Brad Parkinson, who has received many honors for establishing and serving as the first program director of the GPS Joint Program Office (now GPS Directorate), is one of four U.S. Naval Academy graduates who will be honored in a Friday (March 25, 2011) ceremony for lifelong achievement and will receive the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association Distinguished Graduate Award.
Brad Parkinson, who has received many honors for establishing and serving as the first program director of the GPS Joint Program Office (now GPS Directorate), is one of four U.S. Naval Academy graduates who will be honored in a Friday (March 25, 2011) ceremony for lifelong achievement and will receive the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association Distinguished Graduate Award.
After graduating from the naval academy in 1957, Parkinson served for two decades in the U.S. Air force, earned a master of science in aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford University.
As the award notes, during his final assignment on active duty with the Air Force, Parkinson directed the effort to develop the GPS, which today is used by more than two billion people worldwide, and led the fight to gain Department of Defense approval for the program. For his efforts, he received the Defense Department Superior Performance Award as the best program director in the Air Force.
An emeritus professor at Stanford University, Parkinson continues his work with GPS in the private sector, now residing in San Luis Obispo, California, near his six children and five grandchildren. He is a member of the Inside GNSS Editorial Advisory Council
Other 2011 recipients of the alumni award are Corbin A. McNeill, Jr., Lt. Gen. Matthew T. Cooper, and Rear Admiral Robert H. Shumaker.
The U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association is a non-profit, independent, self-supporting corporation with more than 55,000 members. For more information on the program, this year’s event and the 2011 honorees, please visit www.usna.com.
