What field of business should you pursue based on your personality

What field of business should you pursue based on your personalitySo youre thinking about pursuing business but have no clue where you would fit in best? Should you become a public accountant, a digital marketer, or maybe even human resources? The possibilities are endless in business. You are bound to find your perfect match based on what you enjoy doing. googletag.cmd.push(function() googletag.display(div-gpt-ad-1467144145037-0) ) This quiz is perfect in helping you decide where your skills will shine in the business field.script type=text/javascript src=//cdn.playbuzz.com/widget/feed.js/script div class=pb_feed data-embed-by=849e55f8-0435-43df-8530-07799c43ae5c data-item=182a8a3c-e72d-4db9-a5b6-9c29a85d5083 /divSource Playbuzz

How to Keep a Bad Reference from Ruining Your Career

How to Keep a Bad Reference from Ruining Your Career How to Keep a Bad Reference from Ruining Your CareerNegative references can undermine your work overnight. How to stop them from ruining your career. TWEETWeve all been there, some jobs just dont work out. Either theyre not a good fit, or weve made some irreversible mistake. No worries, just chalk it up to schwimmbad luck, pick up the pieces and move forward. What if that doesnt work, and youre bad fortune hurts future offers? Some employers arent willing to leave the past in the past. They send references that hurt your chances and can cost you career advancements. For behauptung instances, a more proactive approach to a professional reference list is needed.Here are five methods to prevent past errors from becoming future issues.Clarify the situationWhile it may seem obvious to avoid including an employer you believe will give negative reports on your professional reference list, many neglect this pertinent step and insist on ref erring hiring managers to companies that hold them in less than perfect esteem. You may think that a past employer wont give a negative reference, but unfortunately employers can, and do, give bad references. Think employers cant legally give a negative reference or do more than confirm dates of employment? This is not true. The law doesnt prevent negative references, and, professional ethics notwithstanding, past supervisors can and will speak poorly if you let them.Before listing your past company, check with them to see what they will say in a recommendation. Often they will tell you upfront if they think it inappropriate to send referrals their way. Others will not comment. It doesnt hurt to ask. You also can ask a colleague to call and see what the reference is before including them on your professional reference list. If the review is negative or unconfirmed, dont list them as a reference.Have a conversationWhen a negative reference is unpreventable, and your former anfhrer ha s hurt your reputation, it is time to reach out and negotiate a truce. Call your former boss and ask if they would be willing to agree to a future reference call. While you might dread making this call, remember that the worst that can happen is that theyll say no.Be careful not to come off as judgmental. Treat this situation the saatkorn as a client with concerns or complaints. Go into the meeting with compassion and understanding. Listen to their complaints, offer solutions to the problem, and apologize. Be sure toListen to their side of the story.Use I statements avoid the use of You pronouns.Explain the impact this caused to your career.Dont argue or be judgmental.If the conversation doesnt look like it is going to accomplish anything positive, be assertive and explain you think this is unprofessional and counterproductive to both sides. Many employers will feel pity on your mistake, especially if you were young and just starting out, or they may fear legal recourse.Establish th e true storySometimes the bad item on your professional reference list is a case of a misunderstanding or some form of inaccurate information. If the reference is factually inaccurate, skip your former boss and go straight to the Human Resources department. This may seem extreme, but giving a bad reference based on false information is unethical and unprofessional.Explain the supervisor has wrong information. Dont be judgmental, and never say they are lying. Human resource specialists are trained to handle this type of problem and will investigate your claims. Often, if you can prove the information is wrong, they will apologize and make it right with the new company.Explain the situationWhen you cant avoid a bad reference or negotiate it away, explain it to potential employers. Warn them that the reference will not be a good one, and take time to explain why. Dont make excuses, and never accuse the company of being in the wrong. Take responsibility for your actions. This shows matu rity. Everyone makes mistakes. Your future boss wants to know how you plan to prevent the same mistake from happening again. Some recruiters recommend smoothing the way by offering positives and proactive measures you took while at the job. Then explain the mistake. Others say sugar-coating the incident makes you look less than willing to take responsibility. One of the most common strategies employed against a negative professional reference list is more positive references. Consider seeking positive reviews from colleagues at the same company. They be able to detract from the original negative feedback.Ask them to stopFor negative references that dont cross legal boundaries, tell them to stop giving bad references. This is particularly effective if the information is not accurate and could hurt your reputation unwillingly. A strongly worded cease and desist letter addressed to the CEO, or another person high up in organization, is more effective than arguing.List the name, complai nt and negative reference material in the letter. Be assertive but not accusatory. Tell them what they are doing, why it hurts and to stop sending negative references. Also include an ultimatum, like Better Business Bureau or Chamber of Commerce complaint, if they do not discontinue their actions.Get others involvedLegal remedies should always be a last resort. This is a costly solution, to both sides. But if you cannot convince the person to stop defamation practices, legal action may be required. Consider three aspects before seeking a lawyerIs this the only solution?Is the negative reference causing irreversible damage to my career?Do I have the time and money to pursue legal remedies?Sometimes court appearances arent needed. A lawyer can contact the former employer on your behalf. Many companies prefer to prevent court actions and simply stop sending references of any kind.TakeawaysIts difficult to build a positive image in your career. Negative references on your professional r eference list can undermine your work overnight. After 10 years of perfect work and productive contributions, one small mistake could shine brighter than those $50 million contracts you brought to the company. Be careful of every word you say and action performed. If you dont know if it could hurt, dont take the chance.Ready to write the next chapter of your career? Hire a TopResume writer todayRelated Articles

