Royal Academy of Engineering Celebrates Its First Female President

LONDON, September 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Professor Dame Ann Dowling DBE FREng FRS today succeeds Sir John Parker GBE FREng as President of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Dame Ann was elected the Academy's first female president by its Fellows at last night's 2014 AGM.

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A world authority on combustion and acoustics, Dame Ann has taken a year's sabbatical leave from her role as Head of the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. She became a Cambridge research fellow in 1977 and held visiting research posts at MIT in 1999 and Caltech in 2001. In 1993, she became the Department of Engineering's first ever female professor. In 2002, she was recognised with a CBE for services to Mechanical Engineering and in 2007 with a DBE for services to science.

Dame Ann started her career as a mathematician but did her PhD in engineering acoustics with Prof John Fowcs Williams FREng, who led noise-reduction research on Concorde. Dame Ann led the Cambridge MIT Silent Aircraft project, which published the radical design concept SAX-40 in 2006. She now leads research on efficient, low emission combustion for aero and industrial gas turbines and low noise vehicles, particularly aircrafts.

In 2004, she chaired the widely respected report by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society, Nanoscience and nanotechnologies: opportunities and uncertainties, which highlighted the need for responsible regulation and research around the use of nanomaterials.

Dame Ann is a non-executive director of BP, non-executive member of the board of BIS and a panel chair for the Research Excellence Framework.

Past President Sir John Parker said: "I am delighted that Dame Ann Dowling has been elected as the next President of the Academy. As a world-renowned engineer, researcher and academic leader, she will be an inspiration to the profession and equally to those considering engineering as a future career. I am confident that the Leadership of the Academy is in great hands."

The Academy also elected 59 new fellows.

For information: Giorgio De Faveri, +44(0)20-7766-0655, giorgio.defaveri@raeng.org.uk