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Monday, November 20
Movie Screening: 3:30 p.m., Auditorium
Panel Discussion: 6:30 p.m., Dining Hall Commons

Mark your calendar for Monday, November 20 when the Math Department will provide a screening of the hit movie Hidden Figures, followed by a pizza dinner and panel discussion about the movie.

The discussion will be led by Math Department Chair Katie LuBrant. Panelists will include: Malathi Pentapalli, Lead Software Engineer at Lockheed Martin, Michelle Nesevich, Program Manager at Lockheed Martin and MFS parent, Linda Pelullo, Systems, Software and Chemical Engineer at Lockheed Martin, Jennifer Harris ’03, civil engineer, Jennielle Jobson ’07, Ph.D. student in the Genetics and Genomic Sciences program within the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS), and Dorothy López, MFS Math Teacher.

About the Panelists:

Malathi Pentapalli

Malathi is a Lead Software Engineer at Lockheed Martin with 17 years of core Engineering and Technology experience in Object Oriented Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Maintenance.  She possesses strong leadership experience coupled with “hands-on” IT expertise, management skills, excellent knowledge in business process redesign.

Malathi has experience working in Mission Critical Systems, Mortgage systems, Security Badge systems, Automated Toll collections, traffic flow Management (FAA), Defense contracts, Healthcare, and Automotive sales.

She considers herself research minded, result-oriented, and likes taking up problem solving challenges. She believes women can prove to be strong Engineers and be at par with men. She spends time with family and gets involved in community events. She has learned Indian classical dance and loves to teach dance.

Michelle Nesevich

Michelle Nesevich is a Program Manager at Lockheed Martin. In this capacity, Michelle is responsible for various Radar and Modelling and Simulation efforts in Lockheed Martin’s Naval Combat and Missile Defense Systems (NC&MDS) Market Segment.   As a program manager, Michelle has responsibility for maintaining schedule, cost and technical requirements of various Aegis Weapon System products.  The Aegis Weapon System is an integrated radar and missile system capable of defending against air, surface, and subsurface threats.  Aegis is currently deployed on over 100 ships globally, including US Navy cruisers and destroyers, as well as allied nations’ ships of Australia, Japan, Norway, Republic of Korea and Spain.

Michelle received her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Rutgers University.  She currently lives in Lumberton with her husband Russ and their three children – Charlotte (5th grade), Caroline (2nd grade), and Chip (preschool), who are all MFS students.

Linda Pelullo

Linda is a Systems, Software and Chemical Engineer at Lockheed Martin Corporation. In her career, she has worked at many different companies, industries and assignments. In the field of Chemical Engineering, she worked in a variety of industries including Operations at the Camden County Municipal Utilities Authority (CCMUA), Operations for ARCO and Process and Product R&D for DuPont and Mobil Oil. While at the CCMUA, Ms. Pelullo was the only female staff member which presented an interesting array of challenges.

In the early 90’s, after working on an expert system at Mobil, she saw an exciting future and opportunity in software and databases, prompting her to pursue Software Engineering.  Ms. Pelullo worked at the former Computer Science Corporation (CSC) in Moorestown,learning database application development. During this time, the US Navy awarded Ms. Pelullo with an Aegis Excellence Award for outstanding leadership of software Y2K conversions. She joined Lockheed Martin in Moorestown in 2000 as a Java programmer, where she was quickly promoted to Lead Software Engineer. She led over a dozen software projects primarily in proof-of-concept efforts that varied in size, scope, timing and funding. Ms. Pelullo’s ability to deliver the desired results on time and within budget resulted in several technical and business awards as well as an opportunity to manage a multi-million-dollar software project that successfully designed, developed and delivered a customer approved prototype in 6 months. Ms. Pelullo was the only female technical manager on this project.

Always looking for a new challenge, Ms. Pelullo, shifted career paths again and pursued Systems Engineering opportunities. This change has provided her with diverse assignments as a simulation systems analyst as well as developing/updating software tools for data analysis. She is currently leading a multi-state virtual team that is developing tools and infrastructure supporting Lockheed’s new generation of innovation, technology and efficiency. In October, Ms. Pelullo received an award for outstanding leadership performance.

Ms. Pelullo is co-inventor of a European patented low-friction synthetic lubricant base oil (Mobil Oil) and co-inventor of a patent-pending light weight naval insulation  (Lockheed Martin).

Ms. Pelullo received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1986 from Drexel University, where she was one of only six women in that discipline’s graduating class of 60. She returned to her alma mater and obtained her M.S. in Software Engineering in 2004. She was an adjunct professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at Drexel University and in the Computer Graphics Department at Camden County College. In her spare time, she enjoys participating in  STEM outreach activities, reading, watching baseball, managing a fantasy baseball team, supporting independent film making, and serving as a patient advocate for the national Amyloidosis Support Group. She resides in Blackwood, NJ.

MFS Alumnae

Jennifer Harris

Jennifer graduated from MFS in 2003 and earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Delaware in 2007 with minors in Environmental Engineering and Women’s Studies. Since graduating from UD she has spent the past 10 years working as a civil engineer in the water/wastewater field. Her experiences include designing water and wastewater treatment plants and hydraulic analysis for water distribution systems and sanitary sewer collection systems.

Jennielle Jobson

Jennielle Jobson is a Ph.D. student in the Genetics and Genomic Sciences program within the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS). Her thesis work aims to engineer cells of the immune system to serve as delivery vehicles for gene therapy to cure hemophilia and other genetic diseases. Jennielle also serves as a Co-Chair for Students for Equal Opportunity in Science, a graduate student group at ISMMS geared towards increasing diversity in science. Jennielle received a Bachelors in Science in Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

MFS Faculty

Dorothy López
MFS Math Teacher Dorothy López also serves as Director of the Camden Scholars Program and Middle School Diversity Coordinator. She worked at IBM in New York City as a Software Sales Executive selling large systems software to different companies in the northeastern U.S. Seeking a career change, she accepted a position at George School as a math teacher and “loved it.” She taught at George School for four years before accepting the teaching position at Moorestown Friends in 2007. Dorothy attended Spelman College and Georgia Institute of Technology where she earned B.S. degrees in Mathematics and Industrial Engineering.