Missouri S&T Chancellor Cheryl B. Schrader

Dr. Cheryl B. Schrader, chancellor of Missouri University of Science and Technology, is one of the keynote speakers for the national 2014 Project Lead the Way Summit to be held Nov. 2-5 at the JW Marriott in Indianapolis.

Schrader, who has been Missouri S&T’s chancellor since April 2012, is one of the few female engineers to lead a research university. In her speech, she will address the importance of attracting more women and minority students into the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

Project Lead the Way (PLTW) is a national effort to encourage more youth to pursue STEM degrees in college. Missouri S&T is the statewide affiliate for PLTW and each summer provides PLTW education to more than 350 elementary school, middle school and high school teachers from throughout Missouri and the nation.

Schrader will speak during the general session that begins at 9:45 a.m. Monday, Nov. 3. The PLTW Summit will bring together nearly 1,500 educators and leaders in the corporate, nonprofit and government sectors to discuss ways to address education and workforce development challenges.

Other keynote speakers at the summit include Steve Forbes, chair and editor-in-chief of Forbes Media; former U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett; and Jeff Charbonneau, the 2013 National Teacher of the Year.

A recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring from the White House, Schrader is also an IEEE Fellow, a recipient of the IEEE Control Systems Society’s Distinguished Member Award and a recipient of the Distinguished Educator Award from the Electrical and Computer Engineering division of the American Society for Engineering Education.

Prior to joining Missouri S&T, Schrader served as associate vice president for strategic research initiatives and dean of engineering at Boise State University. While dean, the college’s undergraduate engineering enrollment increased by 60 percent, graduate enrollment increased by 36 percent, and funding for research grants and contracts in the college more than tripled.

In 1984, Schrader earned a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Ind. She earned master of science and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 1987 and 1991, respectively. Her research background is in the area of systems and control.

Passionate about increasing interest in STEM education, Schrader’s current research interests focus on creating and assessing innovative learning methods to help students of all ages succeed.