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Huban Gowadia was one of eight individual engineers inducted into the State of Alabama’s Engineering Hall of Fame (EHF) at a ceremony attended by nearly 250 people on February 26, 2022. This year there were eight individuals, one project and one corporation that qualified for induction. Gowadia is principal associate director for global security at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), tasked with strengthening the United States’ security through development and application of world-class science and technology.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The board of directors is extremely proud of those who have been inducted... Individually and collectively, they have made and continue to make significant contributions to the advancement of engineering and technology, leading to an enhanced economic, cultural and political future for the state and nation. By their selection and example, they serve as symbols inspiring others to pursue rewarding and challenging careers in all engineering fields,” noted the association’s website engrhof.org.
Founded in 1987 by proclamation of the governor, in recognition of the sesquicentennial of formal engineering education in the state of Alabama, "EHF honors, preserves and perpetuates the outstanding accomplishments and contributions of individuals, projects, and corporations/institutions that have brought and continue to bring significant recognition to the State of Alabama.”
Gowadia admitted she was "absolutely floored” by her selection to the EHF, made by the organization’s 20-member board of directors. "If you think about those who are already in the EHF, to have any association with them is a great honor,” she said. She was nominated for Alabama’s EHF by the former dean of the University of Alabama’s College of Engineering, Charles Karr, and retired US Coast Guard vice-admiral and former head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Peter Neffenger.
As LLNL’s principal associate director for global security, Gowadia is responsible "for building and executing programs focused on intelligence, cyber and space security, as well as nonproliferation, counterterrorism and incident response across the fronts of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive threats.” In her current position since early 2020, she leads more than 1,200 matrixed employees (reporting to multiple heads) and manages an annual operating budget of about USD 500 million (Rs 3,866.32 crore), notes the Laboratory website llnl.gov.
Her 18 years of working as a civil servant in the United States departments of Defense and Homeland Security were capped by a stint as acting administrator of the TSA, leading a $7.6 billion (Rs 58,768.10 crore) budget and a workforce of 60,000 employees charged with protecting the US transportation systems (see "Securing safety,” Zoroastrians Abroad, Parsiana, August 7, 2017).
Over the years she has been conferred the 2005 Under Secretary’s Award for Science and Technology, the highest honor in the Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate. Ten years later, she was selected as a Distinguished Engineering Fellow by The University of Alabama College of Engineering from where she had graduated in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering before earning a doctorate in mechanical engineering from the Pennsylvania State University when her dissertation research dealt with "Scientific background for an explosives detection portal for personnel screening.”
She initially worked for the Federal Aviation Administration’s aviation security laboratory as part of the explosives and weapons detection team and when the office transitioned to TSA, she served as checkpoint program manager. Post the 9/11 terrorist attacks, she led the TSA initiative to replace all walk-through metal detectors at airports with enhanced systems.
"I value every opportunity to grow and learn,” Gowadia had stated when responding to Parsiana queries five years ago. Her varied work experience includes working as director of the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) where she led coordinated efforts to protect the US from nuclear terrorism and as program executive for DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate where she led the Countermeasures Test Bed, evaluating next generation technologies for detecting nuclear and other radioactive materials as well as explosives, and developing operational requirements and response protocols.
She has never forgotten the education opportunities that Zoroastrian charities offered her when at the age of 19 she left the shores of India after her early education at St Mary’s School in Poona. Fifty-two-year-old Gowadia who is unmarried, believes in prayers and wearing the sudreh-kusti as also the asho farohar daily had told Parsiana, "My faith gives me great strength, especially in tough moments. I wear my farohar as a reminder to stay on the right path.”