“Working Mom – Director by Day and Night”

Women in Engineering (WIE) & Aerospace & Electronic Systems Society (AESS) & Education Society

There are often periods of time when working moms – all working people – feel conflicted by the role of caregiver and that of the career professional. No matter the reasons for choosing to work while raising children – the challenge of the career, a way to stay connected to the “adult” you, the need or desire to contribute financially, or any combination of these and other reasons – it’s a path that can be challenging. Ellen Ferraro will share her role as an Engineering Director at Raytheon and the Family Director at home. Hear her journey and the paths she chose along the way.

Dr. Ellen Ferraro is the Director of the Systems Architecture, Design and Integration Directorate (SADID) within the Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) Engineering organization. She was appointed to this role in October, 2010. The SADID organization has approximately 1200 people across the US who are responsible for all aspects of systems engineering including requirements definition, modeling and simulation efforts, system effectiveness and operational analysis and algorithm development.

Raytheon Company, with 2014 sales of $23 billion and 61,000 employees worldwide, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, security and civil markets throughout the world.

Headquartered in Tewksbury, Mass., IDS has locations in Washington, California, Utah, New Mexico, Virginia, Texas, Maryland, Rhode Island, Alabama, Australia, Canada, Germany, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Its broad portfolio of weapons, sensors and integration systems supports its customer base across multiple mission areas including air and missile defense systems; missile defense radars; early warning radars; naval ship operating systems; command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C4I) systems; air traffic management; and other advanced technologies. IDS provides affordable, integrated solutions to a broad international and domestic customer base, including the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, the U.S. Armed Forces and the Department of Homeland Security.

Since joining Raytheon Company in 1994, Ferraro has held the role of Director of Engineering Operations, Director for the Strategic Architecture Directorate and acting IDS Technical Director, Deputy Director for the System Validation Test and Analysis Directorate, Department Manager and Systems Engineering Integrated Product Team Lead. In addition, Ferraro has been involved in the analysis of scattering and propagation over the ocean. She has also investigated spread clutter mitigation techniques for enhanced small target detection as well as the use of expert system technology to aid in the counter-drug mission. Ferraro has authored and presented more than a dozen technical papers at conferences, universities and IEEE meetings around the world.

Ferraro received her PhD degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1994 under a NASA Graduate Student Research Fellowship. While working in the Microwave Remote Sensing Laboratory (MIRSL) at the University of Massachusetts, her graduate research included the development of an airborne radar altimeter for the investigation of surface and volume scattering from the Greenland ice sheet.

Ferraro is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). She was previously a member of the IEEE 2007 Radar Conference Committee and vice chair of the IEEE 2010 Phased Array Conference. She is an active member of the Boston Section of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and is the recipient of the Mass High Tech “Women to Watch in 2006” Award, the SWE 1999 Distinguished New Engineer Award and the SWE 2007 Emerging Leaders Award

Registration Page: https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/m/36213

Meeting Location: Tufts University, Alumnae Lounge, Aidekman Center. For Garmin enter 40 Talbot Avenue, Somerville; For Tom Tom enter, 40 Talbot Ave., Medford.

To assist us in planning this meeting, please pre-register at http://www.ieeeboston.org/Register/.