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A native of Bogotá, Colombia, Yamile immigrated to the US in 1988 to pursue her PhD in industrial engineering with concentration in ergonomics and human factors engineering. Since 2001 she has applied ergonomics, engineering and technology, and parental intervention to develop products and services to provide newborns with proper development and maturation, and to ensure their effective inclusion into the family. She is a global leader and a strong advocate for humanizing the care of preemies with evidence-based developmentally supportive care, family-centered care, and Kangaroo Care.
All her work is on behalf of Zachary, her son, loving inspiration, and a survivor of extreme prematurity (see his story here). For her work and designs she has won over 17 awards and has been featured in international and domestic media.
Yamile is a licensed Professional Engineer (PE) in Texas, a Certified Project Management Professional (PMP), and a Certified Kangaroo Caregiver.
Before Nurtured by Design, Jackson worked for 8 years as a project engineer for Kværner and as a project controls engineer for Fluor Corporation in the US and England working in project management and controls from small ($2MM) in multi-projects environment to mega projects of several billion dollars for oil and gas customers.
In 1998 she founded Ringstones Consulting International Inc. and provided project management consulting and training (online and in-class), especializing in risk management, mostly in the oil and gas industry in the United States, Europe and Latin America. From 2003-2006 Yamile was a visiting lecturer of management at the University of Applied Sciences of Vorarlberg, Austria, where she taught 4 weeks a year. She has also been a visiting lecturer at numerous universities in the U.S. and Latin America.
Education
University of Houston (Houston, Texas): PhD Industrial Engineering (concentration: human factors and ergonomics) 2000
Clemson University (Clemson, South Carolina) MS Industrial Engineering 1995-96, 1999
University of Houston (Houston, Texas): MS Engineering Management 1994
University of Houston (Houston, Texas): BS Industrial Engineering 1991
Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogota, Colombia) Industrial Engineering Studies 1985-1998
Professional Memberships and Activities
Speaking Experience
Yamile has been a speaker at domestic and international conferences by the Construction Industry Institute (CII), the Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE), the International Society for Occupational Ergonomics and Safety (ISOES), March of Dimes, the Project Management Institute (PMI), the PMI Research Conference, and numerous universities. Equally important to her, she visits hospitals to educate mothers and caregivers of preemies about developmental care, family-centered care, and Kangaroo Care, and visits schools to inspire students to choose engineering as a profession.
Articles and Interviews of Note
Yamile’s personal and professional experience have been featured in the health and medical Reports of the Houston Chronicle, ABC, NBC, CBN, CBS, FOX, Univision, and BBC TV and Radio in Great Britain), as well as shows as the Rachel Ray Show, and various articles in publications such as Reader’s Digest (April 2002), the Institute of Industrial Engineers’ Magazine, the Houston Chronicle, the Washington Post, the Daily Mail (United Kingdom), MundoPM (Brazil), the TV documentary and special report "Healing from the Storm," which aired on CBS in June 2002, and the made-for-TV movie "14 Hours," which aired on TNT in April 2005. More>>
Other Activities
Yamile enjoys golf and photography and has traveled to over 45 countries. She lives to spend time with her family and friends, especially with her husband Larry, his daughters Jill, Steve, and Abby, and with Zachary (her son and loving inspiration).