Distinguished Engineering Educator

Carlotta Berry, Ph.D.

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

For embodying exceptional teaching and mentorship; and for blazing new trails in robotics to increase diversity and inclusion of underrepresented groups in electrical and computer engineering.

Carlotta Berry, Ph.D., is the Lawrence J. Giacoletto Endowed Chair in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (RHIT). Rose-Hulman’s multidisciplinary minor in robotics, which she created in collaboration with other colleagues, is a key part of the university’s recruitment efforts. Dr. Berry’s research interests include robotics education, human-robot interaction, and increasing marginalized and minoritized populations in STEM fields.

A prolific speaker and author of the text Mobile Robotics for Multidisciplinary Study, Dr. Berry is also the founder and co-director of the Rose Building Undergraduate Diversity program and advisor for the National Society of Black Engineers. An active member of the American Society for Engineering Education, she is past president of the technical editor board of the ASEE publication Computers in Education Journal and associate editor for the Advances in Engineering Education journal. She is a class of 2021 ASEE fellow.

Dr. Berry is dedicated to diversifying the engineering profession by encouraging more women and marginalized and minoritized populations to pursue STEM degrees. She believes the profession should reflect the world we live in, in order to solve the unique problems that we face.

During 2020, Dr. Berry worked with colleagues around the world to start two nonprofits, Black In Engineering and Black In Robotics, which received the inaugural ASEE Constituent Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award. Both have a mission to bring awareness to systemic racism and inequity in STEM; build community; advocate diversity, equity, and inclusion; and connect with allies and sponsors.

Dr. Berry has received multiple awards, including the 2021 TechPoint Foundation for Youth’s Bridge Builder Award, and was named one of 30 Women in Robotics You Need to Know About — 2020 by robohub.org. She is the subject of Reinvented Magazine’s Interview of the Year Award on Purpose and Passion and received the FIRST^® Indiana Robotics Game Changer Award in 2020 and the 2018 Women & Hi Tech “You Inspire Us!” Leading Light Award.

In addition to ASEE, Dr. Berry is a board member of Future of Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering Education, the organizing committee for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ Human-Robot Interaction, RO-MAN conferences, and the Academic and Research Leadership Symposium, all of which align with her teaching and research.

Outside of work, Dr. Berry served for 10 years as a judge and advisor in FIRST Robotics. She was also a mentor to an elementary and middle school Gamer Girlz robotics team.

Dr. Berry holds a B.S. in mathematics from Spelman College; a B.S. in electrical and computer engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology; and both an M.S. and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Wayne State University and Vanderbilt University, respectively.

Married for 19 years to husband William, they have a 14-year-old daughter and live in Terre Haute, Indiana. In her free time, she cross stitches, plays sudoku, and writes contemporary romance fiction novels with Black women in STEM as main characters.