Civil engineer. Mechanical engineer. Chemical engineer.
Those are all familiar terms. Engineering fellow? Not so much. But that's what Jennie Horne is at Raytheon in Huntsville, a title given to less than 2 percent of those at the defense and engineering giant.
Horne has been with Raytheon for more than 20 years, joining the company after earning her bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech. She went on to earn a master's degree and PhD at the University of Arizona while working at Raytheon. For the next eight years she worked on the same program - Standard Missile-3 - the missile that now is produced at Raytheon's facility on Redstone Arsenal.
When Horne started on the project, it was known as SM-X.
"We were in on the ground floor," she said. "We were trying to prove you could do this - you could hit the object with an object."
Horne has continued to work on missile defense since that time. She now carries the title "Engineering Fellow," a senior position with a technical focus that works to mentor young engineers in the company.
She credits her growth in the company in part to early mentors. Two of her first supervisors were female engineers, she said, providing inspiration for the now-mother of two teens. The main source of inspiration, however, is the important role the defense networks play in protecting the war fighter.
"I do step back and think how we are defending our nation and then I think how can we inspire the next generation of engineers to continue that?" she said.