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America's growing need for engineers presents very favorable opportunities for techies with the necessary qualifications. For this article on African American engineers in the defense industries, Diversity/Careers interviewed more than a dozen well-qualified black techies. Three of them have PhDs, the rest have BS and MS degrees in areas like EE, ChE, ME, systems engineering, CS and a range of IT specialties.
Several of them were honored at the twenty-first Black Engineer of the Year (BEYA) awards conference in Baltimore, MD this year.
Dr Walter L. Dixon is an MIS architect in the ONR
Dr Walter L. Dixon is MIS enterprise architect and chief engineer at the Office of Naval Research (ONR, Arlington, VA), an agency that provides for the science and technology needs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. He's been with the agency for nine years in a variety of positions; he's currently the MIS enterprise architect and chief engineer, and a special assistant to the CIO.
Dixon explains that he's responsible for leading development of ONR's current and future enterprise architecture. "Enterprise architecture and IT management are dynamic processes," he says. "Right now the Navy is pushing to have all naval commands under one ERP application. That's a big challenge."
Education has been a lifelong pursuit for Dixon. He has a 1969 AA in electronic technology from the Community College of Baltimore (Baltimore. MD), a 1974 BS in political science and community law and a 1978 MS in planning and administration from Antioch College (Yellow Springs, OH); a 1985 BS in math from Towson University (Towson, MD), a 1988 BS in electronic engineering technology and a 1993 BSEE from Capitol College (Laurel, MD); and a 1999 MS in engineering from George Washington University (Washington, DC). His 2002 PhD in computer IS is from Nova Southeastern University (Ft. Lauderdale, FL). His dissertation was on artificial intelligence.
"When I was growing up in Baltimore, MD, education was a big thing in my family," Dixon explains. "My grandmother coached me relentlessly through arithmetic in elementary school; my father had a degree in chemistry and he encouraged me to go into EE."
Armed with his first masters, Dixon went to work as a junior engineer and project manager for AAI Corp (Hunt Valley, MD), which designed and manufactured high-tech mechanical and electronic systems for the government. He started in 1978, moved steadily upward, and in 1989 he entered government service at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station (Lexington Park, MD). Beginning as a project engineer for cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, he moved up to deputy director of advanced technology.
He started with the ONR in 1998 as a deputy program officer in aviation technology, went on to division head of IT ops and chief engineer, and took his present enterprise architect position in 2005.
Through the years Dixon has authored many papers and given dozens of presentations at trade and academic gatherings. The honors he's received include two ONR awards, in 2003 and 2005.
Dixon is also deep into important volunteer work. He's made two two-week trips to Uganda with Engineering Missionaries International (www.emiusa.org), who use their engineering and architecture skills on projects in the developing world. "I went with a team of engineers and architects, and helped design multifunctional buildings to serve as clinics, hospitals, schools and churches. Uganda is a beautiful country and the experience was very rewarding," he says. Dixon is also a member of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity, whose motto is "culture for service and service for humanity."
When Dixon retires he plans to go into teaching. "I've been invited to teach at the University of Makerere in Uganda and at the University of Accra in Ghana, and several other African institutions. I hope to teach in the U.S. as well," he says.
Jimmie Lee Davis is a senior software systems engineer at Mitre
The Mitre Corp (McLean, VA) is a not-for-profit organization. For nearly fifty years it has served government clients, including the department of defense (DOD), offering systems engineering, IT, ops and enterprise modernization expertise. It manages three federally funded R&D centers, one of them for the DOD.
"The Mitre workforce is diverse in many dimensions," says president Alfred Grasso. "We believe a diverse workforce helps the company realize its fullest potential."
Dr Jimmie Lee Davis, Jr has been with Mitre since 2000 and is currently a senior software systems engineer. This year he received one of two BEYA awards given for community service in industry.
Davis began his technical education with a 1990 BS in math and physics from Morehouse College (Atlanta, GA), a 1992 BSEE and a 1995 MS in math from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He completed his 1999 MSEE and 2000 PhD in engineering at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell as an AT&T Bell Labs cooperative engineer.
