Hispanic Professional Engineers Announces 2009 Star Award Recipients

LOS ANGELES,  -- The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) has announced the individual and corporate winners for the 2009 SHPE Technical Achievement Recognition (STAR) Awards. The annual awards recognize the year's highest level of achievement in Hispanic engineering and sciences in several different categories.

All awards will be presented during the 2009 SHPE Conference in Washington, D.C. from Oct. 28-Nov. 1. The SHPE Conference is the largest Hispanic technical conference in the nation, with approximately 5,000 attendees expected.

"SHPE is proud to honor these individuals and corporations for their exceptional achievement in our field," said Manny Hernandez, national president of SHPE. "Each STAR award recipient embodies the caliber of quality Hispanic engineer and technical talent that SHPE strives to represent. It is our hope that future generations will look to these honorees as shining examples of Hispanic talent in science, technology, engineering and mathematics."

Each STAR recipient was nominated by corporate and government peers and colleagues and then considered by a selection committee of professionals, educators and community leaders. The 2009 STAR award winners include:

    -- Company of the Year:
       IBM, Armonk, N.Y.
    -- Corporate Achievement Award:
       Raul Cosio, IBM, Somers, N.Y.
    -- Jaime Oaxaca Award
       Jose Hernandez, NASA astronaut, Houston
    -- Junipero Serra Award
       Mike Baca, Medtronic-Neuromodulation, Fridley, Minn.
    -- Honorary Member Award
       Maria Guadalupe Ferreira, Lockheed Martin, Santa Maria, Calif.
    -- Hispanic in Technology Award/Corporate:
       Jaime Lopez, Chevron Products Company - Technology Marketing, Richmond,
       Calif.
    -- Hispanic in Technology Award/Government:
       Edwin Corporan, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio
    -- Promising Engineer Award:
       Douglas Orellana, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Annapolis, Md.
    -- Student Role Model Award:
       Joseph Gonzalez, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    -- Professional Role Model Award:
       Fernando Mujica, Ph.D., Texas Instruments/Dallas-Fort Worth
       Professional SHPE Chapter, Dallas, Texas

SHPE, Inc. is the source for quality Hispanic engineers and technical talent, committed to enhancing America's position in math, science, engineering and technology with a strong and talented Hispanic workforce. SHPE empowers its membership of students and professionals with increased educational opportunities, professional and personal growth, and involvement in education, business and government issues. For more information, please visit www.shpe.org.