•most promising engineer - ph.d.•

Education: PhD and Masters in Aerospace Engineering, University of Minnesota; Masters and Bachelors in Civil Engineering, Universidad del Valle (Colombia)

Since joining Northrop Grumman Defense Systems in 2022 as a guidance, navigation, and controls (GNC) specialist, Dr. Claudia Moreno Chicunque has firmly established a cross-sectoral reputation as a knowledgeable and innovative engineer as well as a trusted teammate, advisor, mentor, and friend.  

Just as Dr. Moreno’s reputation has quickly grown, so have her responsibilities, from a purely individual contributor to the GNC lead on several customer pursuits and internal development programs.  Over the past two years, Dr. Moreno has consistently demonstrated her ability to transform complex and challenging programmatic tasks into manageable and achievable milestones. 

This was most recently showcased when she volunteered to lead the development of one of the most complex tools in the flight sciences arsenal – the System for High Fidelity Extraction & Reduction by Learning Optimal Coefficients  (SHERLOC), which extracts flight test data to estimate flight coefficients used for vehicle control through optimal estimation techniques, alleviating the need for lengthy and expensive testing cycles. 

With a combination of deep knowledge of flight coefficients and solid grasp of optimal estimation techniques, Dr. Moreno accomplished what many engineers had struggled with for years with little success in developing the tool by finding successful methods in extraction and estimation. She not only saved SHERLOC, but also created paths to success for other customer-funded programs dependent on it.

Beyond her engineering prowess, Dr. Moreno has the knowledge, expertise, and experience to be a GNC leader on any program she supports, as well as the patience, tolerance, and calm demeanor of a true mentor.

She continues to increase her programmatic responsibilities and technical contributions at Northrop Grumman, having held leadership positions on several programs such as 40mm Grenade, Stand-in Attack Weapon, Cannon Based Air Defense and more in addition to SHERLOCK. 

During her previous tenure at Honeywell Aerospace, Dr. Moreno also held leadership positions within the Future Airborne Capability Environment program, Vertical Take-Off and Landing program and the Degraded Vision Environment program.

Dr. Moreno has co-authored more than 20 publications and received numerous awards for her efforts.  At Northrop Grumman, Dr. Moreno received the BRAVO to Our Stars awards for her work done standing up a new system simulation, collaboration with other internal and external Subject Matter Experts and developing a novel and efficient Modeling and Simulation approach to support system architecture development and system-level trade studies.  In 2023, Dr. Moreno became a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers a status attained by 10 of the company members.

In a relatively short career, she has nearly unmatched future prospects that can span roles ranging from individual contributor-subject matter expert to roles within programmatic leadership such as technical director or program manager or business leadership roles such as technology portfolio-technology strategist. 

Dr. Moreno’s vast knowledge, combined with her familiarity with proven industry practices make her an extremely versatile and high demand program asset, complemented by her approachable demeanor and a true passion for collaborating with, mentoring, and guiding early career professionals.