The co-op research fellowship program was started by AT&T and Bell Labs in the 1970s to increase the number of minorities reaching PhD status. Davis began with the program in 1987 as an undergrad.
"I had a football scholarship for my first year in college, but chose the academic scholarship from then on," he says. As a Bell Labs Fellow he worked at lab sites in Murray Hill and Holmdel, NJ and Norcross, GA. He continued to play football throughout his Morehouse career and flag football at Georgia Tech.
At Mitre, Davis is currently leading the Joint Precision Approach and Landing System (JPALS) program for the DOD, intended to speed up the response of U.S. forces to a variety of situations worldwide. The JPALS team has fifteen members, some Mitre folks and some contractors. On another project, Davis is investigating secure wireless techniques to determine the location of individuals.
"At my level we often work on two or three projects at a time," he explains. "I'm the lead on a regular team but I also get involved with fire-drill types of projects that require rapid solutions."
Davis began his Mitre career at the company's Bedford, MA location, but now he's telecommuting from Tallahassee, FL. "My wife is chief medical director for the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice and of course she has to be on the scene, so we're down here for now," he explains.
Telecommuting is fine as far as it goes, but "I miss the casual discussion and sharing of ideas that goes on among colleagues actually on the scene in Bedford. Eventually I want to get back there," he says.
Nevertheless, "I'm at the forefront of very interesting work," Davis declares. "It's always exciting and it impacts national security. The people I work with are unique in their skill sets and very intelligent. I wouldn't trade it."
Diversity is mission-critical at Northrop Grumman
"It is mission-critical to our success that we think of diversity of people, diversity of thought, and inclusion. It gives us a competitive advantage and helps us build a better workforce," says Sandra Evers-Manly, VP of ethics and diversity at Northrop Grumman (Los Angeles, CA). Diversity, she notes, is also a priority of Ronald D. Sugar, chair and CEO.
The African American task group is an important component of the company's diversity networks. It helps with recruiting and it's active in the community. "Both our diversity groups and our community relations groups get involved in educating the next generation," Evers-Manly adds.
Over the next year Northrop Grumman plans to fill some 8,000 engineering and other technical positions. It will look for skills in systems, software, EE, ME, IT and more.
Dr Edward Daniel is a systems engineer at Northrop Grumman
Dr Edward J. Daniel is on the Northrop Grumman team that's building the U.S. military's next-generation communications satellite payload. He's lead payload interface for the processor subsystem, sometimes called "the Internet in space." His job, he explains, means interacting with both hardware and software development teams, the military customer and government consultants.
"As a systems engineer I translate government requirements for the teams, design architecture and interfaces, and make sure the integration goes smoothly," he says. This year he received the BEYA award for "most promising in industry."
Daniel has a 1992 associates degree in electrical avionics from the Spartan School of Aeronautics (Tulsa, OK). His 1997 BSEE, 2000 MSEE and 2003 PhD in EE are from Oklahoma State University.
Summers, he worked as an engineering intern with General Motors in Kansas City, KS and then at the CIA (Washington, DC). When he completed his PhD he took a job on Northrop Grumman's technical staff, and was appointed a system engineer for the space-based IP version 6 packet router, as well as integration and test lead for the processor subsystem, "the brain of IP-based military communications," he says.
Then he moved to the satellite payload team and is now responsible for the processor subsystem. "We have to think about size, weight, power and memory, and consider launch constraints," he notes. "These satellites will be subjected to a lot of stress, and we have to adapt the technology to the space environment. We're also doing the next generation of IP network routing, which is still in development in the commercial world. It's very cutting-edge."
Daniel's father died when he was young, and he grew up in inner-city Detroit, MI as one of five children in a single-parent family. But persistence, determination and an aptitude for science and engineering saw him through.
"I took it one step at a time. Elementary school, high school, college: I gained momentum as I went on, and every time I got to another graduation my world got a little bigger. My MS put me ahead. Then a friend who was pursuing a PhD encouraged me to do the same, and I succeeded."