Best Small Business Hiring Practices - Spark Hire

Best Small Business Hiring Practices - Spark HireSo youve hired a new employee. A few days pass so far, so good. But then a few weeks later, things change. Your new hire, once so promising, is consistently falling short.Its every small geschftliches miteinander owners nightmare. You know better than anyone that a hiring mistake can cost you big time. In fact, TIME reports that it can cost up to twice of that employees annual salary, according to the Society for Human Resources Management.How can you ensure you dont find yourself in this situation again? TIME has a few suggestionsOpportunities for career advancement. When youre creating the profile for a job opening, dont just limit yourself and job candidates to what you need right now. Think long-term. Include some mention of professional growth and advancement.Employee referral program. The best judges of who would be a good fit at your company are your own employees. Tap them as a resource for new hires. Theyll be able to suggest job candidates who are not only qualified but will be a good fit for the team.Tap into technology. Streamline the hiring process with technology like Spark Hire Create a branded company profile, interview job candidates via video, and share those interviews with colleagues. Using technology like Spark Hire for hiring purposes saves you time and enables you to include more of your coworkers in the hiring process.Just say no to social media stalking. Dont Google job candidates. Youll get a skewed sense of who they are and what they have to offer. Photos from their college days might not be indicative of the type of person or employee they are today. Plus, it can land you in a heap of legal trouble.Identify your must-have traits. Before job interviews, get your team together and talk about the six qualities that you want your new hire to possess. leid only will you all be on the same page, but your interviews will be more focused. And with more focused interviews, youll be able to bet ter find the candidate that is right for the job.With these tips in mind, youll not only be able to hire a better candidate but do so in a shorter amount of time. Granted, the goal isnt to get a body into that cubicle or office as quickly as possible. Its to find the best candidate for the job. But getting specific about what you want in potential candidates as well as how you approach the hiring process can yield the best possible result for your small business.Do you agree or disagree with any of these best practice suggestions? Leave a comment below.

