REDONDO BEACH, Calif., Oct. 11, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Jose Castellon and Adriana Magana, employees of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC), will be honored by the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation (HENAAC), a Hispanic engineers organization at the annual Career Conference and Awards Show, Oct. 11-13, in San Diego.
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Castellon will receive the Professional Achievement Award and Magana will be recognized as a Luminary Honoree.
Wes Bush, president and chief operating officer of Northrop Grumman, will address the conference attendees on Oct. 12 and present Magana with her award. The topic of his speech will be the growing importance of science, technology, engineering and math education as the nation builds its future engineering workforce.
"We're delighted that two highly accomplished individuals have been recognized for their extraordinary work," said Michelle Murphy, sector vice president of Human Resources for Northrop Grumman's Space Technology sector. "We believe that diversity creates a rich and rewarding workplace, where innovative and successful programs can thrive."
Winner of the Professional Achievement Award, Castellon has been working in the aerospace industry for 25 years. He is currently serving as the Space Segment Lead for Northrop Grumman's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R Series (GOES-R) program, the nation's next-generation weather satellite system.
Castellon started at Northrop Grumman as a summer intern and, following graduation, began his professional career in electrical systems design integration. Within a few years, he took on the broader role of space vehicle systems engineer providing technical design integration leadership for a variety of government programs, including responsibility for advanced spacecraft technology research and development activities. He has continually taken on increasingly higher levels of management responsibilities, demonstrating his ability to lead large spacecraft hardware project teams and functional organizations.
Castellon is a Northrop Grumman representative to the HENAAC Executive Ambassador Council, serves as a board member of Northrop Grumman's Adelante Hispanic Networking Group, and has remained committed to continued professional education, including an Executive Program Certificate and Astronautical Engineering Certificate from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).
Luminary honoree Magana is a software engineer and currently a digital design team member for the Transformational Satellite Communications system at Northrop Grumman's Space Technology sector. Magana has had an exceptional career in test set support and software design at Northrop Grumman on such major programs as the Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite system. She excels in hardware and software troubleshooting while successfully meeting time requirements in zero-error tolerance environments. After joining the Northrop Grumman team in 2005, Magana was promoted within 18 months.
Magana has made significant contributions to the Hispanic technical community and provides inspiration for future engineers. She has collaborated with UCLA's Center for Excellence in Engineering and Diversity and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers in their college recruiting and youth outreach efforts. In 2004, Magana became one of five HENAAC/Northrop Grumman scholars. She was born to an immigrant family from Mexico and earned bachelor's degrees in computer science and applied mathematics/management from UCLA.
HENAAC was established in 1989 to identify, honor, and document the contributions of outstanding Hispanic American science, engineering, technology and math professionals.
Northrop Grumman Corporation is a $30 billion global defense and technology company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in information and services, electronics, aerospace and shipbuilding to government and commercial customers worldwide.