Although he's faced many challenges already, Daniel believes the biggest may still be ahead of him. With a twinkle in his eye, he names the kids he and his wife Cherdena are raising: Edward Jr, Christen and Cheryl, two, three and seven years old. He's getting in practice by serving as youth ministry director at his church in southern California.
Wyllstyne D. Hill is VP of IT and CIO at Raytheon Missile Systems
Wyllstyne D. Hill, VP of IT and CIO of Raytheon Missile Systems (Tucson, AZ), was honored this year with one of the two BEYA awards for "career achievement in industry." She has also been recognized as one of the Top 100 Blacks in Technology.
In her CIO role, Hill supports all IS and technology: business systems apps, information assurance, project management, infrastructure/network systems and the engineering computing environment for the business. That involves more than 11,000 IT users in all, including some at offsite facilities. She's responsible for about 500 employees and has twelve direct reports.
A lot of the job, she notes, involves planning and forecasting IT investments, understanding the business drivers and determining what IT can do to support the growth strategy of the business.
Hill got her 1971 BS in math with a CS minor from Tuskegee University (Tuskegee, AL). She also has a 1992 executive program certificate from the University of Arizona's Karl Eller Graduate School of Management, and a 1995 executive management certification from the University of Southern California.
She joined Hughes Aircraft Co in 1971 as a general clerk. "I began organizing office files and cataloging them. I used the word-processing system and developed a systematic approach for document retrieval that got noticed by my bosses. Within six months I became a production control analyst and then a specialist. I was given challenging opportunities and continued to grow and move up."
When Raytheon acquired Hughes nine years ago Hill was managing a center. After the merger she was named deputy to the director of the IT organization. "I kept upgrading my IT skills, and when the director's job came up a couple of years ago I was well positioned to take it."
Mentoring, she says, "helped define my career." Today she's giving back by mentoring women and minorities through the Tucson Urban League. She also works in Raytheon's MathMovesU program. "Some of us in IT help youth in the third through sixth grades with science fairs, projects and more," she explains.
There have been a lot of changes since she started in 1971, Hill reflects. Some of the biggest have occurred just in the last few years.
v"IT has become a more integral part of the business, with responsibility for growth initiatives. As VP and CIO, I'm on the business president's direct staff.
"IT today must lead our company's efforts to get maximum benefits from IT investments. We must help business leaders identify and use technologies that drive innovation. This is an exciting time to be an IT executive."
Paul Engola directs PM for Lockheed Martin Space Systems
"Lockheed Martin's inclusive environment begins at the top with our chair, president and CEO, and extends to each employee and stakeholder in this enterprise," says Sonya Thomas, VP of diversity and equal opportunity programs at Lockheed Martin.
Over the past three years the company has hired more than 10,000 new people each year. Thomas thinks the significant hiring will continue as baby-boomer retirement accelerates. Especially in demand are computer scientists, systems engineers, EEs, MEs and computer and aerospace engineers.
Paul Engola, who received the president's award at this year's BEYA event, is a director of program management for Lockheed Space Systems (Denver, CO). He's responsible for a classified government program, including cost, scheduling and delivery of products of national importance. "A lot of what I do involves knowing what's going on and resolving problems that could keep us from meeting our goals," he explains. In fact, he starts each day with a status meeting that covers the problems and issues of the program.
Engola has a 1993 BS in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a 1994 MS in aerospace engineering from Georgia Tech and a 2001 MBA from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business (Stanford, CA). He worked for Boeing Satellite Systems (El Segundo, CA) from 1994 to 1998 as a mechanical systems engineer, spacecraft manager and lead validation engineer.
In 1998 he moved to Space Systems Loral (Palo Alto, CA) as a systems engineer. He worked as a consultant to the Boston Consulting Group (Boston, MA) from 2000 to 2003, and joined Lockheed Martin as a business development director in 2003.
Engola grew up in New York City's borough of Queens. He notes that he was born after the Apollo flight but before the first space shuttle. "When I was a small child I was fascinated by space flight," he says. His folks encouraged him to think about engineering, and he went to the city's prestigious Stuyvesant High School. He had NASA-sponsored Space Grant Consortium summer internships in college.
