2021 HENAAC Awards

A young but already accomplished mechanical engineer, Ivan Lucatero Sanchez conducts research and development at Lockheed Martin’s Additive Design and Manufacturing Center, a brand new, state-of-the-art Powder Bed Fusion laser development facility in Sunnyvale, California.

Since joining Lockheed Martin as an intern in 2013, he’s been involved in projects ranging from the development of new applications to the integration of additive manufacturing into flight components.  He’s also become the sole electronics packaging additive subject matter expert at the ADMC, and he serves as a vital bridge between manufacturing and the electronics packaging core team.

Recently, Mr. Lucatero was charged with leveraging innovative research in materials, processing parameters, 3D printing techniques, and all aspects of Additive Manufacturing to the development of valuable intellectual property for Lockheed Martin.

Born in a tiny beach community in Mexico, Mr. Lucatero’s parents immigrated to the U.S. before his second birthday and settled in a small agricultural town near Santa Barbara, California.  He credits an episode of the TV Show Mythbusters narrated by a NASA engineer for inspiring him to pursue science in school.

Mr. Lucatero began his educational journey at community college before transferring to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to pursue a degree in aerospace engineering.  While there, he earned a coveted internship at NASA Ames Research Center where, to his utter shock, his boss turned out to be the engineer that narrated the Mythbusters episode that initially sparked his interest in science. His next internship brought him to Lockheed Martin, where he’s remained ever since.