Dr. Patricia Tatem, head of the
Naval Research Laboratory's (NRL's) Combustion Modeling and Scaling
Section of the Navy Technology Center for Safety and Survivability,
has received the Women of Color Technology Award in Government
and Defense for Lifetime Achievement. The award was presented
at a ceremony on July 21.
The Career
Communications Group presented its Lifetime Achievement
award
to Dr. Tatem at their First Women of Color Government and
Defense Technology Awards Conference. Career Communications
Group was "founded almost 20 years ago with a unique mission:
To promote significant minority achievement in engineering, science
and technology." According to the citation, "This
year's Women of Color honorees come from corporations and government
agencies that are doing something about the 'glass ceiling' that
has limited women to 3 to 5 percent of the executive force of
the Fortune 500; and the 'Digital Divide,' which threatens to
marginalize talented minorities."
Dr. Tatem began her career at NRL in 1967, as a technical editor
in the Technical Information Division's Editorial Branch. From
1978-1984, as a researcher in NRL's Chemistry Division, she
continued
her academic pursuits, culminating with her Ph.D. in
physical
chemistry from George Washington University.
Currently, Dr.
Tatem is responsible for research and
development work relevant
to combustion with an emphasis on
fire safety. All of Dr. Tatem's
projects are directly
transferable to the civilian maritime community.
Dr. Tatem notes, "My career-long tenure at NRL has been
both rewarding and satisfying. I feel that the greatest
responsibility
I have as an NRL scientist is to make a
difference in the quality
of life of a sailor. One of the most
gratifying rewards that
I have experienced has been seeing the
impact of my fire safety/damage
control research on the fleet
in the new construction and backfit
programs of naval
platforms. I know that these improvements
have created a less
hazardous environment for sailors to go about
their daily
duties."
She is the
author/co-author of 29 papers in refereed journals,
20 NRL
formal reports, 33 NRL Memorandum reports, 85 NRL Technical
Reports, 49 papers presented in Professional Society Meetings,
54 other technical papers, and 43 other technical presentations.
For her professional achievements, Dr.
Tatem received the prestigious
honor of being named "Black
Engineer of the Year Professional
Achievement" in
1986. Other awards she has received include
NRL Group
Achievement Awards in 1981 and 1991, an individual
Special
Achievement Award in 1984 and two Alan Berman Research
Publication Awards 1973 and 1983. Dr. Tatem was also selected
to appear in "Who's Who Among Black Americans" in 1987,
and "The World Who's Who of Women" in 1988. She
participated
in the NRL Edison Memorial Graduate Fellowship
Program in 1978-1981
(Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry awarded, the
George Washington University,
1984); The Council for Excellence
in Government Fellows Program
in 1994-1995; and the Government
Affairs Institute at Georgetown
University Program
"Congressional Operations" on Capitol
Hill in
2001.
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