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Consider The Advantages
Women Engineers Are A Good Fit For Military/Government Contracting.

By Barbara Woodworth
While a career in the contracting sector of the aerospace and defense industries may not be the typical choice for many women engineers, Vicki Panhuise of Honeywell Aerospace, Jylina White of SAIC, and Paulette January of DRS urge female engineers to consider the advantages. Not only have each of these women pursued and achieved prestigious status in this arena, on a personal level they have attained significant fulfillment as well.

Vicki Panhuise,
Vice President, Military Aircraft
Honeywell Aerospace

Outstanding among a worldwide workforce of 40,000, Vicki Panhuise has held a number of impressive positions during her 28-year tenure at Phoenix, AZ-headquartered Honeywell Aerospace (www.honeywell.com). Today, as vice president, military aircraft, she is responsible for all original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and aftermarket business for Honeywell’s military aircraft customers. Prior to her 2008 appointment, she was vice president, commercial and military helicopters and vice president of program management for Honeywell’s Aerospace Electronic Systems, among other positions.
Although joining the company early in her career, Panhuise brought with her substantial professional experience. Once coming on board, she spent 15 years in engineering management and, at one time, was site general manager for Honeywell’s Business, Regional & General Aviation (BRGA).
A 1974 graduate of Wells College, Aurora, NY, Panhuise earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, master’s and doctorate degrees in nuclear engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and an MBA from the University of Arizona. Six Sigma Green Belt Certified in 1999, she earned black belt certification in 2004 followed by program management professional (PMP) certification a year later. In 2004, she was the recipient of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) “Upward Mobility Award” and the University of Arizona’s “Eller MBA Alumni Award.”
Reflecting on her journey to engineering, Panhuise explains it began in a small upstate New York town when, as the first high- school female to register for drafting, she was prevented from doing so until another female agreed to join her. “The principal was against a male and female sharing a drafting board,” she recalls. Undeterred from considering a technical curriculum, she struggled with her choice of college. Was her major to be math or engineering? “While my parents weren’t sure about engineering, they didn’t discourage me. My guidance counselor, however, noting that women were needed in pure math and science suggested teaching,” she relates.
Certain that her four years at Wells helped develop her confidence and leadership abilities, Panhuise was equally certain that teaching was not the career for her. “The turning point was taking a short course in radioactive isotopic procedures. That validated my love for applied math and science and prompted me to go for a degree in nuclear engineering,” she comments.
Identifying government/military contracting as a sector that offers excellent opportunities in all aspects of aerospace including engineering, technical sales, program management, customer and product support, supply chain management, and contracts, Panhuise says “This is an industry that needs people with a diversity of professional backgrounds. While some technical/engineering education is required, individuals whose backgrounds include other areas are very much in demand.”
Identifying Honeywell Aerospace as a leading global provider of integrated avionics, engines, systems, and service solutions for aircraft manufacturers, airlines, military, and space operations, among others, Panhuise credits the company with providing her with multiple cycles of learning. “As a global company with more than 17,000 scientists and engineers, Honeywell Aerospace offers career opportunities for growth within all areas of engineering,” she states.
Honeywell, she continues, means being part of something big. “Engineers know their work is important and that customers value their technologies. It is through the efforts of engineers that the company continues to build an organization with great positions in good industries and with a solid track record of financial performance,” says Panhuise, who encourages interested persons to check out www.honeywell.com/careers for a list of job opportunities.
As one who thrives on a diversity of responsibilities and challenges, Panhuise enjoys partnering with customers. “My goal is to provide the end-user with the best solutions to effectively complete their missions,” she explains. An active mentor and member of the SWE, Panhuise is married and the mother of a son who is a recent graduate of Arizona State University. Well able to balance work and family, she’s a dedicated gourmet cook and Valley of the Sun United Way volunteer.

Jylinda White,
Task Order Manager,
SAIC

Jylinda White and engineering have a long history. The daughter of the associate dean of the school of engineering at George Mason University, she recalls attending many conferences and technology expos with her dad while growing up. “Just seeing what could be designed and built by the human mind astounded me,” she says. “Deciding to major in engineering at the University of Virginia was the result of my early fascination with engineering design.”
In 2002, White earned a bachelor’s of science degree in electrical engineering, with a dual concentration in communications & signal processing and control theory, followed by a master’s degree in systems and information engineering, in 2006. “But it was my first internship during the summer of my freshman year that brought me to SAIC. There I discovered the company’s many rich opportunities,” she says. After completing three more internships and graduating, she was promptly offered a position as lead systems engineer and project manager for mine warfare software systems in the defense and maritime solutions business unit.
Today, as task order manager for SAIC’s (www.saic.com) defense information system (DISN) global solutions (DGS) program, one of the company’s largest, White oversees 100 technical workers worldwide and manages a $70 million per year task order contract that equips modern-day warfighters with video, voice, and data at all times and places throughout the world. Noting that SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation), headquartered in San Diego, CA, is a Fortune 500 scientific, engineering, and technology applications company, White mentions that its 44,000 employees serve customers in the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, the intelligence community, other U.S. government civil agencies, and selected commercial markets.
Identifying the government/military contracting sector as strong, White says, “In order to continue providing state-of-the-art defense technology and weaponry to the U.S. military—the strongest in the world—the government will persist in hiring those who are smart and skilled at solving difficult problems.”
Including more women among that workforce, she believes, involves educating females about technological fields early. “It has to start young,” she states. “The more we invest in our young women and encourage them to pursue science- and math-related studies, the more we will see them entering the technical job market.”
Pleased to use her engineering background to formulate robust solutions to real and relevant issues and challenges, White notes, “I go to work every day knowing that what I do helps our warfighters maintain their dominance and superiority, and that is truly fulfilling.”
In an effort to reach out to young women, White takes a proactive role in company and community affairs. She is a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI), SAIC’s Women’s Network, and a peer mentor for interns. She is also the current vice president of the company’s Multi-Cultural Network (MCN).
In addition to these functions, White’s presence in community and youth activities is extensive. She served as a sponsor/mentor in the Monster.com Diversity Leadership Program (DLP); represented SAIC at the Northern Virginia Urban League awards banquet and the United Planning Organization Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast; attended the 13th Annual Diversity and Women Leadership Summit & Gala; represented SAIC in 2007 at the 10th Anniversary of the Women in Military Service for the America Memorial Dedication and is active in Women in Technology (WIT), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to offer women in all levels of the technology industry a wide range of professional development and networking opportunities. Her three-tiered advice to others: “Get invested in the success of your organization. Don’t wait for someone else to set your career or life path. Always be excellent, always be persistent, but always be humble.”

Paulette January,
Senior Software Quality Engineer,
DRS

Paulette January smiles as she recalls watching a television commercial that set the course of her life—at the age of 12. “It was an ad for a personal computer and right then and there I knew I was destined to study computers in college,” she explains. It turns out, she was right. “From that moment on I never deviated from my initial notion,” she adds. Now, over two decades later, this Alabama native—and graduate of Alabama A&M University with a degree in computer science—boasts 20 years experience in software quality engineering.
After spending several years at various defense firms in New York and New Jersey, January returned to Alabama. Taking a few years off to raise her daughter, she


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