S.K. Gupta, a vice president for Lockheed Martin , has received one of 14 Asian American Engineer of the Year Awards for 2004, presented by the Chinese Institute of Engineers/USA in conjunction with National Engineers Week.

Gupta is vice president and deputy of Operations for Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, headquartered in Denver, Colo., where he oversees an organization of approximately 2,600 employees and is responsible for the efficient management of the company's facilities located throughout the nation.

He joined Lockheed Marin in 1983 and has held numerous technical and management assignments in engineering, business operations, and program management on commercial and government programs. Gupta led the corporation's productivity improvement program called LM21 (Lockheed Martin for the 21st century) and defined and instituted Lean Leadership training for all Lockheed Martin companies. He served as the chief systems engineer for the Sea Shadow, the U.S. Navy's only stealth ship. Prior to immigrating to the United States, Gupta served as a marine engineer in India, where he was the youngest chief engineer in a fleet of 130 vessels.

He is a graduate of Marine Engineering College in India and has also earned an engineering degree from the University of Michigan and a master's degree in business administration from Seattle University. He has authored numerous papers on leadership, business, and technical subjects at both national and international levels. Gupta has received several awards during his 32-year career, including Lockheed's Engineer/Scientist of the Year award in 1984.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin employs about 130,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and integration of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2003 sales of $31.8 billion.

Media Contacts: Steve Tatum, 408-742-7531; e-mail, Stephen.o.tatum@lmco.com

For more information about Lockheed Martin Space Systems, see our web site at http://lmms.external.lmco.com/. For more information about the Asian American Engineer of the Year awards and the 2004 recipients, please visit http://www.cie-usa.org/

SOURCE: Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company