Wanda M. Austin ensures that America’s sky eyes see well.
The Aerospace Corporation
As a child Austin was a math prodigy, who attended New York City’s Bronx High School of Science. Since 2008, as President and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation (TAC) in El Segundo, CA. she has led 3,500 employees, 70 percent of whom have PhDs, to deliver technical guidance and advice on space missions to military, civil, and private customers.
TAC is one of 42 Federally Funded Research and Development Centers. The nonprofit public-private partnerships, like TAC, that do research for the US government annually recruit STEM students for internships, and employ tens of thousands of STEM degree holders.
Aerospace Corporation’s main customers are the US Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, and the US National Reconnaissance Office, an intelligence gathering organization.
Austin, who has a PhD in systems engineering from the University of Southern California, has said that she measures success by setting a plan, then executing it.
She also has both a MS in mathematics and an MS in Systems Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, and a BS in Mathematics from Franklin & Marshall College.
Watch Wanda Austin speak about TAC’s 55th anniversary and about Rethinking STEM Education. Check out The Aerospace Corporation corporate video.
