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Lockheed Martin Corporation, continued

Tom Marsh, left, presents a model of an F-22 aircraft to Elaine Hansen of the Colorado Space Grant Consortium. They are joined by Minh Huynh, winner of a Lockheed Martin scholarship in computer science.

As Lockheed Martin's "university executive" for CU, Marsh heads a five-member team that includes Campus Relations Manager Jennifer Brooks and liaisons for student recruitment, student organizations, and research activities.

"Lockheed Martin has identified 30 universities where we get high-quality students, and the University of Colorado is one of those key universities," says Brooks. In particular, the company puts a high value on students who can work in interdisciplinary teams with a focus on systems engineering.

Recruitment activities include sponsoring technology days on campus, where students can learn more about the company through a variety of technical demonstrations; providing speakers (and pizza) to student organizations, and attending departmental activities, such as Computer Science Affiliates Day. One of the company's goals is to broaden awareness of its work in commercial applications, such as air traffic management and automatic fingerprint identification systems.

"Everyone thinks of us as a defense contractor, but we are really a systems integrator," says Brooks. "Only 5 percent of our job openings are in aerospace. We primarily need computer scientists, systems engineers, and electronics engineers."

Lockheed Martin also supports research that relates to its business areas, including co-sponsoring the new BP Center for Visualization (click here to read about this company's partnership with CU). "If engineers can visualize something they've designed before it's built, that's extremely valuable because they can incorporate changes in the design before it's finalized," Marsh says.