It’s not much of an exaggeration to say that a single question changed the direction of Joshua John’s life. He was studying for his undergradu­ate physics degree at Northern Arizona University when he took a quantum mechanics class. “I asked the professor how this would be used and what the applica­tions were,” recalls John, who graduated in 2005. “My professor said those are questions an engineer asks, not a physicist. He encour­aged me to go into engineer­ing after graduating.”

Deanna Burgart’s decision to change careers came about suddenly and unexpectedly. She was attending a luncheon for women in the oil and gas industry when one of the speakers quoted author Steve Farber. “She said, ‘Do what you love in the service of people who love what you do,’” remembers Burgart. “I burst into tears. I realized I wasn’t doing either.”

“Every day we work toward solving hard technical problems that matter.”

Not long ago, Ginger Hernandez and her husband, Emmanuel, went to a social gathering at a neighbor’s house. When a woman there asked Hernandez how her day was, Hernandez told her it was “fantastic!” Hernandez, Cherokee, says her answer was delivered with such enthusiasm that it prompted a little skepticism. “The woman said, ‘Really? It was fantastic?’ And I told her yes, it really was.”

When William Tiger was in the fourth grade he made the trek from his home in Florida to Washington, D.C. It wasn’t a school trip to tour the city’s monuments and visit the museums. Instead, Tiger ventured to the nation’s capital with three adults from his Miccosukee Tribe to appear before a U.S. Senate subcommittee meeting chaired by Robert Kennedy.

When Gary Burnette was finishing up his degree in computer science in 1983, he knew exactly what he wanted to do with it: work at IBM. “There was no better place to be,” recalls Burnette, who remembers poring over glossy IBM brochures that detailed innovations the company was driving. “I was hoping I could get into a company that was advancing technology beyond everyone else and be a part of something on the edge.”

Reed has continued to work hard to help Native students interested in STEM careers. His efforts have led Raytheon to engage with local Native student communities in Boston.

Each year Polingyumptewa spends hundreds of hours mentoring and guiding young people who are interested in STEM.