Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) employees Sandra Evers-Manly, José Castellón and Alejandro Salazar were honored recently for being outstanding role models in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) at the 30th Annual Great Minds in STEM Hispanic Engineers National Achievement Awards Conference (HENAAC).
HENAAC recognizes the achievements and contributions of top professionals in the Hispanic community from academia, government, military and industry. They are innovators and STEM leaders who serve as role models to inspire young people to pursue technical careers with a focus on the Hispanic community. Award winners are peer reviewed and selected by a committee of representatives from industry, government, military and academic institutions.
Evers-Manly, Northrop Grumman vice president of global corporate responsibility and president of the Northrop Grumman Foundation, received the Chairman’s Award, presented to engineers, scientists or educators who have used the highest standards of their profession to make exceptional contributions to their profession or their community, thereby significantly advancing the positive image of STEM professionals in our society.
She is responsible for Northrop Grumman’s enterprise-wide charitable giving, corporate citizenship, diversity and inclusion, the employee assistance program, equal employment opportunity, ethics and business conduct, Operation IMPACT and workplace accommodations. She was instrumental in founding and helping build the Northrop Grumman Foundation, which is committed to promoting STEM-related national education initiatives.
Under Evers-Manly’s leadership Northrop Grumman has produced a Corporate Responsibility Report since 2008 that highlights the company’s ongoing commitment to corporate responsibility including diversity and inclusion; employee engagement; support for STEM education; environmental sustainability; supplier diversity and ethics. For the last nine years, Northrop Grumman has earned a top 50 ranking for diversity from DiversityInc. This year the company was ranked 23rd on the listing and was rated the No. 1 company for veterans (for the second year in a row), No. 2 for support to people with disabilities (for the second year in a row) and No. 2 for diversity councils.
She has also been instrumental in guiding Northrop Grumman’s commitment to expanding and enhancing the pipeline of diverse, talented STEM students globally. In 2017, Northrop Grumman and the Northrop Grumman Foundation invested more than $20 million in STEM programs, including for the first time an innovative Northrop Grumman Foundation partnership with EarthEcho International, whose mission is to inspire young people worldwide to act now for a sustainable environmental future.
Evers-Manly earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California. She is the executive producer of five short films on the impact of gang violence as well as the Academy Award-nominated short film, Last Breeze of Summer. She has developed an animated series, “Imani: the Super Little Engineer,” which introduces girls and students of color to the world of engineering and other STEM fields.
Castellón, the director of Global Hawk development in Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his more than 30-years of exemplary service and commitment to STEM. He has led technical teams involving large hardware projects, research and development activities and functional organizations. He has significant experience in systems engineering and has led efforts to increase affordability and effectiveness for Northrop Grumman aircraft and space programs.
In 2013, he was named the director of Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems global diversity and inclusion with responsibility for driving diversity and inclusion strategies and programs across a 20,000 person organization focused on the recruitment, development and retention of a diverse talent base.
Castellón has been active in the Hispanic community at Northrop Grumman. In 2003, he became the chair of the Adelante Hispanic employee resource group (ERG) at the company’s Redondo Beach, California facility. In 2009, he lead the standup of a company-wide, all-volunteer Hispanic ERG called One Adelante and was the first chair of the group. He has represented Northrop Grumman on the Great Minds in STEM (GMiS) Executive Ambassador Council for the past ten years and was a member of the GMiS Corporate and Government Advisory Council. Castellón was instrumental in bringing the Viva Technology Program to Northrop Grumman, a K-12 education program focused on inspiring students to pursue careers in STEM. He also co-developed the Northrop Grumman High School Innovation Challenge. In 2007, he received the HENAAC Professional Achievement Award.
Castellón earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from California State University, Northridge, and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University.
Salazar is a logistics systems engineer in Northrop Grumman Mission Systems. He received a Luminary Award for his leadership in STEM and his achievements in engineering and logistics. He is the author of a white paper on launch training and has a patent pending on the use of batteries in deployable devices.
Salazar was the vice chair of the Northrop Grumman Adelante, Hispanic employee resource group and is an active member of Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering, and a master’s degree in engineering management from California State University, Northridge.
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