Dame Ann Patricia Dowling (born 15 July 1952) is a British mechanical engineer who researches combustion, acoustics and vibration, focusing on efficient, low-emission combustion and reduced road vehicle and

aircraft noise Aircraft noise pollution refers to noise produced by aircraft in flight that has been associated with several negative stress-mediated health effects, from sleep disorders to cardiovascular disorders. Governments have enacted extensive control ...

. Dowling is a Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and from 2009 to 2014 she was Head of the Department of Engineering at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, where she was the first female professor in 1993.www.theukrc.com
Women of Outstanding Achievement:Professor Dame Ann Dowling She was President of the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...

from 2014 to 2019, the Academy's first female president.

Education

Dowling was educated at Ursuline Convent School, Westgate, Kent, and the

(as a member of

Girton College Girton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college at Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college status by the univ ...

), where after studying mathematics at undergraduate level, and following a summer job at the

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...

, she was awarded a PhD degree in 1978. Dowling's doctorate was in

aeroacoustics Aeroacoustics is a branch of acoustics that studies noise generation via either turbulent fluid motion or aerodynamic forces interacting with surfaces. Noise generation can also be associated with periodically varying flows. A notable example of t ...

, specifically on the

Concorde Concorde () is a retired Anglo-French supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France and the United Kingdom signed a treaty establishin ...

noise problem.

Career

Dowling's research career has been at University of Cambridge starting as a research fellow in 1977 but she has held visiting posts at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

( Jerome C Hunsaker Visiting Professor, 1999) and at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...

(Moore Distinguished Scholar 2001). Dowling is one of four main panel chairs for the

Research Excellence Framework The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a research impact evaluation of British Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It is the successor to the Research Assessment Exercise and it was first used in 2014 to assess the period 2008–2013. REF is ...

.HEFCE announcement of panel chairs
accessed 16 July 2010 On 3 February 2012, BP announced that Dowling was to become a non-executive director with immediate effect.BP Board Changes
3 February 2012 She has been a non-executive board member at BIS since February 2014.

Awards and honours

Dowling was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and Scholarship, fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in United K ...

(FREng) in 1996 and a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 2003. Her FRS nomination reads: Dowling was elected an international member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...

in 2008 for advances in acoustics and unsteady flow, and for leadership in collaborative research between industry and universities. In February 2013 Dowling was listed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by ''

Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History The first BBC programme for women was the programme cal ...

'' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

. and was the subject of an episode of ''

The Life Scientific ''The Life Scientific'' is a BBC Radio 4 science programme, presented by Jim Al-Khalili, in which each episode is dedicated to the biography and work of a living scientist. The programme consists of an interview between Al-Khalili and the featur ...

'' in 2012. Dowling is a Patron of the

Women's Engineering Society The Women's Engineering Society is a United Kingdom professional learned society and networking body for women engineers, scientists and technologists. It was the first professional body set up for women working in all areas of engineering, pred ...

(WES). In January 2014 Dowling was nominated for election as President of the

. She took up the position in September 2014, and in that role chaired a 2015 review (the 'Dowling Review') of business–university research collaboration, published in July 2015. She was appointed a

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 2002 and promoted to DBE in 2007. In 2016 she was appointed to the

Order of Merit The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...

. The James Watt International Gold Medal was awarded to her in 2016 by the

Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 110,000 member ...

''for her work associated with efficient, low emission combustion; and understanding, modelling and reducing the noise from cars, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft'' . In November 2017, Dowling was elected to the

Chinese Academy of Engineering The Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE, ) is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for engineering. It was established in 1994 and is an institution of the State Council of China. The CAE and the Chinese Academy of Sciences a ...

alongside 18 foreign individuals including

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend ...

and L. Rafael Reif. In 2018, for her has continued work in the engineering industry, Dowling was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Science, from

Royal Holloway University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RH), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public university, public research university and a constituent college, member institution of the federal University of London. It ...

. In 2019 she received the

Royal Medal The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal and The King's Medal (depending on the gender of the monarch at the time of the award), is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society. Two are given for "the mo ...

.Royal Medal 2019
/ref>

References

External links

Sidney Sussex College news
Ann Dowling's University of Cambridge Department of Engineering bioCreating silent skies – Professor Dame Ann Dowling CBE FREng
''Ingenia'', Issue 37, Dec 2008
www.theukrc.com
Women of Outstanding Achievement:Professor Dame Ann Dowling {{DEFAULTSORT:Dowling, Ann 1952 births Living people British mechanical engineers British people of Irish descent Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Members of the Order of Merit Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Female fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Presidents of the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellows of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Society Female fellows of the Royal Society Directors of BP British corporate directors Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge Members of the University of Cambridge Department of Engineering 21st-century British women engineers Foreign members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering People from Thanet (district) Engineering professors at the University of Cambridge