Social Responsibility

Delphi engineers demonstrate technology to students at Engineering Fair

Delphi engineers recently participated in the National Society of Black Engineers 7th Annual Engineering Fair at Shortridge Middle School in Indianapolis, Ind. Michael Parran, Digital Signal Processor software engineer; Deres Eshete, electrical engineer; and Sheldon White, senior project engineer, shared their interest in engineering with elementary, middle and high school students while demonstrating Delphi's products.

When approached by the NSBE to coordinate Delphi's participation, Parran said he was excited about returning to his middle school as a professional and talking with the students. "It's fun to demonstrate our products, but this gives me the chance to talk with kids and encourage them to excel in school," said Parran. "The students get excited about the high-tech products and I emphasized that they, too, can become designers and inventors."

Eshete said he jumped at the chance when Parran asked him to participate. While encouraging students to get good grades, he demonstrated one of Delphi's navigation systems.

"I thought all the high-tech displays would draw the students to our table," said Eshete. "They were particularly interested in the navigation system. I talked with them about the system's key concepts and explained that development of the complex system took a lot of hard work and effort. I also explained the importance of teamwork and how it is key element in achieving the successful completion of our projects."

As a first-year participant, White said he wanted to help students realize their potential and saw this as an opportunity to talk with them about "what engineers do." "It is amazing what a positive impression you can make on a student when you show them what you do, take the time to talk with them about college and encourage them that they can do the same," he said.

White demonstrated the high value/low cost navigation radio. The radio was a prototype displayed at January's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and features a navigation system, CD player, 4.3-inch display and two secure digital (SD) card slots for navigation data or music files. The SD card allows navigation data to be stored using smaller media than a DVD. The radio also has a USB interface for a thumb drive, which could store navigation or music files.

Parran graduated from Kettering University with a bachelor's degree in computer engineering and earned a master's in electrical and computer engineering from Georgia Tech. White received a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering/computer science from Polytechnic University New York and a master's degree in computer information systems from the University of Phoenix. Eshete earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and a master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Notre Dame.

Engineering fields represented at the event were civil, architectural, electrical, mechanical, structural, software and industrial engineering.