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Titans of Science NAVY ENGINEER SAYS THE ATTENTION SHE RECEIVED MADE THE DIFFERENCE


rewarding those who give girls a chance to be good at math. Today, Thorpe heads the Avionics Sensors and Systems Integration Branch at the U.S. Department of the Navy’s Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River, MD. Her job is to lead a team of more than 35 engineers, technicians and contractors in providing state-of-the-art electric and electronic equipment for Navy fleet aircraft.


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But dial back to the early 1970s, when, as a child in her toughened neigh- borhood at 19th and Poplar in Philadel- phia, Thorpe first got an inkling that a STEM career would be in her destiny. She happened to win a fourth-grade math competition, and it was on.


“That was something that said, ‘Hey, I know I like this math stuff. Let me see what I can do with it,’ ” Thorpe says. “A young black female being able to be good at math, that wasn’t something they were looking for or had seen.”


From that initial opportunity to be


good at math, Thorpe began grabbing at her future. She ventured cross-town out of her neighborhood for high school to the prestigious and academically rigorous Philadelphia High School for Girls and participated in the Philadelphia Regional Introduction for Minorities to Engi- neering Program, or PRIME, which is designed to foster interest among minori- ties in technical studies and that exposed her to engineers and technical labs during summers.


Then it was on to Drexel University in Philadelphia, where she would earn a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering in 1987. During that time at Drexel, Thorpe received a Navy schol- arship and following graduation began


www.blackengineer.com


hroughout her distinguished 25-year career as a military civilian engineer, Maria V. Thorpe has been devoted to


working as an electri- cal engineer at the Naval Sea Systems Command in Philadelphia. Thorpe


says she was encouraged every step of the way by teachers, men- tors and family members. Like in many urban enclaves such as 19th and Poplar, getting out of the


neighborhood is a chore for young people


Maria V. Thorpe Avionics Sensors and Systems Integration Branch, U.S. Department of the Navy, Naval Systems Command


military allows her to practice the science of engineering that sparked inside her as a young girl. After Drexel, Thorpe went on to earn master’s degrees in engineering science at Penn State University and national re- source strategy at the National Defense Univer- sity, Industrial College of the Armed Forces. She has been at NAVAIR at Patuxent River


unto itself. It was no different for Thorpe, one of eight children in her family. And even in the 1970s and 1980s, the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics were hardly something associated with girls, Thorpe acknowledges. Looking back with un- derstanding and amusement, she recalls when she first told her mother she wanted to be an engineer her mother thought she was referring to a train engineer or conductor.


“It wasn’t something that was heard of in my community. It wasn’t something that my friends knew about. I didn’t know any engineers. My exposure was given to me through my opportunities from school and the programs I partici- pated in. I was kind of in it alone at first. But just knowing that I was doing well in school and in math and science, it helped me to see this as something that maybe I could do,” Thorpe says. Thorpe’s civilian career with the


since 1996 in a series of progressively responsible engineering supervisory positions.


“I am proud of getting our prod- uct out to the fleet [by] providing the technology they need to do their jobs,” Thorpe says. “That is always rewarding and fulfilling, and many people don’t get to do that. Being able to take something from start to finish and providing it is just an awesome opportunity.”


Thorpe serves as a lead recruiter and diversity champion for NAVAIR and is a regular participant at college recruiting fairs, competitiveness conferences and other events that promote the command’s affirmative employment goals. In February 2010, Thorpe received Career Communications Group Inc.’s Black Engineer of the Year Community Service Award for her efforts, the first Navy member to receive such an honor. 


USBE&IT I WINTER 2010 51 by M.V. Greene mgreene@ccgmag.com


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