Throughout Women's History Month, including International Women's Day, Women of Color Online will present the stories of award-winning women first featured in Women of Color magazine. Career Communications Group has presented Women of Color magazine’s science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) conference since 1995.

Women of Color magazine is designed for today’s career women. Its annual multicultural event has been the premier forum of choice for recognizing the significant contributions of women in the STEM fields.

Here at Women of Color Online, our mission is to share the stories of award-winning women in STEM daily. Women of Color STEM award winners reflect the diversity of the largest race and ethnicity groups in the United States—Whites, Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, American Indians and Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Other Pacific Islanders.

Our magazine is committed to sharing the contribution of women of color in the STEM community through their career stories. Over the last 27 years, hundreds of Northrop Grumman employees have been honored at the Women of Color STEM Awards.

One of the top winners from Northrop Grumman is Camille D'Annunzio. She was an automated sensor exploitation technology center manager in the Electronic Systems sector when she was named the Technologist of the Year at the 2013 Women of Color STEM Conference. D’Annunzio was recognized for her innovation.

At Northrop Grumman, she contributed to advancements in chemical/biological threat situational awareness, force protection, and target recognition. She has received a U.S. patent and a Northrop Grumman invention disclosure, among her many achievements. She has also presented more than 17 papers and 36 technical reports.

While working to improve a product and trying to understand how the software worked, she realized they needed to be working on the right mathematical problem. It was a related problem, but the wrong one, nevertheless. Ultimately, she fixed the issue, which significantly improved performance. She remembers feeling a real sense of accomplishment.

"The oldest of seven children, I escaped into books whenever I could," she told Women of Color magazine. "I loved to solve problems and was good at mathematics. So when I was in seventh grade, much to my father's dismay, as he wanted me to follow in his footsteps as an engineer, I decided I would get a Ph.D. in mathematics even though I didn't know what that meant at the time."

She did go on to earn a Ph.D. in applied mathematics with the support of her parents. Despite skeptical and sometimes prejudiced teachers and professors with attitudes toward women in mathematics, she recalled. In addition, D'Annunzio served as a leader and advisor for girl scout troops from 1997 through 2013, as her last girl scout graduated and headed to college.

Since 1996, awards presented at the Women of Color STEM Conference honor innovators who demonstrate excellence in STEM, leadership in their workplaces and communities, and commitment to recruiting and retaining minorities in the nation's science and technology enterprises.