Solving World Hunger with 3D-Printed Food

Solving World Hunger with 3D-Printed Food Solving World Hunger with 3D-Printed Food Solving World Hunger with 3D-Printed FoodFood is a major multinational issue. Numerous concerns include food quality, nutritional value, climate change, environmental impacts, and having enough to feed everyone. unterstellung growing concerns about global food security and sustainability, as well as consumer demands for customized food products, have led to the adoption of new technologies, including 3D printing food.3D printing is an ideal technology for food manufacturing because it can produce 3D constructs with complex geometries, complex textures, enhanced nutrition, and realistic flavors.According to a new market intelligence report by BIS Research, the global 3D food printing market is expected to reach $525.6 million by 2023, rising at an annual rate of about 46 percent through 2023. This growth is attributed to the rising awareness among the food innovators about the need to elevate food manu facturing systems to meet these global and consumer needs.Engineers have created a machine that can both 3D-print food and simultaneously cook it with infrared laser. Image Columbia UniversityHow to 3D Print Food?Food 3D printing differs from 3D printing with engineering materialsmetals or plasticsin several ways, said Hod Lipson, professor of mechanical engineering and data science at Columbia University, who conducts research in this field.First, it is inherently multi materialmost food is made of multiple ingredients, he said. Second, the materials are much more complexthe rheology of peanut butter, for example, is much more complex than of ABS plastic. Third, these materials interact with each other chemically while printingthat is an essential part of cooking but adds further complexity. Finally, food printing ultimately involves cooking while printing, such as with a laser. Top Story Fight Climate Change, Build the Wall Technologies used to 3D print food include selective sint ering, selective hot air sintering and melting (SHASAM), liquid binding or binder jetting, and hot-melt extrusion.Recently, South Korean engineers have developed a 3D printing platform that uses a fused depositional process to create food items with microstructures that replicate the physical properties and nanoscale texture of real food. These can then be tuned to allow the customization of 3D-printed food on a personal level, said lead researcher Jin-Kyu Rhee, associate professor at Ewha Womans University.Out of What to 3D Print Food?Materials for 3D-printed food are ordinary food ingredientswater, oil, flur, butter, and eggs.However, the rheology and chemical interactions of these materials is very nonlinear, Lipson said. The combination of material deposition patterns and cooking patterns via laser can yield very novel textures.The food ink is deposited by a nozzle guided by an STL file derived from CAD data. The ink must have the proper consistency and viscosity to be extruded smoothly from the nozzle, as well as to maintain its shape after deposition. Multi-nozzle printers allow more design complexity a multi-nozzle print head, for example, can automate pizza-making by depositing dough, sauce, and cheese.Bioprinters can 3D print layers of living animal cells that are built up to create meat. Modern Meadow, for example, bioprints 3D-printed meat without killing animals. The process starts with a draw of stem cells from a cow via a biopsy. The cells are stimulated to produce muscle cells, which are then deposited in multiple layers on a special surface by a 3D bioprinter. The cells fuse together, forming muscle tissue, or meat.More on High-tech Food Production 5 Ways How Digital Farm Technology Is Transforming AgricultureA key consideration with 3D-printed food is consistency and texture. Dr. Amy Logan, a senior research scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization in Canberra, Australia, who is researching ways to improve these properties of 3D printed food. Her team studies how 3D printed foods react under force, including how they deform or flow under pressure when being chewed.We dont want to be serving up a pile of goo, Logan said. Instead, our structured foods will be based on real foods and prepared with appealing textures, tastes, and smells. We use menschlich testers to describe products on the basis of smell, taste, or feel in order to ensure were getting it right.Whats Next for 3D-Printed Food?An exciting possibility for 3D-printed food is its ability to be customized. Inks can be formulated with extremely high precision to create foods with specific nutrient content for individual needs. Textures can also be modified so the food is easier to swallow.Various foods, including pork, chicken, potatoes, pasta and peas, are first cooked and then pureed before they are extruded and printed into recognizable shapes, reports GE on its website. 3D printing allows for food presentations that are visu ally appealing and therefore appetizing.3D-printed food may have an impact on relieving hunger around the world, using abundant and easily sourced food types such as algae, which are rich in protein and antioxidants.The reach of 3D-printed food is even out of this world NASA is developing a 3D food printer for deep space that will create meals from powdered proteins, carbohydrates, macronutrients, and micronutrients.More on 3D Printing Breakthroughs Artificial and 3D Printed Skin Advances for Robots and HumansThere are many innovations in progress, from modeling and simulation of food printing, and the chemical interactions, all the way to ways to deliver energy to cook the food while printing, such as lasers, Lipson said. For example, our lab is working on modeling and simulation of food, as well as laser cooking.Food printing, Lipson stressed, is not just about making conventional foods using a new technique. It is about exploring new foods that were not possible to make before, L ipson said. I believe that humanity has been stuck in a small corner of food space due to our very primitive cooking techniqueswe still cook over an open flame like our ancestors did millennia ago.Food printing is about marrying cooking with software. And we know that once software enters a field, we never look back.Mark Crawford is an independent writer.Read More Exclusive Stories from ASME.org Global Talent Makes American Industry Stronger New Window Film Reduces Energy Costs The Bionic MushroomMaterials for 3D printing food are much more complexthe rheology of peanut butter, for example, is much more complex than ABS plastic.Hod Lipson, Columbia University

