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Ashley Williams
Ashley Williams advances her lifelong passion for aerospace to make backcountry travel safer through new iPhone technology.
A 2006 CU Boulder graduate with dual degrees in Aerospace Engineering Science and Applied Mathematics, Williams leads a modeling and simulation team within Apple’s Satellite Connectivity group that enables iPhone 14 users to send emergency SOS messages. We just announced a new feature that lets you It uses orbiting satellites even if cell reception is zero.
Hikers in Colorado are well aware that mountainous terrain can result in zero cell reception, making communication impossible in an emergency. Some hikers buy handheld-only satellite communication devices to stay in touch, which can cost hundreds of dollars.
Williams and her team set out to make such messaging possible with a gadget that almost every American already carries: a mobile phone. But connecting a phone to a satellite zooming overhead at thousands of miles per hour wasn’t easy.
“Even sending a text message is a technical challenge because bandwidth is so limited,” Williams said during Apple’s official announcement presentation on Sept. 7. Custom He designed and built components and specific software to allow the iPhone 14’s antenna to connect to satellite-specific frequencies. “
Williams never thought he could bring his aerospace expertise to a tech company like Apple.
After graduating from CU Boulder in 2006, she enrolled at Caltech where she earned a master’s degree in aerospace and a Ph.D. in control and dynamic systems. She then took a position in control systems and enterprise analytics at The Aerospace Corporation.
She loved the job, many of which were in the classified department, and planned to stay with Aerospace Corporation for the rest of her career. But a Silicon Valley company adopted her husband and they moved to the San Francisco Bay Area.
“I met a friend of a friend at Apple just to get job hunting advice, and when I told him what I had been doing, he said I should talk to one of his colleagues. It might be perfect for me,” Williams said. “It was everything I was looking for, but I didn’t think it existed.”
A position at Apple offers Williams the opportunity to excel in her favorite areas of engineering: abstract thinking, mathematics, and coding.
“When I was younger, the message about engineering was that you had to have good hands and you liked taking things apart. I’m not and never have been. ‘ she said.
After high school, she was accepted into CU Boulder’s aerospace program, but the traditional image of an engineer didn’t resonate with her as a high-powered operative. Williams’ original goal was to work for her NASA, but she thought it would be a public relations move.
Her education and subsequent work revealed a whole facet of engineering she didn’t know existed.
“I really liked math, but it didn’t translate to engineering in my head,” she said. “I didn’t have role models like that.”
Today, Williams is helping fill that void in children and young people. I am serving
“I’m very passionate about STEM outreach. Our aim is to provide role models for them. I love working with students,” she said. .
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