Patricia Brown (engineer)
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Patricia Brown | |
|---|---|
_(3398579182).jpg) President of SWE from 1961-63 | |
| Born | October 1, 1928 Lafayette, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Education | Southwestern Louisiana Institute |
| Occupations | Chemical engineer, Technical writer |
Patricia L. Brown[1] (born October 1, 1928) was the first female chemical engineer to graduate from Southwestern Louisiana Institute.[2] She was one out of a total of two female chemical engineers at Stepan Company in 1993.
Patricia Brown graduated from Southwestern Louisiana Institute as the first female chemical engineer in 1947.[3] Then she earned her master's degree in chemistry from the University of Texas in 1949.[2]
Career
Brown taught chemistry at Smith College. She became a research associate at Albany Medical College. Then she worked for Ethyl Corporation in Detroit. Here, she began her career as a technical information resources specialist.
In 1955, Brown became a technical writer at Bettis Atomic Power Division Westinghouse. Then she became an Information Services Supervisor at Texas Instruments in 1957. She left Texas Instruments to do research in information storage and retrieval at Battelle Memorial Institute. After that, she worked in technical information management at Baxter Laboratories in Illinois. Brown remained in the field of information and research for the rest of her career until her retirement from Stepan Company. She learned skills in data analysis, system design, reporting and publishing, computer operations and management.
In addition to SWE, Brown is affiliated with the American Society for Information Science, the American Chemical Society, and the Society for Technical Communication.
"Today, most of the women who are graduating in engineering recognize that their engineering background may put them in a totally different area than actual hands-on engineering."
– Patricia Brown