NJIT to Honor Colonel Ellen Pawlikowski with Outstanding Alumna Award
Colonel Ellen Pawlikowski, a U.S. Air Force communications expert, will receive an Outstanding Alumna Award from Newark College of Engineering (NCE) at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). She will receive the award during the college’s annual NCE Awards Banquet, scheduled for April 8, 2005, at the Newark Airport Marriott Hotel.
NCE is one of six colleges that constitute NJIT.
Pawlikowski, who was recently confirmed for promotion to brigadier general, is the director of the Military Satellite Communications Joint Program Office, Space and Missile Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif.
Pawlikowski, who grew up in Bloomfield but lives now in Los Angeles, has built a successful Air Force communications career on the foundation of a solid NCE education. She is cited as a role model for NCE students. She received a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering (1978) from NJIT; she entered the Air Force in 1978 through the Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (ROTC) at NJIT.
Pawlikowski directs acquisition planning, programming, budgeting, execution, and congressional activities for a $40 billion military satellite communication systems portfolio. Her portfolio includes more than seven different related programs including the Milstar constellation; the Defense Satellite Communications System; the Advanced Extremely High Frequency Program and the Transformational Communications Program.
Before assignment to active duty, Pawlikowski attended the University of California at Berkeley and in 1981 received a doctorate in chemical engineering. She entered active duty in 1982 at McClellan Air Force Base, Calif. She has served in management, leadership, and staff positions, including working as deputy assistant to the Secretary of Defense. Before being promoted to director of the Military Satellite Communications Joint Program Office, Pawlikowski served as director of the Air Force’s Airborne Laser System Program.