you in your career?

LL: NSBE has given me the ability to actually learn about myself more so as a leader. I know we throw the word leader around in everyday workings, right? But when I say as a leader, it taught me exactly how I listen, how I communicate, which is a very big part of what I do now, but more so, how do I motivate those that I am actually leading in the team environment? So I've become more of a team player. I've served on numerous roles within NSBE. I've served as a chapter president, I've served on a regional board, I've served on the national board twice. I had that mindset that, or I thought I had that mindset coming into work, working for Pratt & Whitney and the other divisions I worked in. So when I got the opportunity to be a test engineer, I got to apply all that knowledge that I've learned and applying it with the standard work of the corporation and the culture of this corporation into my team environment, into my team atmosphere, to continue to be the test engineer that I am, to be the lead test engineer.

RM: L'Wade, enjoy the NSBE conference in Boston in a couple of weeks. [The convention runs March 23-27.] I think we are just about out of time for this episode of Pratt Chat. I'd like to thank L'Wade for joining me today. For Pratt & Whitney Communications, I'm Rob McGuinness. Take care, everyone.