HISPANIC ENGINEERING GROUP HONORS 3 LOCKHEED MARTIN ENGINEERS WITH AWARDS

The Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference (HENAAC) recognized 3 Latino engineers from Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin at its annual event in New Orleans on October 3. One of the world's largest defense firms, Lockheed is also one of the few Fortune 500 companies left in Montgomery County and the state of Maryland.

The 2014 HENAAC Scientist of the Year award went to Sergio Torres, Ph.D., a Lockheed Martin Fellow with Information Systems and Global Solutions (IS&GS). Most Promising Engineer or Scientist – Advanced Degree Award went to Edward Jimenez, Ph.D., senior member, Software Systems Research and Development at Sandia National Laboratories. And the Information Technology Award was bestowed upon Ruben Herrera, operations and maintenance development lead at IS&GS.

Lockheed supports HENAAC's program called VIVA Technology, to promote careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) among inner-city and rural students from kindergarten through high school. Lockheed Martin Chairman, CEO and President Marillyn Hewson spoke of that challenge at the conference, noting that "the United States is facing a serious shortage of STEM talent. Recent projections estimate a potential shortfall of one million STEM professionals in the next 10 years. If we as a nation are to maintain our position as a global leader in innovation and discovery, we must face this challenge head on." Lockheed was a founding sponsor of HENAAC.

Montgomery County has its own STEM challenges, with six of the county's high schools not even offering computer science courses. Out of 45,132 high school students in MoCo, only 2,746 were enrolled in computer science courses, according to MCPS data in 2014.

The HENAAC awards not only recognized the engineers' work and achievements, but also their contributions to the Latino community. Last week's conference took place during Hispanic Heritage Month, which ends on October 15.