"In aerospace, the typical engineer is not an African American," Engola notes. "Occasionally you face a credibility challenge and sometimes you may have to prove your worth. But one of the great things about Lockheed Martin and aerospace in general is that they are filled with logical thinkers. In that inclusive environment, if you demonstrate expertise it gets acknowledged pretty quickly."
Engola is excited about the prospect of returning to the moon by 2020. "The sky's the limit at this point," he says. "There's an opportunity for engineers to leave their mark in R&D. We have more opportunities in aerospace than ever before."
Kelley Jackson-Cherry: ChE at the DLA
Kelley Jackson-Cherry's early love of chemistry has translated into a satisfying career at the Defense Logistics Agency's Defense Supply Center-Richmond (DSCR, Richmond, VA). She helps ensure the safety of war fighters and other service folks.
The DLA provides logistics and contract management support to the armed forces. Jackson-Cherry is a ChE in the hazardous material IS program at DSCR.
"When the DLA purchases hazardous materials for the military, we have a Web program they can access for safety information, health warning labels, how to handle and store the stuff, when it was manufactured and so on," she says. "I'm responsible for making sure everything that goes on the Web is accurate and the vendors' documentation meets field requirements."
Three teams are involved in handling hazardous materials IT at the DLA. One team creates the actual website, another handles customer issues, and Jackson-Cherry's team gets information from procurement and validates its accuracy. Each team has about twenty ChE members, and each member deals with a number of different items each day.
Before she joined the DSCR in 2004, Jackson-Cherry worked at San-J International Food (Richmond, VA) as director of R&D and QC. "The DLA is very different," she notes. "It's one of the most diverse places I've ever seen. We have heritage committees and an annual multicultural day."
Jackson-Cherry originally planned to go into medicine, but when she finished her 1999 BSChE she'd had enough studying for a while. Now she's glad to be working in defense. "Many members of my family have been in the military, and my husband is in the Air Force right now, so I'm particularly happy to help ensure the safety of our armed forces."
Debra Gore-Wilson: maintenance for the Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw
The role of the U.S. Coast Guard (Washington, DC) has grown substantially since 9/11, says Debra Gore-Wilson. She's a program and type-desk manager for the Coast Guard cutter Mackinaw, a new, heavy-duty icebreaker and buoy tender with an onboard crew of fifty-five that maintains navigation routes through the Great Lakes.
The Coast Guard is responsible for protecting the coastline of the U.S. This, of course, includes the Great Lakes, which form or include the boundary with Canada for hundreds of miles. In addition to ice breaking, Coast Guard duties on the lakes include search and rescue, drug interdiction and securing piers and ports.
Gore-Wilson is involved in everything having to do with maintenance for the cutter, like budget, schedule and contract oversight, she explains. Her team of fourteen includes five port engineers who sail with the ship. "It's a very technically advanced cutter that can cut double its width of ice."
Gore-Wilson has a 1986 BSME from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and a 2003 MBA from Averett University (Danville, VA). In 1986 she began in the Naval Surface Warfare Center, part of the naval shipyard in Philadelphia, PA, where she worked as an engineer in the technical manual branch, upgrading manuals for carriers.
When her husband moved to Norfolk, VA in 1998 she switched to the Coast Guard. "It's been wonderful," she says. "The Coast Guard is smaller and you get to meet and know people. This project is wonderful and I've learned so much about program development and acquisition."
Gore-Wilson is the only female black engineer in her division. "As women we bring a different way of looking at things," she remarks. "We're multifunctional and multifaceted and we're used to multitasking." A good thing, because "I wear many different hats in this position," she says.
She also enjoys giving back to the community. She provides financial counseling and mentoring through her church, and tutors kids in math. "I'm very active in my church," she says. "You have to find a proper balance between home, work and spiritual work."
