ODU CMSE Ph.D. graduate, Johnny Garcia, kicked off the Engineering Diversity Lecture series for the Batten College of Engineering and Technology. Founder & CEO of SimIS, Inc., a modeling and simulation company in Portsmouth, Virginia, Garcia is a regular supporter of Old Dominion University and works regularly with faculty and students in the Department of Modeling and Simulation Engineering as well as the Virginia Modeling, Analysis & Simulation Center (VMASC). While his talk focused on overcoming the obstacles and challenges that sometimes come with issues of diversity, he also encouraged students to stick to it, regardless of the fact the engineering is one of the hardest degrees to pursue. Garcia assured the audience of students, as well as faculty, that the reward is worth the struggle. Sharing his own challenges as a migrant worker in Texas, with little idea of what he wanted to do, he offered students hope as he shared his path to success from being the first in his family to graduate from high school and go on to college, to joining the Navy, where he discovered his knack and passion for modeling and simulation. He explained how after a successful career at General Dynamics, he launched his own simulation firm. After a question and answer session, Garcia remained to answer more questions and to get to know some of the students and staff in attendance.
