Despite winning a very prestigious engineering honor, Havre de Grace native Christopher Jones insists he's "not a big awards person" and "not a person that gets too excited."
The humble Jones, who works at Northrop Grumman, was recently named the 2012 Black Engineer of the Year in career achievement. The awards celebrate people who are role models and advance the careers of minorities in science, math, engineering and technology (STEM), as well as achieve goals and overcome obstacles in their field.
While he was sure to mention the "people that I was able to help and were able to help me" is a reflection of the award, he did acknowledge that the achievement was also "an honor."
Jones, 47, was born and raised in Havre de Grace, where he still has family, and, in that respect, is happy to shed positive light on the city he has fond memories of.
"From a role model standpoint, I think that's important [because] I lived in a strict, blue collar upbringing," he said.
The John Carroll School graduate said he used to go fishing in Havre de Grace "every day," and loved the Fourth of July parade.
"[It is] a very good, small town being on the water and having enough stuff to do to keep you busy," he said of the city. "It's very friendly. That's the good part about it."
In 1982, Jones began attending the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta and graduated four years later with a degree in aerospace engineering.
The same year he started college, he also joined the U.S. Air Force. He recently retired from the Connecticut Air National Guard as a lieutenant colonel.
It was the basic discipline and values he learned here that helped Jones in his pursuit for a career in engineering.
"You're taught, depending on your career field, to be mission focused," he explained.
In addition to his career in the military, Jones also has two masters of science from University of Dayton, in Dayton, Ohio— engineering management and aerospace engineering — as well as a doctorate in aerospace engineering from University of Maryland College Park.
During his time as a doctoral student, Jones also received the Black Engineer of the Year award in student leadership. When he wasn't working or going to school, Jones said he tutored and mentored high school students, and would visit various schools, encouraging students to pursue careers in engineering.
At Northrop Grumman in Virginia, Jones was previously the director of product support and international programs, airborne early warning and battle management command and control in the company's aerospace systems sector. More recently, Jones has served as sector vice president and general manager of the integrated logistics and modernization division.
This balance between academics, professional success and community involvement is what Jones believes made him an ideal candidate for this year's award.
Jones encourages people interested in engineer to go after it.
"It's a good career field to be in because of the advances that are being made now," he said, giving the examples of the iPod and tablet computer's development in recent years.
Engineering, and more broadly a career in technology, can be useful in many areas, he added.
"When you look at heads of companies, a lot of them have technical backgrounds," he pointed out. The doors for minorities and women in the field "are definitely opening" as well.
It's safe to say that Jones' family, including his wife and two sons who live with him in Herndon, Va., have every right to be proud of him.
"They're happy about it because the award doesn't focus on one aspect of my life," Jones said, noting that his mother, Virginia Jones, who still lives in Havre de Grace, is "happy and proud of me."
Even though he appeared shy about his accomplishments, and almost embarrassed about the accolades, the 36 awards and recognitions listed in Jones' professional resume speaks volumes on the kind of career he's had and the kind of man he is.