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.
Education and career[edit]
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[edit]
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]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f "Highlighting Women in OR and Their Achievements", Phalanx, 54 (4), Military Operations Research Society: 6–8, Winter 2021, JSTOR 27091674
- ^ a b c Anderegg, C. R. (2017), Every Day Is a School Day: Natalie W. Crawford's 50 Years at RAND, RAND Corporation, retrieved 2023-03-19
- ^ a b 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
- ^ "Natalie W. Crawford", Policy experts, RAND Corporation, retrieved 2023-03-19
- ^ Mrs. Natalie W. Crawford, National Academy of Engineering, retrieved 2023-03-19
- ^ AIAA Announces Its Class of 2017 Fellows and Honorary Fellows, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, January 31, 2017, retrieved 2023-03-19
- ^ Vance R. Wanner Memorial Award, Military Operations Research Society, retrieved 2023-03-19
- ^ "Commending Natalie Wilson Crawford", Congressional Record, 152 (130), November 16, 2006, retrieved 2023-03-19
- ^ Lifetime Achievement Awards, Air Force Association, 2012, retrieved 2023-03-19