If you think being an engineer at Lockheed Martin means a choice between playing with your Nintendo Wii(TM) controller or creating some serious high-tech wizardry, then think again because you can do both.

And that’s exactly what engineers at Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Laboratories (ATL) will demonstrate May 1 to employee children and area middle-school students during Space Day — an annual event that uses space-related activities to inspire students toward mathematics, science, engineering and technology.

So, how do you combine the Wii(TM) controller with high-tech wizardry? It’s called the Tangible User Interface. The TUI is a program that uses unorthodox devices, like the Wii(TM), to explore the rapidly expanding world of human-computer interaction. It is a world in which computers and humans will someday interact with one another much as two humans interact today — and not just through overt actions like speech and gesticulation but also through intuition.

“Like all of our programs at ATL and even throughout Lockheed Martin Corporation, the TUI program underscores the fundamental importance of education, creativity and hard work,” said James Marsh, director ATL.

Other demonstrations at ATL’s Cherry Hill, N.J. office will include computer networking, engineering principals, and robotics. The event will conclude with a small rocket launch. Joining employee children will be students from Carusi Middle School, Cherry Hill, N.J., Howard M Phifer Middle School, Pennsauken, N.J., and Bear Tavern Science Fair winners, Titusville, N.J.

ATL’s Arlington, Va., office will host employee children and students from Thoreau Middle School in Fairfax County, Va. on May 8.

For more information on Space Day: www.spaceday.com.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 146,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2008 sales of $42.7 billion.