Gregorio H. Hinojos, a New Mexico State University electrical engineering graduate, was recently recognized among America’s top engineers and scientists from the Hispanic community. Hinojos was named Most Promising Engineer-Master’s by Great Minds in STEM.
Hinojos graduated in May 2013 from NMSU with a master’s degree in electrical engineering. He also graduated with dual bachelor’s degrees in electrical and computer engineering and computer science in May 2011. He was born in El Paso, Texas, and grew up in Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico.
While working on his master’s degree, Hinojos was offered a job from Raytheon Technologies and moved to Tucson, Arizona, after graduation. Hinojos is now section leader, principal software engineer and subject matter expert in the Strategic Missile Defense Software Product Engineering, Strategic and Naval Systems Center at Raytheon.
“NMSU prepared me to be ready to excel in industry, it provided me with the tools and skill set needed to contribute and make a difference in my first position at Raytheon,” Hinojos said.
“Greg was a terrific student to have in class and work with on research. He worked very hard and was very driven to succeed. Greg, early on, connected well in signal processing with his skills in mathematics and programming and seeing the wonderful applications,” said Phillip DeLeon, NMSU associate vice president for research and chief science officer. As an electrical engineering professor, DeLeon was Hinojos’ master’s thesis adviser.
DeLeon and Hinojos wrote “Face Recognition using Distributed, Mobile Computing,” in the Procedures of the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing. ICASSP is IEEE Signal Processing Society’s flagship conference on signal processing and its applications are among the most impactful publications according to Google Scholar.
“Dr. DeLeon was a main driver in my success at NMSU and further in my career. He always provided guidance and pushed me to be better throughout my time at NMSU,” said Hinojos. “And the amount of support my wife, Viry, has provided throughout my college and industry careers has been fundamental to my success.”
Great Minds in STEM has conferred these awards for 31 years. “STEM leaders, innovators and champions represent the best and brightest minds our nation has to offer. They are symbols of Hispanic contributions at the highest levels of academia, government, military and corporate America.” Winners receive their award at a black-tie gala event at the annual GMiS Conference in October.
Great Minds in STEM is the gateway for Hispanics in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Established in 1989 as HENAAC, GMiS is a nonprofit organization that focuses on STEM educational awareness programs for students from kindergarten to career. GMiS provides resources for recognition and recruitment of Hispanics in STEM on a national level, connecting multi-areas of engineering and science arenas to the general population.
For more information about the awards, visit https://gmisconference.org.
