September 25, 2008

The second Rechtin Lecture will be delivered by Dr. Wanda Austin, CEO of The Aerospace Corporation.

Dr. Wanda M. Austin succeeded Dr. William F. Ballhaus Jr. as president and chief executive officer of The Aerospace Corporation upon his retirement on January 1, 2008.Austin served previously as the senior vice president of The Aerospace Corporation's National Systems Group in Chantilly, Va. She has been with the company since 1979 and has served in positions of increasing responsibility, including general manager of the MILSATCOM (Military Satellite Communications) Division and senior vice president of the Engineering and Technology Group.

Austin earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from Franklin and Marshall College, Masters of Science degrees in both mathematics and systems engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, and a PhD in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Southern California in 1988 (Dissertation: "A Framework for an Intelligent Simulation Environment for System Dynamics Modeling.") She is a member of the NASA Advisory Council and is a fellow of the AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics).

Austin has received numerous awards and citations. Among them are the Air Force Scroll of Achievement, the National Reconnaissance Office Gold Medal, the U.S. Air Force Meritorious Civilian Service Medal, the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center's Martin Luther King Spirit of the Dream Award, the Society of Women Engineers Upward Mobility Award, and the Women in Aerospace Outstanding Achievement Award.

The Aerospace Corporation is an independent, nonprofit company that provides objective technical analyses and assessments for national security space programs and selected civil and commercial space programs in the national interest. Prof. Eberhardt Rechtin served as CEO of The Aerospace Corporation for 10 years, beginning in 1977, joining USC in 1987.