2022 Advancement of Women in NDT

I was particularly  pleased to be present at the recognition of outstanding women in the field of NDT at the recent ASNT Conference in Nashville. The women were recognised for the time and efforts they have invested in NDT.
I am very familiar with Claudia Kropas-Hughes, with whom I have worked closely in the selection of technical programme speakers for the professional programmes at the ASNT conferences.

Claudia Kropas-Hughes PhD has worked in the NDT industry for more than 30 years. Currently retired, she worked for the US Air Force as a Research Leader for Non-Destructive Evaluation (NDE) and as a Technical Advisor at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center. Her experience is primarily in computed tomography (CT) and digital X-ray techniques.

Kropas-Hughes has served as the Professional Program Chair for the ASNT Annual Conference for more than 20 years. She is a member of the Penetrating Radiation Methods Committee and a past member of the ASNT Board of Directors. She is also active in the Miami Valley Section and ASTM International, where she is a member of the Radiology Subcommittee (E07.01) and a past member of the ASTM Board of Directors. Kropas-Hughes is an ASNT Fellow (class of 2002) and an ASTM Fellow, recipient of the Charles N Sherlock Meritorious Service Award (2008), the ASNT Mentoring Award (2016), Robert McMaster Gold Medal (2019) and the ASTM E07 Briggs Award. An electrical engineer by education, she has a PhD from the Air Force Institute of Technology.

Jean Bridge has been an ASNT NDT Level III for 25 years and has worked at Caterpillar Inc for 27 years. As one of Caterpillar’s leading corporate Level IIIs, Jean owns and authors NDT and welding quality-related specifications, practices and standards. Jean has taught NDT classes in six countries and travelled to over 20 countries to assess weld quality or process compliance. Jean is involved in the Society of Women Engineers, where she participates in local STEM outreach programmes during ‘Engineer’s week’. Jean is a member of the ASNT Employer-Based Certification Audit programme committee and the Women in NDT Council, where she leads the career resources team. Jean has a BS degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Illinois, an AAS in non-destructive testing from Moraine Valley Community College and an MBA from Millikin University. She holds one US patent for a UT inspection system.

Dr Cara Leckey joined NASA in 2010 as a Research Physicist in the Nondestructive Evaluation Sciences Branch (NESB). She spent many years leading research in computational non-destructive evaluation (NDE), focusing on ultrasound modelling. Cara worked in NDE before joining NASA when she sought applied physics research opportunities in graduate school at the College of William and Mary. Since joining NASA, she has also served as project lead of the NASA Langley High Performance Computing Incubator (HPCI) project, as the Assistant Branch Head and then Branch Head of NESB. She currently serves on a temporary detail as the Center Transformation Portfolio Manager for NASA Langley. Cara has also served as an Associate Technical Editor for Materials Evaluation and Research in NDE and is the author/co-author of 20+ journal articles, 30+ proceedings and multiple book chapters. She completed PhD and MS degrees in physics from the College of William and Mary and a BS in physics from the University of Mary Washington.

Annabel Sebuc Sab-it is an ASNT NDT Level III and Production Area Manager at MOOG, Baguio Philippines Facility. She earned her ASNT NDT Level III certification in 2012, where she was only the seventh person to be ASNT-certified in the Philippines and the second woman to get certified. Sebuc Sab-it is ASNT NDT Level III certified in PT and MT and is a certified NDT Level III per the EN 4179 requirement. She studied non-destructive testing engineering technology at the Technological University of the Philippines-Taguig Campus, earning a BS in mechanical engineering. She started working in NDT as an ultrasonic testing inspector and then began working as an NDT Inspector at MOOG Philippines. Sebuc Sab-it inspects big manifolds, long cylinders, pistons, bushing and spools for a well-known aircraft manufacturer.

Only belatedly, have we begun to recognise the contributions of women in non-destructive testing and I am delighted to share these extraordinary women with the BINDT readers. I know that the BINDT has a similar programme recognising the contributions of women in NDT.