Dr. Allyson Yarbrough is a Technical Fellow in the Electronics and Sensors Division at The Aerospace Corporation, a federally funded R&D center based in El Segundo, CA. (Photo credit: Aerospace dot org).
In 2002, she won the Career Achievement award at the Women of Color STEM Conference while serving as a principal director at the same organization.
As director for the electronics engineering subdivision of one of the three divisions within electronics systems, Dr. Yarbrough led and managed employees in departments that provided expertise in space systems electronics engineering, from microelectronics to the launch vehicle or satellite electronic system level.
Her current research is focused on harnessing the benefits of commercial electronics for use in small satellites and resilient systems.
Dr. Yarbrough is the inventor or co-inventor of six patents, and is active in numerous corporate, university, and external technical committees and advisory councils.
Her professional affiliations include the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Society of Women Engineers (SWE).
Apart from her professional achievements, Dr. Yarbrough is passionate about partnering with educators, mentoring underrepresented students, and developing STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math)-related project-based learning curriculum.
Yarbrough earned her Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Cornell University in 1988. Before joining the Aerospace Corporation in 1989, she was an associate professor of electrical engineering at California State University, Los Angeles.
Her academic credentials include a bachelor's degree from New Mexico State University and a master's and Ph.D. from Cornell University, all in electrical and computer engineering.
