History of SEA
In early 1990, the presidents of four historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) initiated discussions pledging to combine their resources to form an alliance to help improve their science and engineering education programs. On February 21, 1990, the group formally signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish the Science and Engineering Alliance, Inc. (SEA) at a ceremony at the Cannon House Office Building in Washington, DC. The four HBCUs were Alabama A&M University (Huntsville, AL), Jackson State University (Jackson, MS), Prairie View A&M University (Prairie View, TX) and Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge(Baton Rouge, LA). To help strengthen the enterprise, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) formally joined the Alliance by signing a MOU with SEA on June 16, 1990, pledging to establish programs for advancing knowledge in the physical sciences and engineering. The mission of SEA is to enhance the combined research and training capabilities at the institutions and thus to ensure that the nation has an adequate supply of globally competitive American scientists and engineers to meet the workforce needs now and into the future.
Dr. Robert L. Shepard, was selected as the founding executive director of SEA and charged with securing office space in Washington, D.C. near key federal agencies and related businesses, obtaining non-profit status for the Alliance and move the SEA forward. On November 26, 1990, the SEA headquarters was established at 1522 K Street, N.W., Suite 210. On June 6, 1991, Dr. Shepard hired a financial expert, Mrs. Halima Adasi as the first employee, and the operation of SEA got underway. The young organization was in need of top notch legal support and Winston & Strawn, one of the top law firms in the nation, stepped forward to provide pro-bono legal services to SEA. The Non-profit Division of Winston & Strawn move quickly to write the Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws establishing non-profit status for SEA in the State of Delaware. On May 23, 1991, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued an Advanced Ruling that the SEA Articles of Incorporation not only met the requirements for 501(c)(3) Tax Exempt status, but also met the requirements for 509(a)(1) Foundation status. In 1992, the Advanced Ruling was dropped and SEA acquired both Nonprofit Section 501(c)(3) Tax Exempt status and 509(a)(1) Foundation status from the IRS. Obtaining this status strategically enables us to work more effectively with our customers and business partners while entitling contributors and benefactors to personal tax deductions when making a gift or donation to our organization. In 2002, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) became the second national laboratory to join SEA. Since its inception, SEA has continued to support numerous projects and activities which have provided value-added benefit to the academic institutions, federal agencies and the business community. In 2004, this growth included the expansion of the Washington, DC operation to include a new training center which doubles as a resource center in support of the District of Columbia Public School (DCPS) science and mathematics teachers. SEA also supports, in part, summer internship programs, small business mentoring programs, administration and project management services and hosts an annual student technical conference.
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