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

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]

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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