These 10 Workspaces of Great Minds Will Make You Rearrange Your Desk

These 10 Workspaces of Great Minds Will Make You Rearrange Your DeskThese 10 Workspaces of Great Minds Will Make You Rearrange Your DeskWe all need a healthy dose of inspiration from time to time. By looking up to great thinkers and trying to get a glimpse of their personal life, we want to see what they do differently and figure out what could be our own key to success. Research has shown that people in messy rooms are quicker at solving creative problems than those in tidy rooms. But our common sense seems to argue exactly the opposite - if someone fails to clean up the clutter from his desk, can he keep his mind sharp and focused?Many famous inventors and pioneers differed in their view on the orderliness. So why dont wetake a closer look attheir workspaces to discover the peculiarities of some of the greatest thought leaders in history?Lets see what their offices and desks can tell us1. Steve Jobs started from the scratchansehen courtesy of Thing BigThis visionary mind has turne d the world of computers upside down. But only few people know that Jobs welches living a single and simple life when he was starting to work on the first Macintosh computer. This period of his life was instrumental for determining the characteristic simplicity of all Apple products.From the following photograph taken at his apartment, you can only guess where the minimalist functionality of all Apple products came from. As Jobs himself remarked, all you needed was a cup of tea, a light, and your stereo, you know, and thats what I had.Bringing it mora up-to-date, Steve Jobs workplace was, ironically, one big mess. Succeeding in decluttering our desks more than any other product designer, Jobs seemed to be quite happy to wallow in a bit of chaos. His desk was one with plenty of documents and the shelves in his home office were just heaving with booksImage courtesy of Pinterest2. Elon Musk likes camping in his officeTeslas making history and its mastermind leaves nothing to chance (se ethisto learn how to get a job there). When the new Model X went into production, Elon Musk made a decision to move his desk to the end of the production line. Spending hundreds of hours a week at work, no wonder he brought a sleeping bag to his office and put it right next to his desk.Image courtesy of Business InsiderOn the other flosse, Musks desk at SpaceX looks fairly ordinary (check this to see how to get a job there). It reflects his highly disciplined work schedule which is broken up into 5-minutes-long blocks of intense work. So instead of procrastinating and cluttering his workspace with memorabilia of the past, his mind is focused on the future.3. MarkZuckerbergsworld of equalityThe way you think about work environment communicates your values to the outside world. The setup of the new facebook incs headquarters reflects Mark Zuckerbergs belief that an open floor plan where people work close to each other enables better communication and collaboration among employees. If you just fell in love with the idea, heres a detailed guidehow to get a job at Facebook.Image courtesy of IndependentConsistent with his normcore fashion style, Facebooks CEO also keeps his workspace simple. In his live video tour of Facebooks new headquarters, Zuckerberg explains that he doesnt have an office for himself. Instead, he works from the same kind of desk as every other Facebook employee.There are just few things on Zucks desk. A laptop, a pile of books from his Year of Books challenge, and amodel of the companys visionary project- a satellite that Facebooks working on at the moment to spread the Internet to all corners of the world. Good luckImage courtesy of Pinterest4. Albert Einstein, the staunch advocate of a messy deskThe genius physicist is one of the greatest minds of the 20th century and greatest advocates of a messy desk at the same time. He stood up for us, the eternal chaos makers, and comforted our restless souls by this well-known prozentzahl If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, then what are we think of an empty desk?According to Einstein, a messy desk is a productive desk. Creative minds tend to be a bit light on the housework and he considered that completely normal. Thanks to a photograph by LIFE magazines Ralph Morse, we can observe what a messy desk meant for the genius himselfImage courtesy of Big thinkEinsteins iconic desk is untouched and left exactly as it was on the day he died in 1955. Books and sheets of paper everywhere and a blackboard full of notes behind his back. Fairly impressive.5. Keep calm and Nikola TeslaImage courtesy of Wikimedia CommonsThis surreal photograph of a supercharged magnifying transmitter was shot in 1899 and immediately entered history. It was taken inside Teslas lab in Colorado Springs but its sensational appearance is a result of smart editing that we now call post-production. Tesla knew too well that to sit there would be to lose his life. The photo was taken by Dickenson V. Alley as part of a promotional stunt. The inclusion of Tesla hanging out in his chair was possible only through double exposure.To create the photo, Alley took two photos and merged them together. He first photographed the machines massive sparks in a darkened room. Only after the machine was off could he invite Tesla to pose in the chair for the second photo. No worries, Tesla was no liar and admitted that the photo was photoshopped soon afterwards. But its fame spread in the speed of light. Great