Dr. Vijaya Korwar Gallagher
B.Tech., 1976, Electrical Engineering

Dr. Vijaya Korwar Gallagher works as a Technical Director, Advanced Systems at Space Systems Loral, LLC in Palo Alto, California, United States. She is responsible for developing and managing proposals for commercial satellite operators, worldwide. The range covers geostationary as well as non-geostationary telecommunications satellite. In a career spanning over 30 years, she has held key technical leadership roles in the satellite and wireless communications industry. Her contributions to organizations like Globalstar, Ford Aerospace and Jet Propulsion Laboratory, have been widely appreciated.

Dr. Gallagher, obtained her B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering from IIT Bombay and was awarded the President of India Gold Medal by the Institute. She holds her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering (1980) from Caltech, Pasadena, California. During 1994-1999, she was one of the small team of early engineers that designed and developed the Globalstar constellation of 48 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, a pioneering system that provides worldwide, hand held voice and data services in remote areas beyond the reach of terrestrial voice and data technologies. In the early stages of the company, she worked on technical issues relating to coordination of satellite spectrum and interference mitigation for Globalstar, representing the company at various international regulatory and standard bodies including the FCC, International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

From 2002 to 2005, she was the owner of a small company ‘Pseudonoise Communications’, which won the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award from the Air Force, for developing an advanced satellite modem for high speed data communications over satellite.

Later, between 2007-2011 she was the Satellite Systems Director for the second generation of Globalstar satellites, built by Thales Alenia Space of France. In 2010-2011, her responsibilities took her to Baikonur, Kazakhstan for the first two launches of six satellites each, using the Russian Soyuz launch vehicle. Two additional launches of six satellites brought the total to 24 successfully launched satellites that today provide mobile satellite services worldwide. Dr. Gallagher is the co-inventor of over 20 patents in satellite communications.

Her hobbies include hiking, biking, reading and watching the American Football season.

Special Memories

For me, IIT Bombay Campus was like being in a faraway land, where we were immersed in a culture of learning, and yet as soon as we stepped outside the Campus, we entered the crowded world of Mumbai. In my final year of college, I attended Mood Indigo (never got a chance before that) and was awed by the talent of the performers and the organization skills of my colleagues. I particularly remember my hostel for the delicious food we used to get in the mess.