Kimberly Johnson to Represent The Society of Women Engineers - Houston Area in Global Marathon

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) February 28, 2010 -- Feb 27, 2010 – The Global marathon, a part of February's Engineers Week (eWeek) celebration is being held to coincide with Women’s History Month (March) and International Women’s Day (March 8, 2010) This project is an extension of 'Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day', sponsored by Motorola Foundation, NYSE: MOT, Symantec, NASDAQ:SYMC , ExxonMobil Corporation, NYSE: XOM, Rockwell Collins, NYSE: COL and the S.D Bechtel Jr. Foundation.

The Global Marathon is meant to connect women and girls from six continents who are willing to engage in a continuous conversation on engineering. Engineers Week partners are concerned about diversity, quality and numbers of engineers within the profession. Fewer than 10 percent of US engineers are women though they are a majority on college campuses. The marathon will:

* provide a forum to share information for, by and about women in engineering for a variety of groups engaged in related issues;
* highlight to employers that women are still underrepresented in engineering;
* Create an awareness of existing programs and opportunities for girls and women;
* help dispel myths about women & girls in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM);
* provide a unifying event for groups working towards recognition, recruitment and retention of women in engineering,

* increase awareness of STEM issues among pre-college, college, and young career women, and help to address issues of concern such as retaining women in college engineering programs and the workplace.

Kimberly Johnson represents the Society of Women Engineers - Houston Area in Global Marathon. Ms. Kimberly R. Johnson has ten years experience as an engineer and program analyst in the oil and gas, telecommunications, and aerospace industries where she was responsible for the management, operations, and engineering of high-technology systems. Most recently, Ms. Johnson served as a technical manager in the Office of Program Analysis and Evaluation on staff to the NASA Administrator Michael Griffin. She gained valuable experience as lead and participant in studies and projects, such as the agency's efforts to define and balance the Science Directorate's portfolio over the next 20 years.

Earlier in her career, Ms. Johnson served as an engineer at Bechtel Corporation where she developed a predictive model describing the company's petroleum engineering and construction efforts to forecast and evaluate technical workforce effectiveness and efficiency and overall project profitability. This system is currently used by senior and executive management to analyze a $20B project portfolio.

Ms. Johnson began her technical career in the telecommunications industry where she designed and reviewed system requirements for current and future unified telecommunications systems in North American and Latin American markets.
She earned her Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from University of Texas at Arlington. She received her Masters in Business Administration degree in 2000.

The 2010 Global 24-Hour Marathon event promises to be an exciting educational event designed to enlighten women around the globe about the various disciplines, benefits, and wide range possibilities in S.T.E.M, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math careers.

“The Global Marathon is a shining example of an educational program that is transforming young women’s perception of science and engineering and is helping to lay the groundwork for future educational and career opportunities.” Eileen Sweeney, director of the Motorola Foundation.

Eileen Sweeney     eweek     ExxonMobil Corporation     global marathon     motorola     SWE     symantec