Charles E. Vela

Engineering scientist, entrepreneur and educator with advanced degrees in Electrical Engineering and Operations Research.

Charles Vela was born in Central America and migrated to the United States at the age of 14. First he live in the Latino Mission District in San Francisco and later moved to the outer Mission, but continue to attend the Mission District Junior high, Horace Mann and attended Mission High School.

Charles is best known for having conceived, between 1990-1992, the methodology and philosophy of Science, Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) as an educational concept to increase the number of Latinos in science and engineering, and to create the future technical and scientific leadership in the US. STEM integrates the aforementioned disciplines into an educational body of knowledge. In 1992, Vela coined the term STEM and stablished the STEM Institute in the metropolitan Washington DC area. STEM is revolutionizing science and technology education in the world, particularly in the US, UK, China, Australia, Canada, some African and Latin American countries.

During the Covid pandemic, he led a team that developed a strategy and operational plan for an effective Covid vaccination in the United States. The team brought together scientists and engineers specialized in mathematical optimization, artificial intelligence, transportation and logistics; medical doctors specialized in public and military health including disease management; and a brigadier general, former Deputy Undersecretary Secretary of Defense for Logistic specialized in military operations involving many people, facilities, suppliers, destinations in a dynamic complex environment. The strategy was presented to the White House, members of the US Congress, and the state of Maryland and led to the implementation of the first unrestricted street vaccination in the USA. This strategy was later adopted throughout the United States and internationally.

Charles has worked in technical and scientific management and engineering positions for large-scale, high-performance, mission-critical enterprise systems at leading US research & development institutions, including the National Academy of Sciences; MITRE, formed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); the Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute (IITRI); and Noblis, formed by MITRE. Charles was the founding President and Chief Scientist of Expertech Solutions, a company dedicated to strategic consulting for the US government.

Among his most important contributions are:

• The modernization of the US Federal telecommunications system (a project of ten billion dollars), where he served as Lead Engineer.

• The modernization of the of the IRS (a project of seven billion dollars), where he served as Chief Scientist.

• On the Mapping of Brain at the National Academy of Sciences, where he served as Assistant Study Director.

• The merger of the three military medical components of the US Armed Forces: Army, Navy and Air Force for the National Capital Region, including Walter Reed National Medical Center, as Chief Scientist.

• The integration and deployment of a geographically distributed emergency response system in case of a terrorist attack in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area.

• He assisted business and stability operations in Afghanistan as part of the Department of Defense's stabilization strategy, which contributed to the withdrawal of most US troops from Afghanistan during the presidency of Barack Obama.

• Managed a team that validated and verified the tests program sets for three major US Air Force airframes: E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS); RC-135 Reconnaissance Aircraft Theater and National Level Intelligence; and A-10 Close Air Support (CAS) for Ground Forces.

His most recent areas of research and development include the use of smart devices for voting and real-time processing of electoral results; high-performance algorithms and models for real-time virtual surveillance systems; command and control system for managing natural or man-made disasters.

He has received multiple awards, including:

• US Presidential Award on Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring.

• Vice Presidential Award Reinventing Government (Hammer Award) for his contribution to the modernization of the Federal telecommunications system.

• Pioneer in Science Award granted by the African-American scientific community for his contribution to science and technology policy.

• Junipero Serra Award bestowed by the American-Latino scientific community for his contribution to STEM education among Latinos.

• the NBC4-Telemundo Award for Excellence in the STEM Universe.

• Founder of STEM Award given at the Petroleum Institute by Hispanics in Energy.

Charles has served on multiple boards, commissions, committees and studies, including:

• the Presidential and Congressional Commission on Woman and Minorities in Science.

• the National Research Council Knowledge Assessment Committee.

• the National Science Foundation's Model Institutions of Excellence.

• the National Commission on Technology Education.

• National Academy of Sciences’ Committee to Evaluate the National Institutes of Health Minority Programs.

He has been a member of multiple non-profit organization boards including the National Council of La Raza (NCLR/UnidosUS), the most important American-Latino civil rights organization in the US.