Lockheed Martin on Board as Key Sponsor for Inaugural San Diego Science Festival

March 2009 Festival Offers Attendees Opportunities to Experience What It Feels Like to Fly Jets, Race Robots, Watch a Car Drive Itself, and More

Lockheed Martin, committed to fostering a pioneering scientific spirit, has donated $100K to become the largest corporate donor and event co-host for the San Diego Science Festival, a grassroots collaboration of over 125 leading science organizations in San Diego. Planned as the West Coast’s largest science event, the Festival has attracted corporate and individual donors dedicated to encouraging the nation’s youth to pursue careers focused in science, research, and mathematics.

Lockheed Martin will share hosting honors with San Diego Science Festival executive director Larry Bock, increasing their sponsorship contribution to take the corporate lead for the event. The San Diego Science Festival is facilitated by a joint effort between Bock and BioBridge, a program of UC San Diego that reaches out to area schools to promote science education and research.

Lockheed Martin’s interest in supporting this nonprofit educational initiative has been driven by the company’s senior vice president and chief technology officer, Dr. Ray O. Johnson.

“At Lockheed Martin, we clearly understand the connection between an enthusiasm for science and the pursuit of technical career fields, which are vital to our corporation and essential to our competitiveness as a nation,” said Johnson. “For this reason, we are proud to be a key sponsor of the San Diego Science Festival. Through our active participation in the Festival, we will encourage tomorrow’s scientists, inventors, and business leaders to explore their creativity to solve difficult problems.”

Larry Bock added, “Lockheed Martin recognizes the commitment and dedication it takes to host an event the size and scale of the San Diego Science Festival. I commend them for showcasing their company’s talents to the next generation of aspiring scientists and researchers.”

On the Leading Edge of Science

Lockheed Martin will be participating in the main San Diego Science Festival program with a multi-day event at the San Diego Air & Space Museum that will offer engaging hands-on exhibits for middle and high school students. Dubbed “On the Leading Edge of Science,” the exhibit opens its doors on April 1 as part of the Festival’s “Science on the Mesa” program. The interactive exhibit will be open to 200 high school students per day from April 1-3, concluding on April 4 – Expo Day – when it will be open from 10:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

Lockheed Martin’s “On the Leading Edge of Science” exhibit will tap into the company’s many business resources to provide a variety of exciting, interactive learning tools for those in attendance. Drawing on these nationwide resources, the company will bring in its authentic fighter jet Cockpit Simulator from Dallas/Ft. Worth, its VirtuSphere enhanced 3-D virtual reality training module from Ft. Knox, Kentucky, and its Prius Urban Challenge Vehicle from its facility in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, just to name a few.

One word turns science fiction into science fact, turns ideas into achievements, and turns dreams into discoveries. “How” is the word that makes all the difference. Engineers use science and math to solve tough problems, such as How to explore the moon, How to conserve energy, and How to protect people from harm. As an engineer, you can work on various challenges, earn a great salary, live in different parts of the world, and even go out of this world – many astronauts are engineers! From the building where you go to school to the clothes you wear, the food you eat, and the things you do for fun, engineers have an impact on nearly everything around you. Lockheed Martin engineers build products ranging from GPS satellites and fingerprint scanners to fighter jets and Mars rovers.

To further enhance the authenticity and inspirational cachet of the program, the San Diego Science Festival has recruited astronaut Marsha S. Ivins, who has logged several orbital flights, to interact with Festival goers on April 3 and 4, as part of the Lockheed Martin Booth at the Aerospace Museum. An engineer in her early days at NASA, Ms. Ivins holds, among other licenses, a multi-engine Airline Transport Pilot License with Gulfstream-1 type rating, and has logged over 6,600 hours in civilian and NASA aircraft.

Lockheed Martin’s “Nifty” Contributors

Lockheed Martin also brings to the Festival two members of the Nifty Fifty, which is a very select group of San Diego’s most inspirational scientists who will visit area middle and high schools in the spring of 2009 to speak to students about science and research. These two scientists will make visits to local high schools to talk about their trials and triumphs as scientists and to help connect students with a real-world application of science.

— Frances Quinones, Lockheed Martin Frances is the Program Manager for the United States Army’s Level 1 Fusion Future Combat Systems program. This program, budgeted at $128M, makes relevant, timely, and actionable information available to military decision makers and analysts.

— Richard Boyd, Lockheed Martin As one of the creators of the Lockheed Martin Virtual World Labs, Richard leads a group of innovative engineers and designers across all mission areas for Lockheed Martin. They harness cutting-edge computer gaming and virtual world technologies in an effort to improve human performance through more effective training and collaboration. He joined Lockheed Martin in 2007 when they acquired the computer game technology firm 3Dsolve, where Richard was the founder and CEO.

For more information about the 2009 San Diego Science Festival, including schedule details, corporate sponsorship and individual giving opportunities, frequently asked questions, and comments from science community leaders, please visit www.sdsciencefestival.org.

Media Contacts:

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Jana Ferron, SneakerAcademy, jf@sneakeracademy.com, (619) 957-2426

Anthony W. Jones, SneakerAcademy, awj@sneakeracademy.com, (415) 728-4705