Suzanne Jenniches

F. Suzanne Jenniches (born 1949) is an American engineer who served from April 2, 2003, to 2010 as the vice president and general manager of Government Systems Division of Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Electronic Systems sector. She holds a patent for laser soldering. She was the only woman to take engineering evening classes at Johns Hopkins University in the 1970s. She was among the first women to do so at that University. She was both the first female engineer and, therefore, the first intern at Westinghouse Electric Company. She is one of the first female leaders at Northrop Grumman, and considered a pioneer by the Society of Women Engineers.

From 1988 to 1989, Jenniches was the president of the Society of Women Engineers. From 1996 to 2003, she served on the Board of Directors for MICROS, Inc. From 1999 to 2006, She served as a Member as a United States Army Science Board. She has also served on the American Association of Engineering Societies Board of Governors and as an expert witness before Congress on numerous occasions. She advocated on behalf of engineering for NASA, NIST, AAES, and SWE.

Jenniches has served in many leadership positions at Northrop Grumman Corp: In 1986, she was appointed manager of Systems & Technology Operations. Later she became Vice President of Automation and Information Systems, Vice President of Communications Systems (Electronic Systems sector). In 2003, she became the Vice President of the Government Systems Division.

Jenniches earned the Distinguished New Engineer Award in 1983 and the Achievement Award in 2000. Jenniches has received numerous awards.

In 1980, she obtained a patent for laser soldering. In 1981 she led operations for the B-1B bomber offensive radar. She oversaw the production of the first electronically scanned antenna for production aircraft in the world.

While working as a teacher, Jenniches began to work toward an engineering degree. She attended evening school at Johns Hopkins, four nights a week, for seven years. She was the only woman at the evening engineering school for a number of years. In 1979, Jenniches earned a master's degree in environmental engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

In 1970, Jenniches earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Clarion State College (now, Clarion University of Pennsylvania). Engineering was not an option. She believed there were only two choices open to her as a young female biology major: a nurse or a teacher. She became a biology teacher.

Jenniches began her career in science as a high school biology teacher, teaching ecology, in Westminster, Maryland. During this time, she received a magazine in the mail from the National Education Association. It was 1970, the first year of Earth Day. On the back cover, she found an ad from Johns Hopkins University. There was a post card to fill, tear out, and send in. Once again, she decided to change her career path on a whim. She applied to go to graduate school at Johns Hopkins by impulse. One of the items on the back cover flyer was the environmental engineering.