Ever wonder about the people who design those cool simulators for films like “Top Gun” and the TV reality game show “Combat Missions?”

Sylvia Zachary is one of them. Zachary, engineering manager at Cubic Defense Systems, oversees a staff of 24 who design military training systems, including flight and ground simulators.

Zachary, 39, got into electrical engineering because “I like to know how things work.” Encouraged to take math and science by her fifth-grade teacher in Karlsruhe, Germany (her dad was in the military), she continued in those courses through high school, including a class in Fortran programming in Sacramento.

When she got into what she calls her “dream choice” college — Massachusetts Institute of Technology — and found out that electrical engineering was about circuits, electricity and how things work, she had found her major.

Zachary says the best things about her job are mentoring new employees, working in a constantly changing field, and getting to watch and help lead various projects in her department.

Zachary is the newly elected treasurer of the National Society of Black Engineers — Alumni Chapter. The mission of that organization is to increase the number of culturally responsible black engineers who excel academically, succeed professionally and positively impact the community.

In her spare time, she writes plays for her church’s youth group to perform during Black History Month and serves the homeless at Rachel’s Women’s Center. She also speaks to elementary and high school students about her job, telling them that electrical engineering, a growing field with challenging opportunities, is an excellent career choice.

— Jean Lowerison