Wendy A. Okolo is a Nigerian aerospace research engineer in the Intelligent Systems Division at NASA Ames Research Center.[1] She is the first Black woman to obtain a Ph.D. degree in aerospace engineering from University of Texas at Arlington.[2] She is also the Special Emphasis Programs Manager for Women at Ames.[3]

Education

Okolo obtained her secondary education at Queen's College, an all-girls school in Lagos, Nigeria. She then received a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) in 2010. Okolo later became the first Black woman to obtain a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from UTA in 2015 at age 26.[2] Her Ph.D. studies were supervised by Atilla Dogan.[4] During Okolo's undergraduate years, she served as president of the Society of Women Engineers at the university.[5]

Career

Okolo started her career as an undergraduate intern for Lockheed Martin, working on NASA's Orion spacecraft.[3] Over the course of two summers, she interned with the Requirements Management Office in Systems Engineering and the Hatch Mechanisms team in Mechanical Engineering.[3] As a graduate student, Okolo later worked in the Control Design & Analysis Branch of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.[6]

Okolo is a Sub-Project Manager in the Intelligent Systems Division of NASA Ames.[7] She is a research engineer in the Discovery and Systems Health Technology (DaSH)[8]

Personal life

Okolo says her sisters taught her the sciences with their day-to-day realities. She describes them as her heroes.[7][9]

Awards

  • Amelia Earhart Fellowship (2012)[10]
  • DoD National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship (2012)[4]
  • Texas Space Grant Consortium (TSGC) Fellowship (2012, 2013)
  • AIAA John Leland Atwood Graduate Award (2013) [11]
  • Black Engineer of the Year Award (BEYA) for The Most Promising Engineer in the United States government.[1]
  • Women in Aerospace Award for Initiative, Inspiration, & Impact (2019)
  • NASA Ames Early Career Researcher Award (2019)
  • University of Texas at Arlington Distinguished Recent Graduate Award (2019)
  • NASA Ames Award for Researcher (2020)

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Dr. Wendy Okolo: The Most Promising Engineer in Government". US Black Engineer. Retrieved 2019-04-29.
  2. 1 2 "African woman reaching lofty heights as aerospace engineer opioid". Philadelphia Tribune. 15 March 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 "Wendy A. Okolo". ti.arc.nasa.gov.
  4. 1 2 "MAE Ph.D. Student Awarded a NDSEG Fellowship | UT Arlington College of Engineering". www.uta.edu. Retrieved 2019-04-29.
  5. ↑ "Close Bonds - Unbranded Stories - UT Arlington". Uta.edu. Retrieved 2019-04-28.
  6. ↑ viewlogwin20_oG. "Dr. Wendy Okolo: The Most Promising Engineer In Government - The Bridge News".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. 1 2 "Meet Wendy, Nigeria's NASA whizz who is the 'most promising engineer in US government'". TheCable. 19 February 2019.
  8. ↑ "Nigerian Wendy Okolo becomes First African Lady to Grasp a Phd in Aerospace Engineering". 3 March 2019.
  9. ↑ "Wendy Okolo is the Nigerian Genius and First Black Woman to Earn PhD in Aerospace Engineering at NASA". 21 February 2019.
  10. ↑ "MAE Ph.D. Student Awarded an Amelia Earhart Fellowship - UT Arlington College of Engineering". www.uta.edu.
  11. ↑ "Okolo Earns AIAA's Leland Award | UT Arlington College of Engineering". www.uta.edu. Retrieved 2019-04-29.
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