Ann Dowling

Dame Ann Dowling
DBE FRS FREng

Ann Dowling in Cambridge, 2011
Born Ann Patricia Dowling
15 July 1952[1]
Fields
Institutions
Alma mater Girton College, Cambridge
Thesis Picoustic Sources in Motion (1978)
Known for Silent Aircraft Initiative
Notable awards
Spouse Thomas Paul Hynes[4]
Website
www.eng.cam.ac.uk/~apd1
Dame Ann Dowling's voice
from the BBC programme The Life Scientific, 28 August 2012.[5]
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Dame Ann Patricia Dowling DBE, FRS,[6] FREng[2] (born 15 July 1952) is a British mechanical engineer who researches combustion, acoustics and vibration, focusing on efficient, low-emission combustion and reduced road vehicle and aircraft noise. From 2009 to 2014 she was Head of the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge,[7] where she was the first female professor in 1998.[8][9][10][11][12][13] She is also the President of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and the Academy's first female president.[14]

Education

Dowling was educated at Ursuline Convent School, Westgate, Kent[4] and the University of Cambridge (as a member of Girton College), where after studying mathematics at undergraduate level, and following a summer job at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, she was awarded a PhD in 1978.[3] Dowling's PhD was in aero acoustics, specifically on the Concorde noise problem.[15]

Career

Dowling's research career has been at University of Cambridge starting as a research fellow in 1977[1] but she has held visiting posts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Jerome C Hunsaker Visiting Professor, 1999) and at the California Institute of Technology (Moore Distinguished Scholar 2001).[1] Dowling is one of four main panel chairs for the Research Excellence Framework.[16]

On 3 February 2012, the oil company BP announced that Dowling was to become a non-executive director with immediate effect.[17]

Awards and honours

Dowling was elected a Fellow[2] of Royal Academy of Engineering[2] (FREng) and a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2003. Her nomination reads:

“ Ann Dowling is a leading authority on developments that are enabling the control of unstable combustion systems in both aeronautics and power generation. She was the first to understand the mechanics of the jet engine instability known as reheat buzz. The two underlying themes of Ann's work are (1) the interaction of sound with unsteady flow, and (2) the control of aeroacoustic instabilities. Her publications range from problem-defining fundamental papers to descriptions of the technology behind successful practical applications. Her research and academic leadership are admired internationally and she is a strong research leader.[6] ”

.

In February 2013 Dowling was listed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4.[18] and was the subject of an episode of The Life Scientific in 2012.[5]

Professor Dowling is Patron of the Women's Engineering Society (WES).

In January 2014 Professor Dowling was nominated for election as the next President of the Royal Academy of Engineering.[2] She took up the position in September 2014.[19][20][21]

Professor Dame Ann Dowling has been a Non-Executive Board Member at BIS since February 2014.[22]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Debrett's People of Today Prof Dame Ann Dowling
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "List of Fellows".
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Dowling, Ann Patricia (1978). Picoustic Sources in Motion (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "DOWLING, Prof. Dame Ann Patricia, (Dame Ann Hynes)". Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press.(subscription required)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Dame Ann Dowling". The Life Scientific. 28 August 2012. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "EC/2003/12: Dowling, Ann Patricia. Library and Archive Catalogue". London: The Royal Society. Archived from the original on 2014-02-11.
  7. ↑ Ann Dowling's University of Cambridge Department of Engineering bio
  8. ↑ www.theukrc.com Women of Outstanding Achievement:Professor Dame Ann Dowling
  9. ↑ Dowling, A. P. (1997). "Nonlinear self-excited oscillations of a ducted flame". Journal of Fluid Mechanics 346: 271. doi:10.1017/S0022112097006484.
  10. ↑ Dowling, A. P. (1999). "A kinematic model of a ducted flame". Journal of Fluid Mechanics 394: 51. doi:10.1017/S0022112099005686.
  11. ↑ Dowling, A. P.; Stow, S. R. (2003). "Acoustic Analysis of Gas Turbine Combustors". Journal of Propulsion and Power 19 (5): 751. doi:10.2514/2.6192.
  12. ↑ Dowling, Anne (1983). Sound and Sources of Sound. Ellis Horwood. ISBN 0853125279.
  13. ↑ Ann Dowling's publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database, a service provided by Elsevier.
  14. ↑
  15. ↑ "Interview with Professor Dame Ann Dowling". http://eandt.theiet.org/''. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  16. ↑ HEFCE announcement of panel chairs accessed 16 July 2010
  17. ↑ BP Board Changes 3 Feb 2012
  18. ↑ BBC Radio 4, Woman's Hour Power list
  19. ↑ Royal Academy of Engineering Council nominates its first female President
  20. ↑ Royal Academy of Engineering selects first female president
  21. ↑ "Royal Academy of Engineering celebrates its first female President". Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  22. ↑ "Non-executive board member Professor Dame Ann Dowling". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2015.

External links