DIVERSITY IN FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO, November 8, 2011 – Committed to more than standards of excellence in secondary education, the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico (PUPR) was awarded by Cirrus Technology, Inc. in recognition of their support to the program to increase minority contracting in the United States Department of Defense and their contribution to increasing the pool of qualified minority cost estimators under the Senior Executive Service (SES) Diversity Assurance Act of 2009. Fifteen universities were chosen in the United States and its territories to support these efforts through cooperative education programs. The PUPR was the only university in Puerto Rico selected to collaborate with these efforts ue to its highly competitive curriculum in Cost Estimation Analysis. Jorge González and María Rivera, both graduate students majoring in Construction Engineering at the Polytechnic University Graduate School, were selected to be a part of the Cirrus Technology team. “The Polytechnic University was highly recommended and regarded as the ‘Harvard of the Caribbean’ by our colleagues in the Pentagon and the US Secretary of Defense,” said Jerry Harris, President and CEO of Cirrus Technology, Inc. “The Polytechnic University is the only university in Puerto Rico that offers courses aimed at developing specialists in this area, which was necessary for the execution of this project. The students carried themselves above expectations, even when compared to the students from selected universities in the United States. These students are beyond bright, sharp and intelligent.” The SES Diversity Assurance Act, an initiative begun by Congressman Danny K. Davis and Harris himself, aims to provide for greater diversity within, and to improve policy direction and oversight of, the Senior Executive Service. The SES Diversity Assurance Act also establishes the Senior Executive Service Resource Office, tasked with managing and promoting an efficient, elite and diverse corps of senior servants. “The United States Department of Defense has a pool of cost estimators that are close to retirement,” said Rafael Lineros, Director of Security and Project Manager for Cirrus Technology. “The United States will soon have a lack of qualified specialists in this field, which we aim to fill with this new generation of cost estimators. A more diverse and talented generation of cost estimators.” For more information on these and other initiatives by the Polytechnic University School of Engineering and Geomatic Sciences, and the Cooperative Education Program and Placement Office, please call 787-622-8000 ext. 279 or visit http://www.pupr.edu/coop. The Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico (PUPR) was founded in 1966 as a private nonprofit education institution specialized in Engineering and Geomatic Sciences, Architecture and Business Administration. With an annual enrollment of over 5,000 students, the PUPR is the largest private institution in the United States specialized in Engineering and related technical fields for Hispanics. Since its beginnings, the PUPR has specialized in Engineering and Surveying degrees. The main campus of the institution is located in Hato Rey, in the heart of San Juan. In the years 2001 and 2002, The Polytechnic University opened new campuses in the cities of Miami and Orlando, respectively. Eight of the nine PUPR School of Engineering and Geomatic Sciences programs are accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET), the recognized independent institution for the accreditation of universities and colleges specialized in Sciences, Computers, Engineering and Technology. The School of Management of the PUPR is the only one in Puerto Rico accredited by the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education (IACBE) and the Architecture School count with the accreditation of the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB). The PUPR was recently designated National Center of Academic Excellence in Education of Information Security (CAE/IAE) for the years 2009-14, by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), reflecting by this way the quality of security in information education of the UPPR.