In this episode of Diverse, our host Sam East, sits down with Dr. Kathleen Dipple, a research scientist with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Munitions Directorate at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Dr. Dipple shares how a 10-week summer internship at AFRL kicked off her career as a research scientist and war room integration lead.
They also discuss how Dr. Dipple first became interested in STEM, her research goals with navigational technologies and the key opportunities she seized throughout her educational and career journey. She ends the episode by sharing advice for young researchers interested in a similar career path.
Guest: Dr. Kathleen Dipple
Dr. Kathleen Dipple is a research scientist with the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Munitions Directorate at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. A first-generation undergraduate student, she earned her bachelor’s degree from Appalachian State University and received her Ph.D. from the Nanoscale Science program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She completed her post-doctoral work holding a provisional patent in the Nature-Inspired Section at AFRL’s Munitions Directorate through the National Research Council Associateship Program.
To answer an Air Force need, she tackled a whole new discipline and started civilian service as an alternative navigation research scientist in the Algorithm Development & Cyber Assurance Section. While still in the early years of her career, Dipple has received numerous awards including one for “Best Presentation” at the 2022 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems.
Host: Sam East
