"The superb electrical engineering education I obtained from Purdue provided me with the tools and techniques necessary to develop the ability to think innovatively and to apply engineering fundamentals to advance ideas and theory into successful programs."

 

Joy L. Arthur received her BSEE from Purdue University in 1956 and an MSEE from New Mexico State University in 1966 (the first woman to do so at NMSU). Arthur began her engineering career at Westinghouse Research Laboratory studying corona phenomenon. In 1958, she became the first woman engineer to be employed at WSMR. Her engineering career focused on increasing the survivability of the soldier in the battlefield and in decreasing the vulnerability of countless U.S. Army weapon systems to various threats. To this end, she conducted research and development in electronic warfare and information warfare from initial concept, experimentation, breadboard, and brass board, to final design and prototype. She designed and developed countermeasures (CM) and counter-countermeasures (CCM); conducted R&D on the protection of sensors including the human eye against laser threats, conducted R&D on detection of unintentional emissions, and many other phenomena present in the battlefield.

Arthur, who retired in 2005 after 47 years of Army civilian service, has been married to Rear Admiral (ret) Paul K. Arthur for 50 years and they reside in Las Cruces, New Mexico. She is a member of various technical societies and is part owner and on the board of directors of Dagupan Electric Corporation of the Philippines. In 2005, she was inducted into the WSMR Hall of Fame. She and her husband have two children; Greg (civil/environmental engineer for the EPA) and Lia (PhD chemical engineer at Los Alamos National Labs). She enjoys growing flowers, sewing, painting, silversmithing, playing with her turtles and a psychotic cat, propagating orchids, and her grandchildren.