As a 16-year-old graduate from Oklahoma City’s Douglass High School, Pamela McCauley earned an Associate’s Degree at Rose State College and her Bachelors, Masters, and Doctoral degrees in Industrial Engineering at the University of Oklahoma—the first African-American woman in the state of Oklahoma to earn a doctorate degree in engineering.

Her academic career includes faculty appointments at the University of Central Florida, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and as a Jefferson Science Fellow at the U. S. Department of State. There she led research to introduce innovation into the HIV & AIDS Healthcare Service delivery process in developing nations. In 2017, she was selected to lead the Innovation Corps as a National Science Foundation Program Director. McCauley’s entrepreneurial endeavors led her to launch two engineering companies and provide support to the Department of Defense, NASA, and private companies throughout the nation. She has been recognized as a Fulbright Scholar and is a highly sought-after scientific expert.  

A globally-recognized voice in human engineering, she is the author of more than 100 scientific articles and an internationally utilized Ergonomics textbook. She has received numerous awards including Technologist of the Year and election as a Fellow in the Institute of Industrial Systems Engineers and the Association for Medical and Biological Engineers. In 2019, she was appointed as the Associate Dean of Academic Programs, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at the Wilson College of Textiles at North Carolina State University in Raleigh where she also leads the Women’s Ergonomics Footwear Research Team.