Beatrice Hicks

Beatrice Alice Hicks (1919-1979) was a prominent engineer, helping to found the Society of Women Engineers in the 1950.

Born in Orange, New Jersey, she attended Orange High School. [ [http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/history_center/biography/hicks-b.html Beatrice Alice Hicks, 1919-1979] , Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Accessed December 18, 2007. "Born in Orange, New Jersey in 1919, Beatrice Hicks displayed an affinity for and aptitude in math, science, and engineering from an early age. By the age of 13, Hicks told her father, himself an engineer, that she too wanted to pursue a career in engineering. After graduating from Orange High School in 1935, she enrolled in Newark College of Engineering, later renamed the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). In 1939, she received her B.S. in chemical engineering, and stayed on at the school as a research assistant for three years after graduation."] She received a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Newark College of Engineering in 1939, a master's degree in physics from Stevens Institute of Technology in 1949, a doctorate of science from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in 1958, and the first doctorate in engineering awarded to a woman from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1965. She married Rodney Duane Chipp in 1948.

In 1941, Beatrice became the first female employee of Western Electric. After her father's death in 1946 she joined his company Newark Controls Company as vice president and chief engineer. In 1955 she became president of the company.

References

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* [http://www2.worldbook.com/features/whm/html/ahicks.html] World Book
* [http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=189] National Woman's Hall of Fame
* [http://www.swe.org/stellent/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&ssDocName=swe_000451&ssSourceNodeId=75] Society of Woman Engineers