EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Feb. 23, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- The organizers of National Engineers Week have named Erin McGinnis, an industrial engineer for Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC), one of the 2004 New Faces of Engineering. Now in its second year, the New Faces program spotlights the vitality, diversity and contributions of the profession's youngest engineers.
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McGinnis will be honored, along with 11 other young professionals, with a full-page advertisement in USA Today during National Engineers Week Feb. 22-28, a celebration of the engineering profession and the engineers who turn ideas into reality.
"I'm honored to have been selected for this recognition," said McGinnis. "It's really satisfying and energizing to know that my hard work is paying off."
Since joining Northrop Grumman in 2002, McGinnis, 23, has played a key role in supporting the manufacturing design of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, a program for which Northrop Grumman is a principal subcontractor to Lockheed Martin Corporation. She has also contributed to the composite fabrication development and planning of this next generation aircraft.
"Erin represents the bright future of engineering in America," said Gary W. Ervin, sector vice president for Air Combat Systems, a business unit of Northrop Grumman's Integrated Systems sector. "Her selection for this honor underscores the quality and leadership of engineers working for Northrop Grumman."
The New Faces' class of 2004 was selected from 57 nominations submitted through engineering societies by corporations, academia and engineering professionals. To qualify, engineers had to have worked in the field for two to five years and demonstrated outstanding abilities in their chosen area of engineering.
The Los Angeles section of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) nominated McGinnis for her contributions to Northrop Grumman's manufacturing engineering processes, including the integration of software used to measure the work output of advanced machining cells, and the development of innovative factory floor software simulations.
McGinnis has been an active member of the SWE for more than five years, and currently serves as secretary of the Los Angeles section, the region student coordinator and a member of SWE's national professional development committee. As part of the New Faces honor, she will serve as moderator for "Connecting the World to Engineering," a forum on women engineering to be conducted by the National Engineers Week Foundation. The forum will feature live teleconferences and Internet forums between engineering students and engineering executives.
McGinnis also spearheads the new Women in Northrop Grumman group, acts as a focal point for the company's young professionals group and is a major contributor to the company's People Thrust Team, which supports mentoring and strategic planning.
McGinnis earned a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from Purdue University. She is also working concurrently on certificates in systems engineering and project management from the California Institute of Technology and the University of California, Los Angeles, respectively.
National Engineers Week, founded in 1951 by the National Society of Professional Engineers, is dedicated to increasing public awareness and appreciation of the engineering profession and technology and to encouraging pre-college interest in engineering. It is celebrated by thousands of engineers, engineering students, teachers and leaders in government and business.
Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems is a premier aerospace and defense systems integration enterprise. Headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., it designs, develops, produces and supports network-enabled integrated systems and subsystems for government and civil customers worldwide. Integrated Systems delivers best-value solutions, products and services that support military and homeland defense missions in the areas of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; space access; battle management command and control; and integrated strike warfare.
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