MISSION
Redefining the Future of STEM
To empower underrepresented students by facilitating access to STEM education through robotics engineering and computer science. We aspire to not only foster technical acumen but also nurture workforce skills including leadership, teamwork, and effective communication, thus shaping well-rounded future leaders.
RYAN MICHAEL DAZA
Executive Director
Ryan "Mike" Daza serves as founder and Executive Director of Capitol City Robotics, Inc, a 501(c) non-profit that serves to expose underrepresented students to robotics and programing. He also is founder and Director of Operations at Capitol City STEM, LLC, a robotics and coding educational program that exposes K-12 students to science and technology while inspiring them to pursue a STEM career. He has a vision of the future that is resonant with diversity and inclusion in the science and technology fields. He sees an environment where people of all ethnicities and genders work together to make STEM a safe and productive place to work and make the world a better place to live.
Mike graduated college from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and received his Masters at the George Mason University in economics. He worked with professors and lawyers gathering data pertinent to legal cases and publishing articles in political economy. He has published several articles and developed new systems in data collection. With the oncoming notion that technology is the future and his two children coming to elementary age, he decided to take the risk of becoming an entrepreneur and founded two STEM based institutions to better prepare his family and those who traditionally have not been given the chance for this future.
KENNETH F. HARRIS II
Board Member
Recently acknowledged by Forbes Magazine amongst the world’s youngest and most impactful individuals in the field of science, Kenneth F. Harris II is known for delivering thoughtful and dynamic leadership on programs of critical national and international importance.
Mr. Harris is the Database Lead Engineer for the NASA J2 Joint Polar Satellite System. In this role, Mr. Harris is responsible for developing procedures and implementing processes between the Flight Team, Instrument Vendors and Spacecraft Vendors. The attainment of which leads to the successful flight and data collection of the J2 Satellite Mission. The database utilized by both the ground system and flight team will allow the satellite to be monitored and controlled from the Satellite Operations Control Center (SOCC).
Prior to this role, Mr. Harris served as the Deputy Lead Integration Engineer for the James Webb Space Telescope’s Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM). Mr. Harris led a team of 10 engineers to successfully integrate ISIM, the main payload of JWST, to the Backplane of the Optical Telescope Element (OTE) Primary Mirror. This was performed in North Americas largest cleanroom, the Space Systems Development And Integration Facility (SSDIF). Mr. Harris’ leadership on the JWST program ranks him as one of the youngest African Americans in NASA’s history to lead an integration effort on a multi-billion dollar satellite mission.
Since joining NASA in 2008 as an intern, Mr. Harris held positions of increasing responsibility including; Mechanical Engineer, Integration & Testing Lab Manager, Deputy Lead Integration Engineer, Senior Systems Engineer, and Database Lead Engineer.
Mr. Harris’ honors and awards extend beyond his professional service to recognition of his tremendous leadership in the STEM field and international community. A proud son of an Engineer Mr. Harris champions the importance of early STEM exposure and engagement. In 2018 Mr. Harris delivered a TEDx Talk to over 500+ students concerning the power of mentorship and guidance. He was recognized as the Next Gen for Industry in 2019. Mr. Harris has appeared as a featured keynote speaker at a number of professional events, conferences, & symposia.
Mr. Harris graduated with honors from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering; he then completed a Masters of Science from Johns Hopkins University in Engineering Management.
A lifelong Maryland resident Mr. Harris, his wife & their two dogs reside in Prince George’s County Maryland. When not leading space programs or inspiring students to realize their full potential, Mr. Harris enjoys fine cuisine, traveling internationally, and owns and operates a wedding photography company.
DOMINIQUE TAYLOR
Board Member
Dominique Taylor is the SVP, People Operation at AXIOS, a new media company delivering vital, trustworthy news and analysis in the most efficient, illuminating and shareable ways possible. She believes culture and diversity are key drivers of a company’s success, that both are set in the formative stages of a company's life-cycle and that HR can be a force for good.
After graduating from Georgetown University, she spent the first half of her career as a consultant focused on Workforce Management before making the leap to work “in house” when she joined EverFi, a DC-based Ed Tech company. At EverFi she built out the Talent and Culture function as the company grew from 75 people to over 400, raised a Series C, acquired another company and won a myriad of awards ranging from DC’s Coolest Companies to Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work. She then joined 1776 for the opportunity to work with startups and entrepreneurs around the world to inform their culture and diversity strategies at a critical juncture in their company’s life-cycle.
When Dominique is not designing and implementing culture and diversity initiatives, she can be found trying to bring order to the approximately 578,962 Legos her three sons have accumulated in her house. Success has eluded her.
JAMIE RICHGELS
Board Member
As the Vice President of Technology, partner and Board Member at FileTrail, Inc. for over 20 years, Jamie directed the creation of FileTrail’s enterprise-class information governance SaaS platform used in legal, biotech, financial, energy, corporate & government sectors in over 15 countries world-wide supporting multiple languages. This solution was instrumental in establishing FileTrail, a boot-strapped start-up, to become the leader in information governance around the globe. Prior to FileTrail, Jamie has been involved with other technology startups and was a Senior Consultant at Andersen Consulting in Minneapolis and San Francisco.
Jamie holds a Master's degree in Computer Science from Georgia Tech, specializing in Computational Perception, Robotics & AI, and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science & Business from the University of Minnesota. Jamie lives in Washington, DC with his family and spends much of his free time mentoring his daughters in various STEM fields. In addition to all-things science and technology, he enjoys taking on home renovations, and is an advocate for childhood cancer research.