2016 Award Recipient

Nominated by the Society of Women Engineers

Kimberly A. Hinson, The Boeing Company, has been selected as the recipient of the 2016 Young Engineer of the Year Award in recognition of her effective participation in the design, analysis, and testing of control systems for aerial refueling of military aircraft and for her active participation in professional engineering societies. She earned her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Wichita State University and is employed as a Guidance, Navigation, and Control Engineer responsible for the design, analysis, and testing of control laws for the KC-56 aerial refueling boom. This aircraft will be capable of conducting mid-air refueling with all US, allied, and coalition aircraft compatible with international aerial refueling procedures.

She is passionate about the engineering community. She has taken on leadership roles locally with both the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) and the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and worked to create professional growth programs for engineers in the region. She volunteered to coordinate SWE’s monthly professional development dinner meetings known as “Tech Talk” and was elected Vice President of the SWE Professional Development Planning Committee.

She served as the Young Professionals Focal for AIAA section and organized Rising Leader Forums for emergent leaders under the age of 35. These forums include keynote speakers and speed mentoring sessions with industry leaders. She also coordinated a joint brunch between the section retirees and the young professionals and organized professional development activities for the AIAA Northwest Technical Symposiums. She currently serves as the Secretary of the Pacific Northwest Section of AIAA. On the national level, she serves on the Guidance, Navigation, and Control Committee of the AIAA and is co-chair of the committee’s graduate student paper competition. For her exceptional service to AIA, she was awarded the Pacific Northwest AIAA Section Young Engineer of the Year for 2012-2013.