06-21-2022
June 23 is International Women in Engineering Day (INWED), a time to celebrate the amazing work and contributions of women engineers who are shaping our future. As a top federal contractor and leading organization in technology and innovation, SAIC is home to some amazing women engineers. In honor of INWED's theme this year, “Inventors and Innovators,” we are highlighting some women engineers from SAIC's Innovation Factories and from across our business who help create the innovative solutions our customers rely on and expect from us.
Rosa Ayers Singletary
Senior Manager, Systems Engineer / BEYA Modern-Technology Leader Award Winner
Rosa Ayers Singletary provides systems engineering and technical assistance support to SAIC’s government customers. She has worked in the government and commercial intelligence sectors for 27 years and has been highly successful in managing diverse and skilled teams.
Rosa knew at an early age that she wanted to be an engineer and set out to make it happen by pursuing robotics programs, higher-level math classes in middle school and a pre-engineering program in high school. She graduated from the prestigious Paul Laurence Dunbar Senior High School in Washington, DC, and its pre-engineering program, earning the Stephen Joel Trachtenberg Scholarship, a full academic scholarship to George Washington University (GWU), as well as undergraduate scholar recognition from the CIA.
Rosa is one of SAIC's two 2022 Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) winners. She feels honored being recognized as part of a group of leaders in technology and innovation. She was an active member of the National Society of Black Engineers, serving as GWU’s chapter president for two years, and she remains an active advocate of STEM education through her work on the advisory board of Dunbar High School's Engineering Academy.
Rosa's message to engineers of the future is to learn as much as possible: "Young people are only as rich as their exposure and experiences." See Rosa's full story. >
Anita henderson-carlos
Program Management and Quality Assurance Director, Defense and Civilian Sector
Anita Henderson-Carlos is a program management director and quality assurance director in SAIC's Defense and Civilian Sector, supporting the Vanguard contract with the State Dept. that is worth approximately $2.5 billion and employs roughly 900 SAIC and subcontract employees. She joined SAIC in 1988 as a software engineer and successfully oversaw the U.S. Air Force’s testing of war planning systems and helped achieve the first Capability Maturity Model level 3 certification for the armed service.
Anita is a member of the SAIC Women’s Employee Resource Group. She received the SAIC CEO Award in 2017 as the Unsung Hero, and served as the president of the SAIC Women’s Network from 2011 to 2015 for the National Capital Region. She is an ISO-certified internal auditor and has received letters of recognition from the State Dept. Anita completed the SAIC-sponsored Black Executive Leadership Program in 2021.
Anita's advice to all young women engineers is to "find good mentors, like I did, who support you through the good and tough times." She continued, "When tough times came along, I could hear them lifting me up and saying, 'You’ve got this.'" See Anita's full story. >
.
hEidi jugovic
Chief Digital Engineer, Engineering Innovation Factory / SAIC Fellow
Heidi Jugovic is a chief digital engineer in the digital engineering practice within SAIC’s Engineering Innovation Factory, which resides in the company's Enterprise Solutions and Operations group. She assists with the development of SAIC’s digital engineering capabilities and coaches digital engineering execution in programs across the U.S. Department of Defense, in order to develop the next generation of highly capable engineers in model-based systems engineering. "Digital engineering has revolutionized how we capture and use engineering information," she said.
Heidi has 14 years of defense engineering experience, with an emphasis on model-based systems engineering and digital transformation, guiding the industry on efficiency gains with her knowledge and expertise. She leverages her experience in the product development lifecycle of ground stations for system-of-record overhead persistent infrared satellites, air-to-ground radar systems, electronic attack and integrated airborne and naval mission system architectures to bring assured capabilities to SAIC’s customers. She is a veteran of the U.S. Army who served as a missile defense early warning engineer, operator and technician.
She is also co-chair of SAIC’s digital engineering community of practice and an SAIC Fellow, bringing her combination of technical, business and leadership skills to stimulate innovation, encourage active knowledge sharing and provide technology leadership across the company. See Heidi's full story. >
cAzzy hEiN
Mechanical Engineer, Engineering Innovation Factory
Cazzy Hein is a mechanical engineer in SAIC’s Engineering Innovation Factory, supporting design and development within the integrated digital thread. She plays a role in developing and providing tools for teams to execute their design processes. She is currently aiding in the deployment of Aras Innovator as a new product lifecycle management tool, as well as deploying and aiding in the development of Aras Innovator connectors for SolidWorks, Creo and SAIC’s Integrated Manufacturing Toolkit. She has also played a large role in the electrical design, cable fabrication and 3D printing of the Tri-El 2.0 demonstration prototype for the Engineering Innovation Factory.
Cazzy started her career as a design engineer, providing custom mechanical and electrical design solutions and conducting finite element analyses. She then moved into the production environment as a lead continuous improvement engineer, serving as the engineering support for a 40,000-square-foot manufacturing floor. She designed and built custom jigs and dynamic tools, deployed root cause analyses and developed production processes for every component going through the machine shop.
Of women engineers, she noted, "In the future, I hope to see engineering better acknowledged as a potential career for women at a younger age. Girls and young women need to understand that they, too, can become inventors and innovators!" See Cazzy's full story. >
