HUNTSVILLE — LaunchTech celebrated its new home in Huntsville by honoring the impact of women in STEM during its annual The STEMVP Brunch on July 9. A black-, woman- and service-disabled veteran-owned business, LaunchTech has been recognized as one of the country’s fastest-growing companies.
The company presented All-Star awards to four women deemed some of the “Most Valuable Players” in STEM: Dr. Kimberly Robinson, executive director and CEO of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center; Dr. Erica Hopkins, K-12 STEM and workforce development lead at Northrop Grumman; Dr. Kuan Collins, master solutions architect within SAIC’s national security and space sector; and U.S. Air Force pilot Maj. Suzanne Crespo Valentin.
The 2022 recipients of the Launching Scholars Initiative scholarship were announced at the brunch. Launching Scholars was created to provide access to opportunities for girls 15-18 from income-challenged homes and diverse communities who are interested in technology, aviation and aerospace. The flagship scholarship will allow 12 girls to attend Space Camp in Huntsville this summer.
LaunchTec is dedicated to diversifying the STEM field. Some of its efforts have centered around exposing young girls to the field — in which women constitute 34% of the STEM workforce and where black, Latina and indigenous women represent less than 10% of that total, according to data from the National Girls Collaborative Project.
Founded in 2016 by Air Force veteran Venus Quates, LaunchTech provides to provide mission-critical technology solutions and operations support for enterprise organizations in the public and private sectors.
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