I graduated in May of 2010 with a Master of Science degree in Systems
Engineering from the Industrial Manufacturing and Systems Engineering
Department (IMSE) at UTEP. During my last semester, I was offered a position w
an assistant to the Systems Engineering Director for Aeronautics, leading
Systems Engineering initiatives and strategies for Technical Operations in the
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth, Texas. I am currently
in the Aeronautics Company. 

Even though this is a field dominated by men, Lockheed Martin has been successfully run by a female CEO. My current VP is a female engineer that is highly respected that has started a new initiative to promote girls in engineering: “Breaking stereotypes, building prototypes.” Observing these successful women has been very inspiring.

I attribute my success to having a great foundation, understanding concepts the opportunity to work on real projects, with the mentorship of faculty. Another key to my success has been developing the soft skills; working with many teams/personalities and making many presentations has been very helpful.

I was fortunate to be nominated to be part of the Engineering Leadership Development Program (ELDP), where I get to rotate jobs every year for 3 years to develop my technical and soft skills. Within those rotations I have received 2 special recognition awards for the impact of the projects I worked on. I have also organized large scale events for aeronautics, such as e-week and corporate night. I have had the opportunity to participate in the first aircraft rollout of F-16 Iraq and F-35 Australia.

I think my fondest memory was probably my first day at UTEP and the day of my graduation at the order of the engineering ceremony. My first day was the beginning of a great experience and graduation was the culmination, when I was very excited to be able to walk with my dad, who is an engineer as well.