Joycelyn Harrison (born January 22, 1964) is an African-American engineer who is Associate Dean of the College of Aeronautics and Engineering at

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a Public university, public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Kent State University at Ashtabula, Ashtabula, Kent State ...

. In 2006 she was awarded the

NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal The NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal is awarded to US government employees only for notably outstanding leadership which affects technical or administrative programs of NASA. The leadership award may be given for an act of leadership, for sustain ...

. Her research considers the development of novel

piezoelectric Piezoelectricity (, ) is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials—such as crystals, certain ceramics, and biological matter such as bone, DNA, and various proteins—in response to applied stress (mechanics), mechanical s ...

materials.

Early life and education

Harrison was born in

Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located along the Tennessee River and borders Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the south. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, it is Tennessee ...

. Her first job was washing people's hair in her mother's beauty salon. She attended North Chattanooga Junior High School where her teacher, Stu Silvernman, encouraged her to pursue a career in chemical engineering. She joined

Spelman College Spelman College is a Private college, private, Historically black colleges and universities, historically black, Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia ...

as an undergraduate student, where she majored in chemical engineering. After earning her

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

, Harrison moved to

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

Research and career

In 1994, Harrison joined the

NASA Langley Research Center The Langley Research Center (LaRC or NASA Langley), located in Hampton, Virginia, near the Chesapeake Bay front of Langley Air Force Base, is the oldest of NASA's field centers. LaRC has focused primarily on aeronautical research but has also ...

as a research engineer. At Langley she worked alongside Terry L. St. Clair on

materials and electro-active polymers. By 1999 Harrison had been promoted to the Advanced Materials and Processing Branch. Harrison worked on Thin-Layer Composite-Unimorph Piezoelectric Driver and Sensor, ''THUNDER'', a novel device that can detect changes in responsive smart materials. In particular, THUNDER could be applied to electronic systems, optical components and anywhere that needs noise or jitter suppression. ''THUNDER'' was awarded the

Advantage Business Media Advantage Business Marketing (ABM) was a private American digital marketing and information services company owned by the venture capital firm Owner Resource Group. The company was founded in 2006 and was based in Rockaway, New Jersey, United Sta ...

R&D 100 Award. THUNDER was part of the

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

morphing programme, which looked to allow remote shaping of the surface of satellites. In 2009 Harrison joined the

Air Force Research Laboratory The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is a scientific research and development detachment of the United States Air Force Air Force Materiel Command, Materiel Command dedicated to leading the discovery, development, and integration of direct- ...

, where she worked on the low density materials programme. She was eventually made Director of the Budget Plans, and oversaw the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

$500 million research portfolio. Harrison joined

as Associate Dean for Research in the College of Aeronautics and Engineering.

Awards and honours

* 1998 National Women in Color Technology All-Star Award * 2000 Exceptional Achievement Medal * 2006

* 2020 Dominion Energy and Library of Virginia "Strong Men and Women" in Virginia History honouree

Select publications

* * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Joycelyn 1964 births Living people African-American engineers African-American women academics American women academics 21st-century African-American academics 21st-century American academics Spelman College alumni Georgia Tech alumni NASA people Kent State University faculty