Natalie Crawford

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Natalie Wilson Crawford is an American operations researcher and military strategist specializing in air defense and military aircraft force planning, affiliated with the RAND Corporation.

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Education and career

Crawford is originally from Boonville, Indiana. [1] Her mother, the daughter of a local banker, had degrees in teaching and laboratory technology; her grandmother was a schoolteacher. Her father was a coal miner, farmer, and dry cleaning shop owner. [2] She moved to Santa Monica, California with her family as a teenager, and majored in mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles, [1] supporting her studies through part-time work. [2]

After graduating, she immediately applied to work for the RAND Corporation, but was not hired. Instead, she obtained a position as a computer programmer at North American Aviation, through a connection with an executive there for whom she had worked as a babysitter. [2] She finally joined the RAND Corporation in 1964, at first working there as a computer programmer in the aeronautics/astronautics department's armament group. [1] She has been a vice president of the corporation, [3] and director of its Project Air Force from 1997 to 2006. [1] On stepping down from this directorship, she became a senior fellow, distinguished chair in air and space policy, and professor in the Frederick S. Pardee RAND Graduate School. [4]

Recognition

Crawford was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2001, "for outstanding engineering, development, and analytical contributions to planning for the U.S. Air Force". [5] She was named as a 2017 Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the highest distinction of the institute. [6]

She was the recipient of the 2003 Vance R. Wanner Memorial Award of the Military Operations Research Society, [7] of the 2003 Lt. Gen. Glenn A. Kent Leadership Award, [8] of the 2006 Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service, [1] of the Combat Survivability Lifetime Achievement Award of the National Defense Industrial Association, [1] of a 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award of the Air Force Association, [9] and of the 2012 Thomas D. White National Defense Award. [3]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Highlighting Women in OR and Their Achievements", Phalanx, Military Operations Research Society, 54 (4): 6–8, Winter 2021, JSTOR   27091674
  2. 1 2 3 Anderegg, C. R. (2017), Every Day Is a School Day: Natalie W. Crawford's 50 Years at RAND, RAND Corporation, retrieved 2023-03-19
  3. 1 2 Ward, Veronica (November 15, 2013), 2012 Thomas D. White National Defense Award goes to RAND Corporation official, United States Airforce Academy, retrieved 2023-03-19
  4. ↑ "Natalie W. Crawford", Policy experts, RAND Corporation, retrieved 2023-03-19
  5. ↑ Mrs. Natalie W. Crawford, National Academy of Engineering, retrieved 2023-03-19
  6. ↑ AIAA Announces Its Class of 2017 Fellows and Honorary Fellows, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, January 31, 2017, retrieved 2023-03-19
  7. ↑ Vance R. Wanner Memorial Award, Military Operations Research Society, retrieved 2023-03-19
  8. ↑ "Commending Natalie Wilson Crawford", Congressional Record, 152 (130), November 16, 2006, retrieved 2023-03-19
  9. ↑ Lifetime Achievement Awards, Air Force Association, 2012, retrieved 2023-03-19
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