Transportation Session Speakers

Vice President, Material & Process Technology, Boeing Research & Technology,
The Boeing Company

Dr. Dianne Chong is the Vice President of Materials and Process Planning in the Boeing Research & Technology organization in EO&T.  In this position, she leads the organization responsible for development and support of materials & processes and manufacturing development for Boeing. 

Prior to this, she was the Director of Materials & Process Technology for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.  Dr. Chong was also the Director of Strategic Operations and Business for IDS Engineering.  In this capacity, she was the lead director defining and implementing a solid strategy for all Boeing Engineering.  She was the Director of Material & Process Technology in Phantom Works and the Seattle site leader for the Structural Technologies, Prototyping & Quality organization.

In St. Louis, Dr. Chong has also served as the Department Head of three engineering departments at Boeing St. Louis: Materials, Processes, Standards & Producibility; Liaison Engineering; and Production/Process Engineering.  She was the Manager of Fabrication Processes in the Manufacturing Technology Processes organization.  In that capacity, she was responsible for the Equipment Engineers and Material, Process, and Producibility Engineers who support the Fabrication Centers and the Production Aircraft Programs (F/A-18C/D, F-15, AV-8B, T45TS, and C-17).  Dr. Chong has also served as the Team Leader of the Material & Product Form Engineering team in Production Aircraft Programs. 

Dr. Chong was the team leader of the both the Advanced Metallic and NDE teams in the Advanced Materials & Structures organization in Phantom Works.  Dr. Chong also supervised the MDMSC metallographic and testing laboratories.  She performed failure analysis on advanced missile and space components.  She was Program Manager of three DoD contracts dealing with semisolid metalworking of space parts, elimination of the casting factor in titanium, and high temperature missile airframe materials.  Dr. Chong also managed the Shuttle Student Involvement Project which was flown on the first shuttle after the Challenger disaster.

Dr. Chong received Bachelors degrees in both biology and psychology from the University of Illinois in 1971.  She continued on at the University of Illinois and earned Masters degrees in both physiology (1975) and metallurgical engineering (1983).  In 1986, Dr. Chong  received her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois.  She completed an Executive Master of Manufacturing Management at Washington University in 1998.

Dr. Chong has also served as the St. Louis representative to Military Handbook 5, where she has chaired the Aerospace Users’ Group and the titanium casting group.  Dr. Chong is also a member of TMS, AIAA, ASM International, SME, SWE, Beta Gamma Sigma, and Tau Beta Pi.  She was a 2001 graduate of Leadership America, a 1999 Participant in the Greater Missouri Leadership Challenge, and 1997 recipient of the YWCA Special Leadership Award in Science & Technology.   Dr. Chong has received Boeing Corporate Diversity Award (2003), Women of Color Technology All-Star (2002), the OCA (Organization of Chinese Americans) Corporate Achievement Award (2002), Diversity Change Agent (2005), and Women of Color in Technology Managerial Leadership Award (2008).  She was also recognized as an outstanding alumna of University of Illinois in 2006.  Dr. Chong is a member of the National Materials Advisory Board.  She has served on the Board of Trustees and is also a Fellow of the ASM International.  In 2007-08, she served as the President of ASM International--the first woman in the 94-year history of the society.