Women in Aerospace is proud to announce the winners of its 26th Annual Women in Aerospace Awards. This year, WIA will honor seven outstanding women for their contributions to the aerospace industry and to the advancement of women in the field. These women will be honored at a reception and dinner to be held on Tuesday, November 1, 2011, at the Ritz Carlton Pentagon City Hotel in Arlington, Virginia.
The 2011 winners are:
ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Co-Recipient: Captain Amanda Zuber, SBIRS Field Program Manager, 45th Launch Support Squadron, Patrick AFB, Florida, in recognition of her outstanding work in the preparation and launch of the first Geosynchronous Space Based Infrared System spacecraft, and for training and mentoring the team that made it possible.
ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Co-Recipient: Dr. Diane E. Pugel, Physicist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, in recognition for her development and implementation of new technologies and cutting-edge approaches, as well as her lead role in the evaluation and manufacturing of the Agency’s Orion capsule thermal protection system.
AEROSPACE AWARENESS AWARD: Cheryl Moore McNair, Chairman, D.R.E.M.E. Science Literacy Foundation, Seabrook, Texas, in recognition of her exceptional leadership in building national awareness of space exploration’s benefits and challenges, and for her lifetime commitment to aerospace outreach, particularly to those in underserved and underrepresented communities.
AEROSPACE EDUCATOR AWARD: Rene M. Kimura, Education Specialist, Hawaii Space Grant Consortium, Honolulu, Hawaii, for her excellent leadership and sustained dedication to aerospace education and for her tenacious advocacy for girls and young women in aerospace.
LEADERSHIP AWARD: Brigadier General Laura Jane Strickland Richardson, United States Army, Fort Hood, Texas, for her extraordinary leadership in U.S. Army aviation, her advancement of the role of women in combat aviation, and her dedication to the development of the current and future generations of female aviators.
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Julie A. Sattler, Vice President and General Manager, Special Programs, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Sunnyvale, California, in recognition for her leadership in the development of communication systems that protect warfighters worldwide and for her contributions to the advancement of future leaders.
OUTSTANDING MEMBER AWARD: Angela Phillips Diaz, Managing Director, Purdue University-Global Policy Research Institute, West Lafayette, Indiana, for a career of commitment to Women in Aerospace as a past president and current WIA Foundation member and for furthering STEM education across the country.
WIA FOUNDATION 2011 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT: Salvador A. Valdes, A senior in aerospace engineering at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The scholarship, funded by the WIA Foundation, is awarded to women pursuing undergraduate technical degrees to encourage them to enter careers in the aerospace field.
Individuals and organizations interested in participating in the awards dinner November 1, 2011, at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Arlington, VA, please click here to register.
