Alumni Spotlight: Meet Wendy Martinez

Wendy Martinez, an SDSU Electrical Engineering alumna and former Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) leader, is Principal Electric Engineer of the Integrated Defense Department for Raytheon, with a list of extraordinary accomplishments.

The first in her family to receive a college education, Martinez is now responsible for overseeing multimillion dollar contracts for system engineering design and installations onboard United States Navy LPD17 Amphibious Transport Class ships.  Wendy was recently one of the leads responsible for the network upgrades of the Shipboard Wide Area Network (SWAN) onboard the USS New York.   The USS New York was built with 7.5 tons of steel from the World Trade Center and supports over 360 sailors and can accommodate over 700 Marines.  Wendy not only worked on the network design, architecture development, and installation planning but was also the responsible for executing and implementing the SWAN design onboard USS New York.

During her time at SDSU, Martinez was heavily involved in the MESA Engineering Program (MEP) and volunteered for many outreach initiatives to pre-college level students.  She was also known to unofficially tutor and help out fellow classmates.  “She not only wanted to raise her own level of success, but the success of everyone around her as well,” said MEP Director Theresa Garcia.  “Wendy, then and now, is a great role model to others, especially young Latinas. She is very dedicated and loyal and really does have a passion to make a difference in her community,” said Ms. Garcia.

Since graduating with her Bachelor’s Degree from SDSU in 1999, Ms. Martinez earned a Master’s Degree in business administration with an emphasis in organizational leadership from National University San Diego.

Martinez is a 2010 recipient of the prestigious HENAAC Luminary Award presented at the 22nd HENAAC Conference and she was featured as a Great Minds in STEM “Role Model of the Week” during the week of Feb. 21, 2011.

A San Diego native, Ms. Martinez is committed to making a difference in the local community. She is an ambassador for Raytheon’s Math Moves U program, 2010 President for Raytheon’s Women’s Network (RWN), a board member for Patrick Henry’s High School’s School of Engineering, and she is involved in her company’s Introduce a Girl to Engineering program which focuses on teaching girls about engineering through hands-on activities, technical competitions, guest speakers and lab tours.
 
Martinez is also still very involved with MEP and volunteers in her spare time. “I know I can count on her.  If we have an event and I need volunteers, I know I can give her a call. Even now, as an engineer at Raytheon, she has kept in touch, has mentored students, and she participated in our Joint Planning Conference for incoming officers of diversity engineering student organizations that Raytheon has hosted for the past 3 years,” said Ms. Garcia.