•outstanding technical achievement•

Education:  PhD in Industrial Engineering, Human Factors and Ergonomics, Masters and Bachelors in Industrial Engineering, University of Central Florida; Leadership at All Levels, Additive Manufacturing for Innovative Design, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Sustainable Enterprise Executive Education & Development, Villanova University

As an Associate Technical Fellow in visualization, human engineering, and integration with the Boeing Company for more than a dozen years, Dr. Katherine Meza has stood out as an accomplished and driven technical leader and chief architect who has influenced the direction, development and implementation of emerging technologies.

Dr. Meza has over five years of research experience, two years of teaching experience, and over 17 years of industry experience in multiple areas, including manufacturing, aerospace, and government. She holds several patents and has received multiple awards. 

She is an expert in strategic initiatives, product development, customer support, organizational development, and establishment of global partnerships through interactions with multi-disciplinary professionals. She applies design thinking and system analysis to solve complex problems and define system requirements, processes, data feeds, and working parameters. 

Dr. Meza has made a wide variety of contributions, particularly in reducing development life cycles in airplane programs through improved processes and high-quality tool design, as well as massive model visualization.  

Model visualization connects 3D airplane models with corresponding attribute data; mixed reality and immersive human modeling for design evaluation; remote assistance technology; and mobile technology to improve user interaction with data visualization across Boeing, affecting multiple commercial and defense aircraft programs. 

She also serves on the User Experience Community of Experts Steering Committee, designs learning experiences for over 700 members, and leads Human Engineering & Integration Design Practices.   Dr. Meza is also an active role model and mentor, empowering and inspiring younger members of underrepresented and minority groups. 

Dr. Meza has also led global design teams on product development, production environment, and maintenance support tools that have resulted in four patents. She has shared her knowledge through more than 35 publications and presentations at national and international conferences, and trained thousands of people across Boeing. She is currently the Advanced Visualization Chair for the annual Boeing Advanced Visualization and Data Analytics Technologies Symposium.

Passionate about promoting higher education for underrepresented populations, especially in STEM fields, Dr. Meza has held multiple leadership roles in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), promoting STEM by mentoring college students and supporting events like Noche de Ciencias, and leading the Boeing team at the SHPE National Conference Extreme Engineering Challenge.

She is tireless in her support of the Hispanic community, leading a mentoring program for Boeing interns and new hires, where she encapsulates the values of SHPE. Across her career, Dr. Meza’s success has been grounded in education and mentorship, and her support of people combined with her technical strengths make her a formidable force of leadership.

Dr. Meza combines an astute and technical mind with a spirit of generosity, contributing her technical expertise to the betterment of design in the world while sharing her knowledge and deep industry experience by mentoring tomorrow’s engineers. 

She has proven that she is an exceptional engineer as a Hispanic, a woman, and most of all as one who persevered and followed her curiosity with the goal of improving design for everyone.