At GD Electric Boat, ME Patrice McDermott is a pipe-shop foreman
General Dynamics Electric Boat (Groton, CT) designs, builds and outfits nuclear submarines. The company is looking for techies: civil, electric, mechanical, structural, acoustical and computer engineers and computer scientists. Debra Ann Gaynor, HR specialist, notes that Electric Boat hopes to hire 200 engineers this year, both entry level and experienced. They must be able to obtain a DOD security clearance.
"Diversity generates diverse ideas and can support a wide spectrum of solutions to today's very challenging business problems," says Electric Boat president John P. Casey.
In 2005 ME Patrice McDermott became a pipe-shop foreman at Electric Boat as part of her career development program rotation. The shop builds pipe packages for the propulsion plants of nuclear subs.
"I'm the lead for a twenty-six-person crew," McDermott explains. "We build the packages in accordance with the drawings, and build them safely, on time and under budget. I start about 6 AM getting assignments ready for the crew. Priorities shift from day to day, but we always know that certain packages are due at certain times."
McDermott has worked in several positions at Electric Boat. She started with three years as a fluid system engineer, designing propulsion plant systems at the company's shipyard in Groton, CT. "I also did a rotation in stress analysis and received my green belt in Six Sigma," she adds.
In 2004 she joined the career development program. She started in the lifting and handling group and moved on to pipe-shop foreman at the Quonset Point, RI manufacturing site the next year.
McDermott grew up in Queens, NY and attended the prestigious Bronx High School of Science. Encouraged by her older brother, she went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA) for her 2001 BSME. She took advantage of the school's program for minorities the summer before her freshman year.
Busy as she is in her foreman job, she tries to take time to understand the overall picture. "You can get caught up in details," she says. "But I enjoy getting the crew motivated to accomplish the task. It's great to know you've created a good team environment."
Eddie Peterson: systems integration at Bell Helicopter Textron
Eddie Peterson is an integrated product team lead for Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc (Fort Worth, TX). He's been with the company for ten years.
He spent most of that time working on electronic warfare integration for the V-2 tilt rotor program, but now he's responsible for avionics systems integration, including communications, navigation and tactical systems for H-1 military helicopters. The goal is to create systems that are easily accessed and used by the pilot.
"You have to select the correct equipment and make sure it all interfaces properly, including software and hardware," he says. "We are responsible for ensuring that interfaces are properly defined, developed, integrated and tested." He has eleven direct reports right now, although on some projects he's had as many as twenty-four.
Peterson received his 1996 BSEE from Florida A&M University. He started with Bell Helicopter as an electronic warfare integration engineer, then spent three years supporting flight test. In 2001 he was promoted to the first level of management in electronic warfare, and in 2006 he took on his current job.
"As a tech geek I love to play with gadgets, and in defense you get to play with some pretty sophisticated gadgets," he says with satisfaction.
Peterson sees an increasing use of integrated defensive countermeasure technology, and anticipates excellent opportunities for engineering advancement in the defense arena. Off the job, he enjoys time with his wife and two children, and coaches his eight-year-old daughter's soccer and basketball teams. "That's how I spend most of my free time," he explains.
At Smiths Aerospace, Carmela Young does avionics software in IS
Carmela Young is an avionics software engineer in IS at aerospace systems and equipment company Smiths Aerospace (Grand Rapids, MI). She develops and supports real-time operational flight software written in C for data recorder products, the "black boxes" that store data on the behavioral patterns of aircraft in flight and record flight systems info for use in case of a crash.
"I develop, integrate, test and release the in-flight software, and write its technical documentation," she says. "I'm responsible for the whole software lifecycle."
Young completed her BS in computer engineering at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor in 2003, and is now working on an MS in electrical and computer engineering at Michigan State University. She started with Smiths in 2003 as a test equipment software engineer and moved into her present work in 2005.
She's also in Smith's Leadership Connections program. "It's been great," she says. "We meet with upper management and learn about the company. It provides a form of support."
The most complex part of Young's work is the hardware-software integration. "I do testing and coding at my desk, but when I take it to the lab to run on the actual hardware, the software code may need to be tweaked or rewritten. Timing, recovery of interrupts, sequence of events and behavior in unusual conditions all have to be considered. The software needs to adapt to and handle many different situations."
