Dame Ann Dowling will become the first female president of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
Professor Dame Ann Dowling, Head of the Department of Engineering at the University, has been nominated president of the Royal Academy of Engineering. She will become the academy's first female president when she takes up the position in September this year.
A world authority on combustion and acoustics, Dame Ann became a Cambridge research fellow in 1977 and has remained at the university ever since, including visiting research posts at MIT in 1999 and Caltech in 2001. In 1993, she became the Department of Engineering's first female professor. In 2002, she was recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours, receiving a CBE for services to Mechanical Engineering, and again in the 2007 in the New Year's Honours List, when she received a DBE for services to science. In 2011, she was awarded a UK Resource Centre award for her 'Inspiration and Leadership in Academia and Research'.
Dame Ann started her career as a mathematician but always wanted to pursue applied mathematics and did her PhD in engineering acoustics with Professor John Ffowcs Williams, who led pioneering noise-reduction research on Concorde. She now leads research on efficient, low-emission combustion for aero and industrial gas turbines and low noise vehicles, particularly aircraft and cars.
Her work in aeronautics and energy has been recognised by fellowships of the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering, and foreign associate membership of both the US National Academy of Engineering and the French Academy of Sciences.
Dame Ann led the Cambridge MIT Silent Aircraft project, which published its radical new design concept SAX-40 in 2006 with the aim of raising aircraft industry aspirations.
She is a non-executive director of BP, a panel chair for the Research Excellence Framework and was nominated in BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour Power List 2013 as one of the 100 most influential women in the country.
Dame Ann said: "I am honoured to be nominated for election as president of the UK's national academy of engineering at a crucial time when it is generally acknowledged that many more engineers will be required to help the country benefit from the knowledge economy of the future. The world faces some enormous challenges, including clean energy, resilient infrastructure, water and food supply, and engineers have a crucial role in addressing these issues."
Academy President Sir John Parker said: "I am delighted that Dame Ann has been nominated for election as the next president of this academy. Her wide research and policy expertise, and her leadership of the engineering department of one of the world's top universities will be a great asset to the scademy in the years to come."