Sherry Joy Barone is a registered professional engineer with more than three decades of expertise designing and testing projects for Raytheon, Hughes Aircraft, and the United States government. Since 2017, she has been the chief executive officer and co-founder of At the Table Productions, Inc., a woman-owned engineering collaborative focusing on developing novel energy and battery technologies for transportation systems. Ms. Barone’s current work with At the Table Productions focuses on creating new rechargeable battery cell technologies capable of storing energy from wind, solar, and other renewable sources. Pointing out that power sources for most transportation systems are critically outdated, Ms. Barone hopes to develop marketable cathode-powder and nanocell technologies capable of powering unmanned vehicles for both commercial and military use more efficiently than existing technologies.
In addition to her work on battery cells and unmanned transportation, electrical and optical sensors and threat-detection technologies have been a major focus of Ms. Barone’s engineering career. She holds numerous patents and has worked on classified defense projects for NATO and the United States military. She considers being able to visit the Pentagon and having met various United States Presidents to be one of the highlights of her career, and she has been honored for her contributions to national security with special awards from President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama. Currently, Ms. Barone is interested in working on weapons detection and security technology for use in schools and public places, emphasizing that “we need to protect our children and future.”
A gifted student with a natural curiosity about mathematics and science, Ms. Barone developed an interest in engineering at a young age. She found encouragement and support from her parents and grandparents, recalling being told that she could do anything she wanted to if she put her mind to it. Ms. Barone graduated from the University of Maryland in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science and continued her education at the University of California Los Angeles and National University, earning both a Master of Engineering and a Master of Business Administration, summa cum laude, in 1985. She began her career in 1982 as a computer programmer in the University of Maryland’s Office of Institutional Studies, leaving to spend a year as the lead software engineer for RCA Astro-Electronics.
In 1983, Ms. Barone relocated to California to accept a position with ITT Gilfillan as a senior test engineer, where she would remain for the next five years. She was named a senior project engineer for Hughes Aircraft-Raytheon in 1987, a position she would hold until her official retirement in 2017. In addition to her work with Raytheon, and later with At the Table Productions, Ms. Barone has consulted for IBM since 1985, and is the author of “Children and Computers,” 1982.
Ms. Barone remains active in the IEEE, the Society of Women Engineers, the National Defense Engineering Group, and the American Computing Machinery Club, among others, and volunteers with organizations including the Junior Shipmate Program, City of Hope, and the International Order of the Blue Gavel. She hopes to be remembered as a creative and innovative engineer, and is dedicated to helping young engineers learn and find their way in the field. In recognition of her continued dedication to her profession and her outstanding body of work, Ms. Barone has been presented with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award and named a Marquis Who’s Who Top Professional.