| Profession | Engineer |
| Born | Orange, NJ |
| Innovation | Pioneering engineer with many firsts for women in the field |
| NJ Connection | Born in Orange, earning a degree in chemical engineering from Newark College of Engineering (now NJIT) |
A trip to New York City in the early 1930’s sealed it for teenager Beatrice Hicks. Enthralled by the new engineering marvels like the George Washington Bridge and the Empire State Building, Hicks knew exactly what she wanted to be when she grew up.
But everyone - friends, classmates, teachers and family - tried to discourage her from pursuing a career as an engineer – a choice considered socially unacceptable for a woman at the time.
But Beatrice Hicks persisted and graduated from the Newark College of Engineering, one of two women in a class of 900. She would later earn a Master’s Degree in physics from the Stevens Institute.
Most everything Beatrice Hicks did blazed a new trail for women.
She became the first woman hired as an engineer by Western Electric. Three years later she went to work for Newark Controls, her father’s engineering company and took over the business after his death.
She was awarded numerous patents including one for a molecular density scanner and one for a gas density switch utilized by NASA on the Apollo moon missions.
She helped found, and served as the first president of the Society of Women Engineers. There were 60 members at its inception. There are 16,000 today.
Beatrice Hicks was named Woman of the Year in Business by Mademoiselle Magazine in 1952, was one of the first women to join the National Academy of Engineers in 1978, and was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2002.
