AIAA Elects John Dowdle, Draper Engineering VP, as Fellow
CAMBRIDGE,MA - The world’s largest aerospace professional society elected John Dowdle, Draper Laboratory’s vice president for engineering, as one of its fellows during a May 10 ceremony in Washington.
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Fellows are recognized as “persons of distinction in aeronautics or astronautics, and shall have made notable valuable contributions to the arts, sciences, or technology,” according to the AIAA website.
AIAA brings together government, industry and academia to advance aerospace engineering and science in both civil and defense fields.
Dowdle is one of 29 fellows elected for 2011. He is a member of the New England Section of the AIAA, and was elected an Associate Fellow in 2008. He sits on the AIAA Management Technical Committee.
Dowdle began his career at Draper as a Draper Lab Fellow in 1977 while earning a PhD in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After working at two other aerospace firms, he returned to Draper in 1986 and has remained at the Lab since in positions including director of hardware design and development and director of systems engineering.
Dowdle, who is also a senior member of IEEE, received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Central Florida and University of Florida, respectively.
Draper Laboratory is a corporate member of the AIAA.