2003
Lydia W. Thomas, Ph.D. Former President and CeO, noblis
Advisory Member, u.S. Department of Homeland Security
Year—the second woman in history to earn this presti- gious award. She received a B.Sc. in zoology from How-
D
General Lester Lyles u.S. Air Force (Ret.) CeO, The Lyles Group
G
en. Lester L. Lyles retired Oct. 1, 2003 as commander, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The command conducts research, development, tests and evaluation, and provides acquisition man- agement services and logistics support necessary to keep Air Force weapons systems ready for war. Gen. Lyles received the BEYA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.
General Lyles entered the Air Force in 1968 as a distinguished graduate of the Air Force ROTC pro- gram. He has served in various assignments, includ- ing program element monitor of the Short-Range At- tack Missile at Headquarters U.S. Air Force in 1974, and as special assistant and aide-de-camp to the commander of Air Force Systems Command in 1978. In 1981 he was assigned to Wright-Patterson AFB as Avionics Division chief in the F-16 Systems Program Office. He has served as director of Tactical Aircraft Systems at AFSC headquarters and as director of the Medium-Launch Vehicles Program and Space-Launch Systems offices.
General Lyles became AFSC headquarters’ assis- tant deputy chief of staff for requirements in 1989, and deputy chief of staff for requirements in 1990. In 1992 he became vice commander of Ogden Air Logistics Center, Hill AFB, Utah. He served as com- mander of the center from 1993 until 1994, when he was assigned to command the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles AFB, Calif., until 1996. General Lyles became the director of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization in 1996. In May 1999, he was assigned as vice chief of staff at Headquarters U.S. Air Force.
ard University in 1965 and an M.Sc. in microbiology from The American University in 1971. She returned to Howard in 1973 to earn a Ph.D. in cell biology.
Dr. Thomas joined The MITRE Corporation in the 1970s. She spent the majority of her career at MITRE and Mitretek Systems, where she shaped programs in pioneer- ing fields such as environmental protection, product safety, toxicology, and risk-based decision-making in government programs. A career defining event occurred for Lydia Thomas in 1996, when Mitretek Systems was spun off from MITRE to concentrate its non-defense technology business into one nonprofit entity and she was tapped to serve as the new company’s president and CEO.
In 2002, Dr. Thomas was appointed by President G.W. Bush to serve as a founding member of the President’s Homeland Security Advisory Council where she continues to serve at the pleasure of President Obama and Secretary Napolitano.
Dr. Thomas served a three-year term on the Scientific Advisory Board of the U.S. Defense Department’s Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program and two terms on the seven-member Environmental Advisory Board to the Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. In 2009, she was appointed to the Defense Science Board.
Dr. Thomas currently serves as vice chair of the board of trustees and chair of the Committee on Academic Affairs of The George Washington University and is on the advisory board of the Research and Technology Campus of George Washington University in Virginia.
She was twice appointed to serve as a member of the Virginia Research and Technology Advisory Commission, first by Governor George Allen, and then by Governor Mark Warner. In 2008, Dr. Thomas was appointed by Gov. Kaine to the Governor’s Commission on Climate Change. She is also co-chair of the Government University Industry Re- search Roundtable of the National Academies.
She was named one of The Most Important Blacks in Technology in 2005 and 2006. She was also named as one of the 50 Most Important Blacks in Research Science in 2004. She received a Certificate of Recognition and Appre- ciation for her contributions to the technology economy in Fairfax County from the Fairfax County Commission of Women in February 1998, and the Deans’ Award at the 1991 Black Engineer of the Year Conference.
30 USBE&IT I Deans Edition SPRING 2010
www.blackengineer.com
2003
r. Lydia W. Thomas was honored as the 2003 Black Engineer of the
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