BALTIMORE, Feb. 23, 2009 -- Thirty-four Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) employees were among the many individuals recognized for their outstanding contributions to engineering and community service excellence at the 2009 Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) conference in Baltimore on Feb. 21.

Among the recipients of individual BEYA honors in separate awards categories were four employees from the company's Baltimore-based Electronic Systems sector: 

  * Ayn Fuller, an advisory engineer with the Radio Frequency (RF)
   Antenna Systems department, was honored for her Outstanding
   Technical Contributions.
 * Henry Jeffress III, a senior design engineer in the Microwave and
   Millimeter Wave Integrated Circuits (MMIC) design group, was
   honored with the Special Recognition award.
 * Jabbar Miller, Ph.D., an electrical engineering technical lead in
   the RF Apertures group, was honored with the Graduate Engineering
   for Minorities (GEM) Student Leadership Award.
 * Veronica Nelson, manager of the Career Pathways Program, was
   honored with the Promotion of Higher Education award.

Photos of all four employees accompanying this release are available at http://media.primezone.com/noc/

Fuller, the Outstanding Technical Contributions award recipient, has more than 23 years of technical experience at Northrop Grumman and currently is providing engineering support for five separate production programs. She began her career in 1985 as part of the Professional Development Program (PDP). Fuller earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University. She is recognized as a RF manifold and tile design subject matter expert among the company's antenna design community.

Jeffress, the Special Recognition award winner, serves as an integrated project team lead for the MMIC modeling team in addition to his work as a senior design engineer. He began his career in 2002 as part of the company's PDP program. He has received four technology disclosure awards and also serves as a technical liaison between the company's MMIC design team and outside foundries, helping to manage requirements and set design priorities. Jeffress received bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from Morgan State University.

Miller, the GEM Student Leadership award recipient, began his career with Northrop Grumman in 2002 as part of the PDP and currently focuses on specification, design, integration and verification of radar systems. He earned his bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees in electrical engineering from Clemson University. Miller's volunteer efforts in the community include working with alumni groups at Clemson in fundraising and other efforts. He is also a mentor for Northrop Grumman's Worthwhile to Help High School Youth (WORTHY) program.

Nelson, the Promotion of Higher Education award winner, has more than 21 years of service with Northrop Grumman. As the first African-American woman to earn a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Howard University, she joined the company as part of its Graduate Student Rotation Program, now known as the PDP. Nelson serves as an advocate for employees and a partner to managers in career development. She is involved in numerous Northrop Grumman initiatives in the community intended to educate students about science, technology, engineering and math opportunities. She has also participated for the past eight years in the company's WORTHY program. Nelson earned her bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Thirty other Northrop Grumman employees from across the corporation received Modern Day Technology Leaders awards during the BEYA conference in recognition of their individual contributions to help shape the future of engineering, science and technology.

Award recipients included Januca Berry, Dedra Bonner, Hayes Bowling III, Devin Canaday, Marcus Edwards, Jacqueline Finger, Kendall Hayman, Ronald Jackson, Yolanda Mitchell, Uche Onyewu, Darius Parker, Steven Shomoye, Lakeisha Souter, Tina Vines, Aisha Watkins, Tesa Wheatley and Jeniene Wiseman from the company's Electronic Systems sector.

Other recipients included Jared Guilliod, Kevin Huff, Pamela Jones, Seanna Garrett and Shannon Long from Northrop Grumman Information Systems sector; Chanel Pride and Hal Todd from Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding sector; Tomeka Fisher, Shirlyn Jean-Louis, Tanya Patterson, Raymond Sharp, Christopher Taylor from the company's Aerospace Systems sector; and Sharon Patterson from Northrop Grumman Technical Services sector.

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a leading global security company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, shipbuilding and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide. 

  CONTACT:  Bonnie Blueford
          Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems
          (410) 765-3141
          bonnie.blueford@ngc.com

          Carissa Kwan
          Northrop Grumman Corporation
          (310) 201-3111
          carissa.kwan@ngc.com