piece of marketing, Nikola6. They say that NASA scientists like to partyImage courtesy of BoredpandaJust look at this incomprehensible (at least to us) board of calculations being occupied by elite NASA scientists in 1961. This is how they did it the old school way. The age before computers. Nope, not even calculators existed back then.The photo, taken by J. R. Eyerman for LIFE magazine, does indeed look very scientific and impressive. But as a mathematician would point out, there are just a c ouple of general equations of motion and no calculations on the board. The scene was certainly staged, but why didnt they use some real badass math? Back in the Space Race era, NASA would be a fool to publish anything other than generic equations in LIFE magazine. But the situation in the photo might actually resemble what the scientists work used to look like - just with more constructive things written on the board.One of the things NASA was known for were so-called math parties where prominent scientists would gather and each of them would master one part of the equation. So geeky7. Stephen Hawkings chase of the invisibleImage courtesy of LivescienceThis shot captures the desk of the late theoretical physicist at the University of Cambridge back in 2012. The photo was commissioned as a photographic portrait to celebrate Stephen Hawkings 70th birthday. However, this isnt exactly how Hawking would normally arrange his things. Various items and oddities that he had in his office we re moved into view. This was done in order to give you a glimpse inside one the greatest minds of modern science.Take the plastic action figure with the helicopter top, for example. Its Hawking as he appeared in an episode of The Simpsons. Other curiosities include a statue of the pope, a little toy computer with sticky notes, a space shuttle model. But one of the thingson the desk characterises the life and work of the quadriplegic genius more than anything else. Its the little crystal globe with a quote by Saint-Exupery that sums up the struggle and strife of any theoretical physicist What is essential is invisible to the eye.8. Mr Edison, its time to wake upImage courtesy of Wikimedia CommonsThe photo shows the prolific inventor and businessman dictating instructions to an employee on his dictating machine in 1929. Though best known for his invention of the phonograph and incandescent electric light, Edison had 1,093 US patents in his names in a variety of fields.But not many peo ple know Edison was also a renowned catnapper. While looking pretty busy at his desk, he was likely to doze off on various pieces of furniture in his lab. Thomas Edisons desk was full of cubbyholes - small holding places for the stream of ideas in his mind for future inventions and current business. The piles of papers and projects around him were only a reflection of the ever-expanding questions in his mind.9. Giant black desk of Angela MerkelRarely giving any interviews and sleeping only 4 hours a day, Merkel may seem like a recluse. But serving as Chancellor of Germany since 2005, she is thede factoleader of European Union and, and as many would claim, the most powerful woman in the worldBut still theres still something peculiar Merkel needs to deal with every single time she comes to work. Its her desk.Chancellor revealed she doesnt like the giant black desk she inherited from her predecessor Gerhard Schrder, preferring to work at the small writing-table in front of it. HeresMe rkel sitting at the four-metre-long desk in the Federal ChancelleryCourtesy of Manager MagazinBy the way, guess whos the man looking constantly over Merkels shoulder.Nope, thats not her husband. Its a rather cool portrait of Konrad Adenauer, West Germanys first post-war leader.And what about that desktop world globe? Undoubtedly, theres just one way to read it- as a symbol ofChancellors motherly concern for each and every country on the planet.Natrlich10. Wheres the button?We have gone to great lengths looking for someone whod challenge Albert Einsteins rhetorical question about an empty desk. The following picture shows if not one of the greatest, then one of the most influential minds of the 21st century.Image courtesy of CNBCDonald Trumps shiny Oval Office desktop tries hard to convince us his mind is far from cluttered. In fact, theres nothing on the famous Resolute desk but a telephone, a coaster, a black marker and a wooden box. But where is the red nuclear button, so much big ger than Kim Jong-uns? No one knows, and we all hope the president doesnt either.These workspaces of great minds can be an inspirationDifferent strokes for different folks, right? Some people feel better sitting behind a clean and tidy desk. Others like to be surrounded by huge piles of books and documents. Whatever the preferred setup, it always seems to reflect the mindset and current pursuits of a given person.Workspace design is a matter of choice that should suit your ways of working. Through all the activities we have during the day, our desk is where we store our most important documents and tools and where we get most of our work done. Leave nothing to chance and arrange your desk the way you like it. Keep useful items at hand and get rid of all unnecessary stuff occupying your workplace. Get ready for the flow of new ideas and watch your personal success story unfold.Searching for a new workplace? Clean up your desk and check outThe Jobseekers Guide To the Galaxy - our ult imate guide to job hunting.Share Your Feedback or Ideas in the Comments

