Carolyn Ogelsby, daughter of Gladys West, talks with Lance Collins, vice president and executive director of the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus at the opening of the Glady West exhibit March 7 at the VT campus in Potomac Yard.
Navigating across town or around the world, global positioning systems, or GPS, is a technology that most people use every day. But few give much thought to how a mobile device can point to the best beignets in Paris or freshest sushi in Tokyo. A new exhibit at the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus seeks to change that as it honors Gladys West, the trailblazer credited with developing the transformative technology.
The National Center of Women’s Innovation opened the interactive exhibit March 7 to shine a spotlight on West, an African American woman who pioneered the technology despite the roadblocks of her youth in a segregated Virginia.
“West was pioneering work at a time when people who looked like her, both female and African American, just weren’t working in those fields,” said Lance Collins, executive director of the VT Innovation Campus. “What a remarkable story and inspiration to all of us.”
Local officials were joined by members of West’s family for the official launch of the exhibit.
National Center for Women’s Innovation volunteer Ibi Jones, left, describes the Gladys West exhibit panel to a visitor.
“You don’t often get to meet your superheroes,” said West’s grandson Andre Jones. “But I got to grow up with two of them – my grandfather and my grandmother. My grandmother worked so hard and tirelessly to make an impact at her job. She just wanted to be the best at her job, she wanted to make her family proud and worked non-stop to overcome and rise above her surroundings.”
West was born Oct. 27, 1930, in rural Dinwiddie County in southern Virginia. She graduated as valedictorian of her high school, earning a full scholarship to Virginia State College where she studied mathematics.
In 1956, West was hired to work as a project manager for processing systems for satellite data analysis at what is now the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Virginia. She was the second black woman ever hired and one of only four black employees. It is here that she met her husband Ira, a mathematician at the base.
During this time West led the development of a mathematical model of the world that provided the framework for GPS. She worked at Dahlgren for 42 years, retiring in 1998. In 2000, she completed a PhD in Public Administration at Virginia Tech.
West was inducted into the United States Air Force Hall of Fame in 2018, one of the highest honors bestowed by Air Force Space Command. Capt. Godfrey Weekes, commanding officer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division, described the role played by West in the development of Global Positioning System, saying, "She rose through the ranks, worked on the satellite geodesy, and contributed to the accuracy of GPS and the measurement of satellite data. As Gladys West started her career in 1956, she likely had no idea that her work would impact the world for decades to come.”
West, now 94 years old, lives with her daughter in Fredericksburg. She was unable to attend the reception but her grandson did a quick video call with her so that she could say hello to the crowd gathered at the exhibit.
“Leaving a legacy and an impact was not something she intended to do,” Jones said. “My grandparents never bragged but please continue to put women’s history at the forefront. There is a generation of young girls looking up to these heroes who inspire them to achieve.”
The Gladys West exhibit will be on display at the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus in Potomac Yard Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m.—4 p.m. through the end of June.
“The world needs more advocates like [founder] Jane Plitt and the National Center for Women’s Innovations,” Jones added. “Thank you for preserving and keeping my grandmother’s legacy alive. It is such a powerful time right now – Black history last month and women’s history this month. These are two groups that have overcome so much and are the backbone of this country.”