Yesterday I had the pleasure to meet the NOGLSTP Engineer of the Year - Christine Bland. It is an honor to know that through my partnership with Dr. Tim Wilson (my Chair of Electrical, Computer, Software, and Systems Engineering at ERAU-DB) and Lockheed Martins Lance Joseph we were able to not only sponsor this wonderful LGBT science and engineering organization, but also have one of our own win this highly distinguished award! The 2014 NOGLSTP Engineer of the Year Award recipient is Rickie Christine Bland of Lockheed Martin. Christine Bland has a degree in engineering and has worked for Lockheed Martin for over 25 years. She is currently working on NASA’s Orion program to create the next generation of space vehicles to take humankind to the Moon, and ultimately into deep space. Christine worked on many projects for Lockheed Martin in the Deep Space Exploration Group, including Stardust, Spitzer Infrared Space Telescope, Genesis, Odyssey Orbiter, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, GRAIL, and JUNO (Jupiter Orbiter). Christine’s crowning career achievement to date is fault management electronics, originally built for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and currently being used on numerous other space vehicles. Christine has also been an adjunct lecturer in the engineering department at Denver Technical College and she designed computer system process telemetry for astrophysics rockets at the University of Colorado. In 2011 Christine informed Lockheed Human Resources that she would complete the transition process to change her gender. Since that day, she has been a highly visible role model in the company, actively involved with the Lockheed Martin LGBT Forums at the corporate level. She has participated on multiple panels, including STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) outreach at a number of universities. She is the Chair of the Lockheed Martin Transgender Council, delivering policy and procedure guidance and facilitating numerous on-the-job gender transitions, as well as co-Chair of the Leadership Forum workshop. She also served as the Vice-President for the Gender Identity Center of Colorado. Her leadership brought Lockheed Martin to become the first aerospace/defense company to recruit at transgender career fairs in Denver and other locations. I hope to one today grow up to be as successful in my career as Christine Bland. What have you done today to make yourself feel Pride?
Posted on: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 17:45:35 +0000