Ruthie D. Lyle, PhD: Early Reader Edition

Ruthie D. Lyle, PhD is an American electrical engineer, meaning she designs and creates electrics. She works as a lead research engineer at a company called United Services Automobile Association (USAA), which works to make sure that people in the US military and their families are looked after.[1] Dr. Lyle has worked very hard to get where she is. Now, she works with Black Girls Code to help young girls to work towards jobs in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

When she was at school, Dr. Lyle loved math and science and liked to solve problems.[2] In high school she joined an engineering program and realized she that she wanted to become an engineer. Dr. Lyle’s family knew that school and learning were very important. Her dad is in the Air Force and has done lots of extra classes throughout his career. Her mom has done lots of degrees and is now a teacher. They both encouraged Ruthie and her sisters to work hard in school.[3]

After high school, Dr. Lyle went to Northeastern University to do a BS degree in Electrical Engineering, and then to Polytechnic University to do an MS and doctorate degree (PhD). Dr. Lyle was the first black woman to get a PhD from Polytechnic University since it opened 145 years ago!

In 1999, Dr. Lyle joined a technology company called International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) as a patent engineer. A patent is a document that people get when they invent something. The patent stops other people from copying the invention. Dr. Lyle looks at IBM’s patents to help find ways that the company can get better and grow. [4] She is one of IBM’s Master Inventors – and one of the few women that have been given the title. Dr. Lyle also works with patents for a company called NVIDIA. She looks at NVIDIA’s inventions and finds the parts that need patents. She does all of this whilst working for USAA.

As well as working hard in all these jobs, Dr. Lyle works to help young people that want to become engineers. She works with Black Girls Code and EngineerGirl, charities that encourage young girls to study and work in STEM subjects. Dr. Lyle explained

Any young woman considering a career in engineering is on the right track. I’d want her to know that if she decides to pursue law, medicine or some other career, that having an engineering background is the best preparation that she can get. The final comments I would share are that we live in changing times, be flexible in your career and work hard to develop and maintain a balance between work and life. If you start out early achieving, it makes everything easy down the road.[5]

Ruthie D. Lyle, PhD is great role model especially for girls who want to become scientists, workers in technology, engineers, and mathematicians. She is a true engineer hero!

[1] NYU Tandon School of Engineering. Alum Ruthie Lyle-Cannon: Trail Blazer, Master Inventor, Engineer [Online] Available https://engineering.nyu.edu/news/alum-ruthie-lyle-cannon-trail-blazer-master-inventor-engineer. 2017.

[2] Lyle-Cannon, Ruthie. Dr Ruthie Lyle-Cannon. [Online] Available https://www.engineergirl.org/2912/Ruthie-LyleCannon. 2023.

[3] ii.

[4] iii.

[5] Lyle-Cannon, 2023.