Alison K. Brown
Personal Information
Born: Unknown
Country of Birth: Scotland
Nationality: USA
Ethnicity: White
Education
Cambridge University (specifically Fettes College & Sidney Sussex College) BA & MA Engineering 1979; MIT MSc Aeronautics & Astronautics 1981; UCLA PhD Mechanics, Aerospace, & Nuclear Engineering 1985
Professional Life
Field of Study: Engineering
Institution/Corporation: Litton Aerospace; Defense Science Board; UCLA; NAVSYS
Degrees & Memberships: Member: Fellowship Sidney Sussex College; National Academy of Engineering (NAE 2020); Defense Science Board (2022); Institute of Navigation Fellow (2003); International Women's Forum; Air Force Science Advisory Board (2018); National Defense Industrial Association Board of Trustees (NDIA 2009); Master of Foxhounds, Headwaters Hounds; Board Member Mountain States Employers Council (2006)
Awards & Achievements
Awards: 2023 Samueli Professional Achievement Award, UCLA; 2016 James S. Cogswell Outstanding Industrial Security Achievement Award, Defense Counterintelligence & Security Agency; Woman of Distinction, Girl Scouts; Sir George Nelson Prize for Applied Mathematics
Achievements: 1986 founder & CEO of NAVSYS; modernized GPS; helped develop Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS); worked on emergency location system under FHWA/CDOT Mayday Program
holds 10 patents
considers engineering to be the ultimate creative career
the solutions she has developed are in every cell phone & an early prototype she developed is in the Smithsonian Museum
wet to school in Edinburg Scotland before coming to the US to study at MIT
was the only female in her science classes at Cambridge
while at UCLA built 1 of the 1st GPS receivers
was often faced with discrimination as a woman in the male world of engineering
her motto is "if you underestimate me, you deserve what you get"
loves animals & the outdoors
lives on an 80-acre ranch in the Rocky Mountains where she keeps horses, hounds, chickens, cattle, & goats
played ice hockey while at MIT
came to the US on scholarsip & has since become a US citizen