Keeping Your Job in a Tough Economy

Keeping Your Job in a Tough Economy Keeping Your Job in a Tough Economy If you work at a company thats going through tough times, the likelihood is that youve witnessed at least one layoff and maybe you worry that more might be coming, but if you want to keep your current job, you should know that there are positive steps you can take to improve your chances of staying.Ive been on both ends of layoffs. When I worked for HMV, I welches let go when the company closed its US operation. Then when I worked for Acclaim Entertainment, I was in the unfortunate lage of being the senior HR executive as the company slid slowly into bankruptcy. I cant remember how many lay-offs we went through in my 3 years there but it must have been at least 5 and every one of them was soul-destroying.Not only was it horrible to look at lists of names and decide who stayed and who went, but it was also difficult to get managers to choose who to let go. They were attached to all their employees, liked most of t hem as people, knew their families and hated to hurt them financially. But they had to make choices and when they did, here was their criteria Who adds the most value?Some people were obvious layoff targets. We had a telecommunications manager for example and in a company our size, that really didnt need to be a full-time job. Others were in crucial positions but maybe we had to cut back from four people to two.No matter what the situation, it always came down to that key question Who adds the most value?3 Tips for Keeping Your Job in a Tough EconomySo given that key question and based on my own experience, here are my tips for making yourself as indispensable as possible.1) Consider your position. If you were suddenly put in charge of the company and told to turn it around within a year, would you consider your position indispensable? If youre like our telecommunications manager and the answer is no then you need to take some action. You need to start helping out in other areas. Fo r example, our telecommunications manager reported to IT if he had expanded his skill set and learned to troubleshoot computers as well as phones, maybe he wouldnt have been the one laid off. After all, the other IT guys just knew computers but he would have known both.2) Consider your contribution. If your position is not dispensable but there are others who hold the same role, evaluate your contribution against theirs. Be brutal with yourself. Ask yourself if you are doing everything you could. Working as hard as you could. Contributing as much as you could. If the answer is no, change that now.3) Bottom line? Add more value. No matter what type of position you have, talk to your manager about how you can help him or her. You may feel resentful or angry at management and thats understandable, but these are tough times for them too. I cant tell you how many times managers have cried in my bro over having to make lay-off decisions and/or over the stress of the resulting additional workload. They are being asked to do more with fewer people and they are probably losing sleep over it. So talk to your manager about how you can take on extra work to help ease the burden. Doing this is guaranteed to raise your chances of avoiding a pink slip.I dont mean to sound Pollyanna and pretend this is all in your hands. These are tough times and even after all your best efforts, your company may still have to let you go. But they may not and wouldnt you feel better if you took matters into your own hands instead of just waiting for the axe to fall?Plus, if the worst does happen, adding more value and taking on more responsibility is always going to help you on the way to your next job. Your resume will be stronger and your background more impressive because you found new ways to add value.So those are my key tips for holding on to a job in tough times. What do you think? Did I miss any? If so, please let me know in the comments.