She loves what she does. "I always aspired to be a computer engineer," she recalls. "I chose a challenging academic career and overcame the obstacles, and I look forward to tackling the challenges I meet here. I think challenges are an open door to learning, and I find it rewarding that I can be a role model for young people."
Young has spoken to elementary school children in Grand Rapids and tutored high school students through her church. "I also have plenty of nieces and nephews. My husband and I push them to do their best, and help them celebrate when they do well," she says with a smile.
Gregory Ellis looks after IT at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA, Bethesda, MD) provides geospatial intelligence to warfighters and the intelligence community. As business exec for the enterprise and technical services office at the agency, Gregory Ellis makes sure that IT requirements across the agency are supported.
"I'm the defender of the requirements and money for IT in my directorate," he declares. That means, he says, that "If Congressional folks question my directorate's IT needs, I'm the one who defends them."
Ellis manages a team that works with the agency's many IT specialists to make certain they get the funds they need to operate efficiently.
Ellis was a Stokes scholar, and has a 1992 BSME from North Carolina A&T State University. While he was in school he was hired to do design work for the CIA. "I was teamed up with MEs and learned how to apply theory. In the summers I learned AutoCAD and worked with experienced engineers drafting and machining parts.
"It was great!" he says. "I learned a lot from those people. Even today in my job, although the data I need are in different areas, I try to take some of what I learned early on and use it to defend the program."
The design work dried up in the early 1990s, but Ellis still had an obligation to work for the government in connection with his Stokes scholarship. He moved into IT as the government began outsourcing engineering work to contractors. "Engineers were needed to validate contractors, so I got into contract management. I became the contract manager for all IT capabilities within enterprise support services for my office at the CIA, and later the NGA," he says.
The opportunity to develop his leadership skills is one of the most rewarding aspects of his job, Ellis reflects. "It's a great thing to see people grow and to know that my team delivered a good product. I'm as successful as my team makes me," he says.
NGA HQ in Bethesda, MD is a very different place from the Hampton Roads, VA farm where Ellis grew up. "Most of my uncles were electricians, carpenters and plumbers, but one uncle did major in math and worked in analysis for defense contractors.
"It's nice to have a home down there to go back to," Ellis adds.
Anthony K. Mitchell is a VP at Booz Allen Hamilton
Booz Allen Hamilton (McLean, VA) consults on strategy and ops for aerospace, defense and many other areas. Anthony K. Mitchell, VP in the firm's global government markets, leads one of its businesses in the Norfolk/Hampton Roads, VA area.
With his staff of about 380, Mitchell provides support to the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Joint Forces, and works with NATO as well. "I'm responsible for all the business development activity," he explains. "I manage support to our clients, making sure we're providing quality delivery. I also guide proposals, ensure that our business is profitable, and identify, recruit and develop staff members."
In his four years on the job, he's built his group up from seventy-five employees to its current level. "It's been very fast-paced and it can get pretty chaotic," he notes.
Even more of a balancing act is the time he spends with competitive companies. "We often team up on large contracts. I have to figure out their strengths and weaknesses and determine what might be complementary fits with our people."
Mitchell received a BSEE in 1982 from General Motors Institute (now Kettering University, Flint, MI) and an MSIS from George Washington University (Washington, DC) in 1991. He worked for a forerunner of Verizon Communications as a telecom engineer from 1982 to 1986, then joined Booz Allen as a senior consultant to what is now Homeland Security and moved up to associate, then senior associate, the first level of management.
In 1995 he joined Verizon Communications, but returned to Booz Allen two years later as a senior associate with a focus on the telecom industry. He became a principal in 1999 and VP in 2005.
Mitchell says that being African American has helped him adapt to different cultures and think in different ways. "I understand that not everyone is going to think the way I do, and that different people have different cultural biases."
Bryan Jones helps Talley Defense Systems improve production
Talley Defense Systems (Mesa, AZ) designs, develops and manufactures many kinds of propellant-loaded systems. Among them are aircrew escape systems, automobile airbag components and shoulder-launched weapons.
