Alfred Grasso, President and CEO of The MITRE Corporation, has been named President of the Board of Directors of the National GEM Consortium, an Alexandria, VA-based non-profit that provides Fellowships and support to under-represented minority students seeking graduate degrees in the STEM fields - science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Mr. Grasso will serve as Board President for a 2-year term, beginning on October 1, 2010.

President and CEO of MITRE since 2006, Alfred Grasso is responsible for developing and leading the corporation's overall strategic and business operations and cultivating key sponsor and customer partnerships. Under his leadership, MITRE has received several prestigious awards recognizing its commitment to public service and technical excellence.

"I am honored to be named Chairman of The National GEM Consortium," said Alfred Grasso, MITRE president and CEO. "GEM is a special organization that is well aligned with MITRE's goal to foster the development of a diverse and robust technical workforce to meet the many challenges facing the nation."

GEM partners with corporations and universities to offer exemplary students the opportunity to attain graduate degrees through paid internships and full tuition assistance. Since its founding in 1976, GEM has helped graduate nearly 3,000 technical professionals, including 200 with doctorates in science and engineering. GEM's mission is especially critical at a time where recently 32 percent of U. S. tech companies responding to a survey entitled People and Profitability--Time for Change cited a skill shortage.

As GEM Board President, Grasso will be overseeing a significant strategic shift in the organization, expanding its core focus from administering graduate Fellowships to providing a full spectrum of resources and services designed to ensure greater participation in STEM graduate programs by under-represented groups. The goals are ambitious: build name recognition, reach out to new markets, improve GEM relations with Employer and University stakeholders, and increase its Fellowship package.

"We are delighted to have Alfred Grasso head our Board of Directors," said Michele Lezama. "The experience, strategic thinking and leadership he brings are critical to our growth as an organization, and we are excited to be working alongside him in our efforts to increase the participation of under-represented minorities in the STEM fields at the Master's and Doctoral levels."

Founded in 1976 at the University of Notre Dame, the National GEM Consortium increases the participation of under-represented groups (African Americans, American Indians, and Hispanic Americans) at the Master's and Doctoral levels in science, technology, engineering and mathematics by identifying and selecting highly qualified GEM Fellows to complete a program of graduate study and internships. Through its University and Employer Members and other partners, GEM raises funds to award much-needed Fellowships and builds mentor networks to support GEM Fellows on the path to academic and professional success.

The MITRE Corporation (www.mitre.org) is a not-for-profit organization that provides systems engineering, research and development, and information technology support to the government. It operates federally funded research and development centers for the Department of Defense, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and Department of Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Homeland Security, with principal locations in Bedford, Mass., and McLean, Va.

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