Growing up, Janaé Gillus eagerly followed her parents – both engineers – to activities hosted by the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) chapter near her hometown of Carpentersville, Illinois. She watched her mother oversee a NSBE Jr. chapter and a FIRST Lego League Explore (formerly FIRST Lego League Jr.) team. There, Gillus developed her own dream of innovation, leading her to a computer engineering major at Rose-Hulman.

These formative experiences in her youth not only ignited Gillus's passion for the profession, but also instilled in her a motivation for mentorship and outreach. Now a Rose-Hulman sophomore, she is charting her own legacy through the Rose-Hulman collegiate chapter of NSBE, where she serves as the Pre-Collegiate Initiative Chair and the Technical Outreach Community Help (TORCH) Chair. She coordinates events for middle and high school students to learn more about the NSBE members' experiences in college, as well as the campus NSBE Talent Show, which is scheduled for March 28. 

"Being in a room of other Black students can just be sometimes really relaxing," Gillus said. "Sometimes we just talk and joke about different topics. Sometimes we're learning more about our history. It's such a nice community where you can see familiar faces."

She has invested herself wholeheartedly into the organization and has already attended the NSBE regional conference twice and the national conference once with the Rose-Hulman chapter.

"At those conferences, seeing a room full of so many Black engineers is slightly mind-blowing," Gillus said.

Gillus values community building, professionally, academically, and athletically. She plays for the Rose-Hulman soccer team, forming strong bonds with her teammates before she began her first quarter of classes.

"I think being in any community where there's a group of people and you're all working towards a certain goal…you can all band together, and you all know you're going through the same thing," she said.

Gillus noted how valuable those connections have been, even in her classes. "It's so much easier when you have other people than when you're doing it by yourself…making those connections, trying to keep them throughout and not burning bridges as you go along."

The relationships she's built are why she's so passionate about opening doors for others. Gillus, a Noblitt Scholar, serves on the Noblitt Scholars Program's STEM Outreach Committee. She connects local educators to Rose-Hulman, organizing events to excite students about STEM opportunities. This year, the committee has already hosted lava lamp and tower building activities and is planning a STEM Jubilee for spring quarter.

"Not everyone knows what STEM is, and not everyone has the opportunities to learn about it," Gillus said. "Giving that opportunity to other people makes me really excited and happy… That's how I got into STEM."

It's the realization of a dream for Gillus, who will be a digital signal processing intern at Ideas, Commitment, Results in Aurora, Colorado, this summer. As a high school senior, Gillus received a scholarship in recognition of her passion for outreach. The scholarship was the Jayshree Seth Scholarship for Women of Color in STEM, which was created by a 3M employee to empower young women to enter the field. Gillus was featured in a story 3M recently published about the recipients.

"After getting the scholarship, along with the Noblitt Scholarship, I really made it an internal mission to be involved in campus life at Rose," she said. "I felt like I had been given an opportunity and I really wanted to use those opportunities to make a difference at Rose." 

She fully appreciates that her journey has come full circle. From tagging along with her parents to outreach events hosted by NSBE and the Society of Women Engineers, to hosting them herself, Gillus understands the inspiration she creates for the next generation.

"Sometimes, I think back to when I was a little kid, and I would see the college students at the NSBE conferences," she smiled. "To see where I've come now and to see that maybe there's a little kid or a high schooler looking up and being amazed at everything is really surreal." 

"I'm becoming that person that I looked up to," Gillus realized with a grin.