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Robert "Bobby" Blount,
Jr. |
Volunteer Extraordinaire
Bobby Blount
May 2005
Robert "Bobby" Blount, Jr., first began helping kids reach their
potential when he was not much more than a kid himself, coaching
community sports during his high school years. As an adult, Blount
still helps kids—not only on the playing field, but in the
academic arena as well.
A senior principal systems engineer at MITRE's San Antonio office,
Blount has spent the last several years directing the annual Texas
Solar Car Race Event, which brings together hundreds of elementary
and middle school students who work in teams to build sun-powered
vehicles. With hands-on assistance from his MITRE colleagues, the
race has become one of the most successful events of its kind in
the country.
"Planning, finding sponsors, training, and administering the events
on race day—that's all done by MITRE San Antonio people,"
Blount says proudly.
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Bobby Blount (second
from right) discusses the upcoming race with participants
in the 2002 Texas Solar Car Race Event. |
Two years ago, when the Department of Energy (DOE) launched the
Middle School Science Bowl—which includes a race car competition
and an academic bowl—it turned to MITRE. "DOE invited us to
be a regional site and host the academic bowl as well as the race,"
he says. "This race is different, though. Instead of using solar
power, the cars use fuel cells. Schools come to compete from all
over the state, as well as from Louisiana and Arizona."
Blount has always put a lot of energy into everything he does.
For instance, not long after joining MITRE in 1987 (following a
five-year stint in the Air Force), he began attending law school
at night. He received a degree from the George Mason School of Law
(to go with his engineering diploma from the U.S. Air Force Academy
and his Master of Science degree in systems management from St.
Mary's University). Blount worked in our McLean office on projects
involving the federal court system and on a program to upgrade and
consolidate radio communications for the District of Columbia's
police, fire, and ambulance services and Office of Emergency Preparedness.
Around that time, he began volunteering in earnest—with official
support from MITRE. Blount and his colleagues developed a corporate-sponsored
multimedia presentation designed to interest at-risk youth in science
and technology. It included video donated by NASA and the Six Flags
Amusement Park organization and voiceovers from a local DJ. It was
successful enough that when Blount transferred to MITRE's Houston
office in 1992 (his wife, Sandra Sandoval, is a native Texan), he
continued the program there.
Teamwork in the Office and the Community
Blount moved to San Antonio in 1994, where he's project leader
and associate department head for our Space, Intelligence, and Information
Operations Division in MITRE's Center for Integrated Intelligence
Systems. His team supports the Air Force's Cryptologic Systems Group
and specializes in making military and intelligence information
systems secure through tools such as public key infrastructure (commonly
known as PKI).
After settling into his new position, Blount initiated the volunteer
programs he's still overseeing today. "In 1996, we contacted the
local school district and began a mentoring partnership with two
schools that had large populations of at-risk students," he remembers.
"The kids had the idea to build remote-controlled solar cars. Then
we discovered that the DOE promotes a solar car race sprint using
guide wires on a track. We got advice from the agency and set up
our first race." The program attracted a lot of participants and
attention, ultimately leading to DOE's invitation to run the regional
science bowl.
A proud father of two, Blount also coaches basketball and soccer
teams, is active in his kids' PTA, serves on a district-wide educational
foundation, and has been elected to two terms on his local school
board. He's currently president of both the Northside School Board
and the Bexar County School Boards Presidents' Coalition. In recognition
of his commitment to the community, he was recently named the Texas
Outstanding Adult Volunteer for large school districts by the Texas
Association of Partners in Education (TAPE). The TAPE award is just
one of many that Blount has received, including the 1998 Black Engineer
of the Year Award for Community Service.
Blount is quick to give credit for many of his achievements to
a supportive environment. "MITRE is very encouraging of our community
activities, and just about everyone in the office gets involved
in the solar car race and academic bowl," he says. "We know we have
to take care of our jobs and our sponsors first, but that's part
of what makes everything come together. There's a feeling of trust
and good will here in the office. It correlates with the type of
people we have here—everyone's very public minded. We all
want to get things right, both in our jobs and our community."
—by Alison Stern-Dunyak
MITRE's San Antonio Site
Since its founding in 1978, MITRE's San Antonio site has grown
into the corporation's third largest, with nearly 60 employees serving
sponsors such as the Air Force's Cryptologic Systems Group, the
Air Intelligence Agency, Air Education and Training Command, 311th
Human Systems Group, Joint Information Operations Center, and the
Air Force Information Warfare Center.
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