Ursula Burns to be Honored at 2014 Congress

Ursula Burns to be Honored at 2014 Congress Ursula Burns to be Honored at 2014 Congress Ursula Burns to be Honored at the 2014 CongressUrsula M. BurnsUrsula M. Burns, chairman and chief executive officer of Xerox Corp., is one of the eight engineering innovators who will be recognized at the 2014 Honors Assembly, which will take place during the ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition in Montreal, Canada, from Nov. 14-20. Burns will receive the Kate Gleason Award during the ceremony on Nov. 17.Established in 2011, the award recognizes a female engineer who is a highly successful entrepreneur in a field of engineering or who has had a lifetime of achievement in the engineering profession. The award honors the legacy of Kate Gleason, the first woman to be welcomed into ASME as a full member. Burns is being acknowledged for zu sich outstanding engineering and geschftsleben leadership, and her distinguished career culminating in achieving the distinction of bein g the first black woman to lead a Fortune 100 company. Burns started at Xerox as an intern in 1980, when the company welches a leader in the global photocopying market. She later assumed roles in product development and planning, just as the company had begun positioning itself as a digital document technologies company. After leading several business teams including the companys color business and office network printing business teams including the companys color business and office network printing business from 1992 to 2000, Burns was named senior vice president of corporate strategic services, a position that put her in charge of the companys manufacturing and supply chain operations. After being named as president and member of the board of directors in 2007, Burns became CEO of Xerox in July 2009. Shortly afterward, she made the largest acquisition in the companys history - the $6.4 billion purchase of Affiliated Computer Services, catapulting the companys presence in the $5 00 billion business services market and extending the companys reach into diverse areas of business process and IT outsourcing. On May 20, 2010, Burns became chairman of Xerox.Burns is also an active in a number of community, educational and nonprofit organizations, including FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), the National Academy Foundation, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the U.S. Olympic Committee. She is a founding board director of Change the Equation, which focuses on improving the U.S. education system in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). In March 2010, President Barack Obama appointed Burns as vice chair of the Presidents Export Council.Burns, who was elected to the National Academy of Engineering last year, has earned a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering from Polytechnic Institute of NYU in 1980, and a masters degree in mechanical engineering from Columbia University in 1982. She received honorary degrees from several universities including a degree of Doctor of Commercial Science, honoris causa, from NYU in 2010.The ASME Foundation is the proud supporter of the ASME Honors and Awards program through the management of award endowment funds set up by individuals, corporations or groups. For more information on the 2014 Honors Assembly and all of this years award recipients, visit www.asmeconferences.org/Congress2014/Honors.cfm.