Defense Dept. honors Cal State L.A. for strengthening mentor–protégé partnership
Engineering College teams with SpecPro to mentor Mystikal Solutions
Los Angeles, CA -- The College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology at Cal State L.A. recently received from the U.S. Department of Defense a Nunn-Perry Award, which recognizes outstanding teams involved in the department’s Mentor-Protégé Program.
Under the direction of Technology Professor Paul Cheng-Hsin Liu, Cal State L.A. teamed with designated mentor SpecPro, Inc. to provide guidance, support, technical transfer, and mentorship to foster the development of the team’s protégé, Mystikal Solutions, LLC.
Mystikal Solutions, a small business owned by a service-disabled veteran, provides information technology and program management services to various organizations and business.
SpecPro, Inc., an Alaska Native corporation, has for 16 years specialized in life sciences, engineering and technical services, information management services, and environmental services.
According to a Defense Department website, “During this very successful partnership with SpecPro, Mystikal improved their management, technical capability, and business development. Mystikal is poised for continued growth and continued success into the foreseeable future.”
A CSULA faculty member since 2000, Liu is an expert in manufacturing processes, quality control, lean manufacturing, production control, rapid prototyping, and material sciences. He has been involved in the Mentor-Protégé Program since 2001. He was recently honored by Northrop Grumman’s Socio-Economic Business Programs (SEBP) for outstanding performance and support of the company’s programs.
Named for former Senator Sam Nunn and former Secretary of Defense William Perry, the Nunn-Perry Award was established in 1995 to recognize outstanding teams involved in the Mentor-Protégé Program. Established in 1991, the program helps small businesses (protégés) compete successfully for prime contract and subcontract awards by partnering with large companies (mentors) under individual, project-based agreements.
For conference photos, go to http://www.sb-activities.net/mentor-protege/Photos/?cat=4. For more details on the Nunn-Perry Award, go to http://www.acq.osd.mil/osbp/mentor_protege/nunnperry/sstories.htm.
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Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 210,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds—reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six Colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to a unique university center for gifted students as young as 12. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH- and Rockefeller-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center. www.calstatela.edu