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Air Force General to Speak on Future of Airpower, March 27 at Clarkson University

Gen. Ellen M. Pawlikowski is commander of the Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Potsdam, NY (03/08/2017) — The New Horizons in Engineering Distinguished Lectureship Series at Clarkson University is proud to announce that U.S. Air Force Gen. Ellen M. Pawlikowski will speak on "The Future of Airpower," on Monday, March 27, at 2 p.m. in Clarkson's Student Center Multi-purpose Rooms (#15 on the map at http://www.clarkson.edu/about/clarkson_map.pdf). A reception will precede the lecture at 1:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Pawlikowski will dive into the latest technological and experimentation trends within the U.S. Air Force. Her discussion will address emergent technologies, including hypersonics, directed energy, autonomous systems, and experimentation campaigns.

Pawlikowski serves as commander of the Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The Command employs some 80,000 people and manages $60 billion annually, executing the critical mission of warfighter support through leading-edge science and technology, cradle-to-grave life cycle weapon systems management, world-class developmental test and evaluation, and world-class depot maintenance and supply chain management.

Pawlikowski entered the Air Force in 1978 through the ROTC program at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. She then attended the University of California at Berkeley and received a doctorate in chemical engineering, entering active duty at McClellan AFB, California, in 1982.

Pawlikowski's career has spanned a wide variety of technical management, leadership and staff positions, including command at the wing and center levels. She has served as director of the Acquisition Management Office for the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Atomic Energy and as deputy assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Counterproliferation, Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Her leadership assignments included program director of the Airborne Laser Program; commander of the Military Satellite Communications Systems Wing; deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office; commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory; and, most recently, commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center. 

Prior to her current assignment, Pawlikowski was the military deputy, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition at the Pentagon.

Pawlikowski is nationally recognized for her leadership in the U.S. science and technology community. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

She has numerous major awards and decorations, including the Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the Legion of Merit, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Air Force Achievement Medal, and the Air Force Individual Recognition Ribbon.

She is also a recipient of the Thomas D. White Space Award; the Women in Aerospace, Lifetime Achievement Award; the  Air Force Association Management Award - Executive; and the Commandant Trophy, Squadron Officers School.
 
Pawlikowski will be the 15th Distinguished Lecturer in Clarkson University's New Horizons in Engineering series, which is dedicated to improving the understanding of important issues facing engineering and society in the 21st century. 

Read more about the New Horizons in Engineering Distinguished Lectureship Series at http://www.clarkson.edu/news/2010/news-release_2010-08-20-3.html.

For more details, please contact Distinguished Research Professor of Engineering Liya Regel, New Horizons in Engineering founder and chair, at lregel@clarkson.edu.

Clarkson University educates the leaders of the global economy. One in five alumni already leads as an owner, CEO, VP or equivalent senior executive of a company. With its main campus located in Potsdam, N.Y., and additional graduate program and research facilities in the Capital Region and Beacon, New York, Clarkson is a nationally recognized research university with signature areas of academic excellence and research directed toward the world's pressing issues. Through more than 50 rigorous programs of study in engineering, business, arts, education, sciences and the health professions, the entire learning-living community spans boundaries across disciplines, nations and cultures to build powers of observation, challenge the status quo, and connect discovery and innovation with enterprise.

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U.S. Air Force Gen. Ellen M. Pawlikowski

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