Bryan Jones, a manufacturing engineer at Talley, got his BS in manufacturing engineering from Arizona State University in 2000. Now he's helping put in a new manufacturing line at a Mississippi plant, and developing tooling and processes to help improve production.
"I'm part of a three-person technical team, and I work closely with quality and project engineers. I'm assigned to about eight core product lines that I oversee in two plants," Jones says.
Jones' mechanical inclination began very young. "My dad ran a salvage yard and there were a lot of devices and mechanisms there. I liked to go visit when I was a kid. By the time I was eleven I was hooked on engineering.
"Defense work is unique," Jones reflects. "You're working with explosives and the specifications are very stringent. The government has a big say and you have to consider that.
"Sometimes a design may not be optimally manufacturable, but you can't change that easily. In a commercial environment you could identify an issue, come up with a solution and quickly implement it, but here you have to submit it to the government and undergo recertification."
Jones says he's "disappointed" at the low minority and female participation in engineering. "These are the fields that drive the economy." He believes that early exposure to technical careers is a solution to the problem, and is helping with informal mentoring of junior college students.
Jones is glad he's in the defense industry, helping make products that will be used by the U.S. military around the world. "I participated in ground fighting during Desert Storm," he explains. "It means a lot to me to build things to help the warfighter."
EE Melinda Applebee works on hardware at Rockwell Collins
Melinda F. Applebee is a hardware EE T2 at Rockwell Collins, Inc (Cedar Rapids, IA). Rockwell Collins supplies communications and aviation electronics with a focus on defense to government and commercial clients.
Applebee started with the company after she got her BSEE from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in 2002. For three years she designed test fixtures for government apps, but now she's in the advanced communications department, designing and developing hardware for sitcom antenna electronics.
She works on a team of about a dozen engineers in the relatively new department, and also with systems and software engineers outside the hardware team. Her specific area is the digital I/O characteristics of the unit.
When Applebee was a child her parents were in the military. Her father worked with missile-silo electronics, and today he's a technician in an electronics firm. "We kids were always interested in engineering and technology. Those things were all around us," she says.
She's married herself now, and her daughter is well cared for in Rockwell's daycare facility while she and her husband are at work.
The learning curve for her present position is fairly steep, Applebee reflects, but it's what she wants. "I transferred into this department to get more detailed hardware experience. The challenge has been to stay up with the technology.
"Everything is getting smaller, but we still have to deal with electromagnetic interference and temperature requirements. Some newer components require ICs and embedded software so I'm learning more about that.
"Always having new technology to learn is exciting. I want to stay fluent in engineering, and this environment helps me keep my skills growing."
D/C
Working to alleviate the "quiet crisis"
From the perspective of national security, the nation is undergoing a "quiet crisis," says Dr Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY). Jackson was the first African American woman to receive a PhD from MIT, and one of the first two women in the U.S. to get a PhD in physics.
The crisis, she says, is an emerging gap in the scientific and technical workforce. The highly skilled scientists and engineers who entered the workforce in the post-Sputnik era will soon retire in record numbers, and there are not enough young scholars in the science and engineering pipeline to replace them.
"We ignore this gap at our peril," Jackson warns. "Closing it will require a national commitment to developing the talent of all our citizens, especially underrepresented groups like women, minorities and people with disabilities."
The lack of qualified engineers is particularly acute in defense where many positions require U.S. citizenship, notes Bron Prokuski, a senior official with the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA, ndia.org). The NDIA reports that thousands of positions for aerospace engineers, EEs, software and mechanical engineers are going unfilled for lack of techies who are U.S. citizens to fill them.
Dr Janet Rutledge, senior associate dean of the grad school at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), is working to bring more underrepresented minorities into graduate science and engineering, in a program called "providing real opportunities for maximizing in-state student excellence" (PROMISE). PROMISE is part of a National Science Foundation program. "We're looking at intervention strategies to increase our numbers," Rutledge reports.
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