Distinguished Alumni Awards
Each year the faculty of the Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics recognizes outstanding contributions to aerospace engineering and the nation's progress in air and space by electing a Distinguished Alumnus.
2013 Distinguished Alumnus
Kevin Fowler, MS '83
Kevin Fowler is the Chief Architect of Processes and Tools for Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA). In this role, he is responsible for the process and tool architectural approach, the integrity of production solutions, and ensuring that there is a go-forward strategy that supports BCA business objectives. Prior to this assignment, he was Vice President of Processes and Tools for the 787 program, where he led development and implementation of the solutions for the 787 global production system, including new design, build, and support capabilities.
Fowler began his career at Boeing as a fatigue and fracture mechanics analyst. He developed full scale fatigue test spectra for the 757 and 767 programs and led full scale testing of a retired high cycle 737 that demonstrated safe fuselage decompression behavior after the development of fatigue cracking. As an Advanced Study Fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Fowler developed a non-linear finite element code for longitudinal fuselage skin cracking solutions. He was a Design/Build Team Leader on the Boeing 777 program, where he led the development of the first advanced composite floor structure for a commercial jet transport. During this effort he was a member of the program Process Steering Team, which led to his position as leader of Process and Tool Development and Implementation for the 737 Next Generation program.
During his 35 years at Boeing he has also served as a stress analyst for the 737-400 and B2 programs, the Chief Engineer of Airplane Integration for BCA Wide Body Airplanes, and the Program Manager for implementation of the BCA bill of material and materials management re-engineering effort, DCAC/MRM.
He has always been passionate about the need for continued career education, demonstrated by his Boeing Executive sponsorship for development of the Aircraft Composite Certificate curriculum at the University of Washington.