Honoring the Experiences of Our Black Colleagues

His mother earned her master’s degree from Stanford and spent her career working for the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers. His father, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, is also a Grammy-winning opera singer. “I share my parents’ background because of the stressed importance of learning when I was growing up. It was never education for education’s sake,” he added.

Domenic studied mechanical engineering at Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, LA. There, his interest evolved from cars to engines and power systems. During his last semester, he attended the National Society of Black Engineers National Convention, where he set his sights on several automotive companies. One evening, Caterpillar representatives invited him to dinner to discuss opportunities. “I truly enjoyed the conversations with the representatives. The dinner didn’t feel like a recruiting event,” Domenic said. The next day, he stopped by the Caterpillar career fair booth to share his resume and had an on-the-spot interview with an HR manager from the large engine design center in Lafayette, IN. A few weeks later, Domenic received a job offer to work with the team designing the C175 – the first engine Caterpillar had designed from the ground up in several decades. “Before the convention, I wasn’t even thinking about Caterpillar, but by the end, I knew that this is where I wanted to be,” he added.