wmartinez-picture3-300×251

Wendy Martinez

Raytheon

Growing up Wendy Martinez didn’t quite grasp the concept of engineering but knew she was attracted to math and science.  Then an engineer came to speak to her high school calculus class one day and it convinced her to pursue the field as a college major.  Still, she wasn’t quite sure what engineering was.  As early as her freshman year she worked with designers and engineers building semi-conductor chips for computers, phone and other devices via an internship.  Today, as manager of electrical engineering at Raytheon Company, she oversees a team of 10, all of which are men except for Martinez.  “My responsibility, that portion, is to oversee their careers and the work they do,” Martinez says. “I have responsibility for their performance, their raises, their career and communication.”

MANAGER OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING AT RAYTHEON.  There is also a technical side to her post. For the past 12 years, Martinez has supported LPD class ship programs, which are used by the Navy and Marines. “I think before I would believe in peace and wish we could all get along, the reality is that we do live in times where there are people that are harming us and harming our country,” she explains. “Fortunately, we do have a military that protects us. I feel that working with the Navy or LPD class ship, I’ll be able to fill that piece of being able to help the security of our country.”

Martinez successfully completed upgrades of the Shipboard Wide Area Network on multiple LPD ships including three of the Naval Vessels named in honor of places affected by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. LPD ships are used for humanitarian work and protect against numerous threats.

“The next (Orion) project is to take people to Mars or to the moon,” Martinez shares. “Once it gets to the ocean, the LPD is actually testing how they would recover the vessel. It’s exciting to see the difference it’s making in the world and how our systems are part of it.”