Systems engineers are called upon to solve the most complicated societal problems. Loyola Marymount University alumna Candace Givens is no exception to this charge.
Today, she uses her systems engineering expertise to help keep Americans safe in an increasingly complex world. Givens currently serves as the Vice President of Remote Sensing Programs at Northrop Grumman. Her organization is responsible for delivering space systems, payloads and software that support various customer missions. Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in autonomous systems, cyber, C4ISR, space, strike, and logistics and modernization to customers worldwide.
Givens credits much of her success to her master’s program, where she learned alongside a cohort of students with diverse industry backgrounds. The small and responsive classroom environment at LMU allowed Givens and her peers to flourish. She also noted “the evening schedule fit my lifestyle, allowing me to continue working full-time while simultaneously completing my degree.”
Givens recalls LMU’s “intimate atmosphere as both personal and connected. Professors were invested in my success. At LMU, I made friendships that will last a lifetime and found mentors that have impacted me throughout my career.”
Givens found the systems engineering coursework to add immediate value to her professional responsibilities, and was even more pleased to find that LMU’s combination of personalized faculty and peer engagement helped her discover wide applications of a systems engineering degree.
Givens explains that systems engineers “manage complexity. They are at the forefront of innovation and problem solving and the master’s program at LMU was critical to that experience.” The systems engineering program gave structure to her previous industry experiences in electrical engineering and broadened her thinking.
At the LMU Seaver College of Science and Engineering, Givens learned skills she could apply in any domain, ultimately positioning her for increasingly demanding leadership roles.
When not solving complex questions at the national scale, Givens enjoys tackling a universal question: what’s for dinner? A self-declared foodie, Givens likes to unwind in Barbados and Paris, and regularly jaunts back and forth between the west and east U.S. coasts in order to stay connected with her family.