FEATURE
Lockheed Martin and SJSU: Partners in Innovation
By Cassie Myers
In a place like Silicon Valley, growth and adaptation are the name of the game. And at institutions as large as Lockheed Martin and SJSU, opportunities to change and adapt are everywhere — you just need to reach for them.
In the past year alone, Lockheed Martin, a leading aerospace and defense company, has had more than 40 hires from SJSU, including interns and recent graduates. Nearly 1,000 SJSU alumni work at Lockheed Martin in various stages of their careers, including interns, fellows, directors and vice presidents.
The missions of both institutions even mirror one another: For Lockheed Martin Space, SJSU’s neighbor down the road in Sunnyvale, to “deliver integrated solutions that push the boundaries of science, provide security, and solve for what the future holds,” and for SJSU to “bring together exceptional people — students, faculty and staff members, and our community — to do extraordinary things with their lives as learners, creators and champions.”
The partnership between SJSU and Lockheed Martin is like a long, fruitful marriage, decades in and still going strong. San José State students and alumni often find internships, jobs and even years-long careers at Lockheed Martin, while employees of the aerospace company sometimes attend San José State mid-career, when they discover they’d like to explore advanced degrees.
The common thread in all these profiles lies in their uncommon characteristics: a good lesson for anyone, particularly college students, who are hoping to find their way in the world. There is never just one path. Let this piece serve as a choose-your-own-adventure: each path ends up at Lockheed Martin.
The Executive
Mark Pasquale, ’84 Mechanical Engineering
Mark Pasquale, ’84 Mechanical Engineering, is a booster and longstanding supporter of his alma mater. He was hired by Lockheed Martin directly out of college and, as of June 2023, has been there 39 years. In his current role as vice president and general manager for Lockheed Martin Space, as well as Bay Area site executive, he is an invaluable resource for SJSU students in various capacities.
He sees Lockheed Martin’s internship opportunities as a win-win for both institutions. “It allows students to understand what's expected of them when they graduate and then move into the workforce,” he explains. “And they bring in new ideas and creativity. We can show the students what Lockheed Martin is all about and hopefully start a long-term relationship where they can become full-time employees.”
His own decades-long career at the company led to many “great times” for him, including memories of going to space launches on three different continents, including launches at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the Baikonur Cosmodrome and the Centre Spatial Guyanais." “Seeing something that you've spent a number of years on launch into orbit, providing capability for our nation and allies, is something that is just a thrill every time that I see it,” he says.
And he remembers his own SJSU experience fondly, from his time on the bowling team to the friends and connections he made that have lasted a lifetime. He admires SJSU for many reasons, including the fact that “San José State students come out of school ready to be active and productive employees.”
So as a Bay Area native and a first-generation college student, he sees it as his duty to give back. He serves as a member of the Math Engineering Science and Achievement (MESA) Program's Industry Advisory Board and as Council Chair of the Industry Advisory Council at SJSU. And as if that weren’t enough, he also funded scholarships for the mechanical engineering department and the San José State football team.
“My education from the university has really given me the opportunity to live the life I have, and giving back to the university and students with similar situations to mine growing up is something that's very rewarding to me,” he says.
“You're not promised tomorrow in any way, shape or form, but the leaders who were here before us set the legacy that allowed us to know we had a place to come to work every day and that we were going to get paid at the end of the week. As I progress in my career, I want to make sure that I help set the future brightly for those students coming behind me.”
“My education from [SJSU] has really given me the opportunity to live the life I have, and giving back to the university and students with similar situations to mine growing up is something that's very rewarding to me.”
— Mark Pasquale
By the Numbers
People from SJSU hired in the past year to work at Lockeed Martin
SJSU alumni work at Lockheed Martin
The Innovators
Lockheed Martin and SJSU are also partners in innovation. Their employees and students are often adapting, learning more and seeking new challenges.
“They put me in a leadership position almost right away and it just shows how beneficial it has been for me, putting me in such great positions.”
— Corey Kelley
Corey Kelley, ’24 Computer Engineering, found Lockheed Martin through the SJSU Career Center and spent two summers as an intern there. He described his first year as “learning a new skill set,” shifting from his hardware background to web development. In his second summer, this growth led to big changes: “I was training up two full-time employees on a new architecture I created and then also training up two other interns,” he says. “They put me in a leadership position almost right away and it just shows how beneficial it has been for me, putting me in such great positions.”
