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Wanda Austin
Wanda M. Austin (born 1954) is an American aerospace engineer. She is a former president and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation. She was both the first woman, and the first African-American, to hold this position. Austin also served as interim president for the University of Southern California, following the resignation of C. L. Max Nikias. She was both the first woman, and the first African-American, to hold this position.
Austin has served on numerous White House commissioned boards and committees and received recognition for her contributions to engineering, aeronautics, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education.
Austin was born in The Bronx in New York City in "the Projects." Her "good fortune" was in having parents, and particularly an educationally ambitious mother, who Austin credits for putting her young daughter on buses and sending her across the city to gain access to better schools in more stable neighborhoods.
She graduated from the Bronx High School of Science. She earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Franklin & Marshall College, arriving on the "beautiful rural campus" as one of twenty African American students out of a student body of near 2000. A junior year abroad at the University of Lancaster further broadened "inner city kid" Austin's exposure to academic possibilities, with senior tutor George Rosenstein instrumental in her application to the University of Pittsburgh. where Austin earned two master's degrees: one in Systems Engineering and one in Applied Mathematics (1977)
After a hiatus of several years working in industry, in 1988 Austin returned to academia to earn her doctorate (PhD) from the University of Southern California (USC), a flexible program that allowed her to continue working concurrent with her studies. Her dissertation, under Khosh Nevis, was on system dynamics and artificial intelligence, Understanding Natural Language in the Application of System Dynamics Modeling.
After completing her master's degree in 1977, Austin accepted a position at Rockwell International in California, working with missile systems as technical staff. Austin joined The Aerospace Corporation in 1979, where she served in numerous senior management and executive positions including senior vice president of the corporation's Engineering and Technology Group. Austin explains her work in the MILSAC (Military Satellite Communications) Program at Aerospace Corporation. From 2004 to 2007, she was Senior Vice President of the National Systems Group at Aerospace, prior to assuming the role of CEO on January 1, 2008. She served as CEO for almost nine years and retired on October 1, 2016.
In 2009, Austin served as a member of the U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee. The following year, she was appointed to the US Defense Science Board and in 2014 she became a member of the NASA Advisory Council, both of which were White House commissioned. In 2015, Austin was selected by President Barack Obama to serve on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. PCAST is an advisory group of the nation’s leading scientists and engineers who directly advise the President and the Executive Office of the President.
In December 2017, Austin co-founded MakingSpace, Inc., a leadership and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) consulting firm, and continues to serve as the CEO.
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Wanda Austin
Wanda M. Austin (born 1954) is an American aerospace engineer. She is a former president and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation. She was both the first woman, and the first African-American, to hold this position. Austin also served as interim president for the University of Southern California, following the resignation of C. L. Max Nikias. She was both the first woman, and the first African-American, to hold this position.
Austin has served on numerous White House commissioned boards and committees and received recognition for her contributions to engineering, aeronautics, and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education.
Austin was born in The Bronx in New York City in "the Projects." Her "good fortune" was in having parents, and particularly an educationally ambitious mother, who Austin credits for putting her young daughter on buses and sending her across the city to gain access to better schools in more stable neighborhoods.
She graduated from the Bronx High School of Science. She earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Franklin & Marshall College, arriving on the "beautiful rural campus" as one of twenty African American students out of a student body of near 2000. A junior year abroad at the University of Lancaster further broadened "inner city kid" Austin's exposure to academic possibilities, with senior tutor George Rosenstein instrumental in her application to the University of Pittsburgh. where Austin earned two master's degrees: one in Systems Engineering and one in Applied Mathematics (1977)
After a hiatus of several years working in industry, in 1988 Austin returned to academia to earn her doctorate (PhD) from the University of Southern California (USC), a flexible program that allowed her to continue working concurrent with her studies. Her dissertation, under Khosh Nevis, was on system dynamics and artificial intelligence, Understanding Natural Language in the Application of System Dynamics Modeling.
After completing her master's degree in 1977, Austin accepted a position at Rockwell International in California, working with missile systems as technical staff. Austin joined The Aerospace Corporation in 1979, where she served in numerous senior management and executive positions including senior vice president of the corporation's Engineering and Technology Group. Austin explains her work in the MILSAC (Military Satellite Communications) Program at Aerospace Corporation. From 2004 to 2007, she was Senior Vice President of the National Systems Group at Aerospace, prior to assuming the role of CEO on January 1, 2008. She served as CEO for almost nine years and retired on October 1, 2016.
In 2009, Austin served as a member of the U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee. The following year, she was appointed to the US Defense Science Board and in 2014 she became a member of the NASA Advisory Council, both of which were White House commissioned. In 2015, Austin was selected by President Barack Obama to serve on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. PCAST is an advisory group of the nation’s leading scientists and engineers who directly advise the President and the Executive Office of the President.
In December 2017, Austin co-founded MakingSpace, Inc., a leadership and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) consulting firm, and continues to serve as the CEO.