He’s found that Lockheed Martin is all about opportunities, and has allowed him to follow his interests down various paths. He also loves their “team-oriented” approach. His team in particular has a “very diverse skill set,” ranging from front-end web-based skill sets to database design to programming languages, which can lead to even more innovation.
“They utilize me in ways that bring out my potential,” he says. “And on top of that, they're all very kind. I have yet to meet a person I have not enjoyed.”
“Life has its ups and downs. They provided moral support and enabled me to get through some tough times and still be able to get my classes done and keep my grades up.”
— Andrea Rios
Andrea Rios, ’11 Mechanical Engineering, is another innovator. She attended SJSU on a multi-year tuition scholarship for mechanical engineering and began her work at Lockheed Martin as a mechanical engineer.
Then she joined Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technical Leadership Program (ATLP), a two-year program which aims to expand and enhance the capabilities of emerging technical leaders via training, projects and mentoring. As part of the process, she pivoted roles and now works as a systems architect on “internal digital transformation projects.”
She credits some of her career successes to SJSU: “One of my most meaningful takeaways from my time at SJSU was knowing that professors and staff were looking out for me,” she explains. “Life has its ups and downs. They provided moral support and enabled me to get through some tough times and still be able to get my classes done and keep my grades up.”
She’s also grateful for Lockheed Martin’s company culture and emphasis on lifelong learning. “Lockheed Martin supports continuing education in several ways,” she explains. In her case, this meant reaching out to various employees who helped her with her career pivot and allowed her to consider new possibilities.
The Seeker
Florance Thomas, ’23 Business Administration
Florance Thomas, ’23 Business Administration, was already a leader when she came to Lockheed Martin — she started at San José State as “a leader in the Global Student Network, AIESEC and Braven.” Like Kelley, she found out about Lockheed Martin through the Career Center and landed a position as an aeronautics strategy and business development intern. She is currently a financial management associate.
She says Lockheed Martin has taught her to ask questions and “to let go of my comfort zone.” “Although I had a foundation in fundamental business concepts, aeronautics felt like a new world,” she remembers. “Letting go of my own limits catapulted me into my current role in finance. My confidence in asking the team questions and a hunger to learn new things are takeaways I will continue to use not only in this role but in the future.”
Her role as an intern was internationally interesting, too.
As a Lockheed Martin intern, “I worked for a team that was critical in forming and maintaining relationships with governments across Northern Europe, especially Great Britain and Denmark,” she says. “I got the opportunity to research cultural differences, use my passion in human rights and international affairs with a defense lens and synthesize my findings into key messaging points that the team used in their interactions.”
She transitioned this role into full-time work largely through her own initiative. She turned her manager into a mentor and kept in touch with her team, and now enjoys the challenges of her new position.
She encourages San José State students to consider Lockheed Martin: “A Lockheed Martin internship could open their eyes to look at the world in a new way and even encourage them to explore different areas of interest. As long as you’re curious, willing to take part in every opportunity that comes your way and you bring a positive attitude, the sky is the limit (space pun intended).”
“My confidence in asking the team questions and a hunger to learn new things are takeaways I will continue to use not only in this role but in the future.”
— Florance Thomas
Did you know?
Some full-time Lockheed employees also return to SJSU for graduate degrees during their employment. The hours are long, and they usually learn remotely, but they’ve found the benefits to be more than worth the costs.
“The AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning) program has allowed me to stay on the cutting edge of research and technology. Nearly every class project covered a topic or skill that was directly applicable at my job. For example, in one project, we built a chatbot that allowed us to retrieve information from our digital engineering ecosystem and systems engineering models using natural language. This allowed our engineers to quickly and easily get answers to their questions and find the desired information without having to manually search through various tools.”
— Joe Cesena, ’09 MS Systems Engineering, ’09 MBA, ’23 MS Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Lockheed Martin Fellow
“I’ve grown to really enjoy education. Though I learn a lot every day at work, there is something extremely unique about being in the classroom (even over Zoom). Without the same stress many undergrads face, you can really take in a course for what it is, a transfer of knowledge from one person to another. You’re challenging yourself to learn something new.”
— Senior Systems Engineer Eric Gonzalez, ’24 MS Engineering with a specialization in Business Analytics Engineering program Senior Systems Engineer
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Photos courtesy of Lockheed Martin
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