California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo​

Susan "Susie" Armstrong serves as senior vice president, engineering, at Qualcomm, Inc. where she has worked for 25 years. She is recognized as one of the engineers who pioneered the mobile internet, helping to invent the software that allows cell phones to leverage data in order to provide access to web pages, apps and photos.

During her tenure at Qualcomm, Ms. Armstrong has held various leadership positions. She has served as the head of software engineering in the company's mobile chipset division and as the head of worldwide customer engineering, the group that integrates and commercializes products in phones and other wireless devices. She has worked extensively with phone and device makers in Asia and Europe to bring Qualcomm's technologies to market. More recently, Ms. Armstrong joined Qualcomm's government affairs group where she applies her engineering and product background to developing worldwide public policy in such areas as intellectual property protection, trade and immigration reform, STEM and diversity in STEM.

Prior to joining Qualcomm, Ms. Armstrong worked for the Xerox Systems Development Department and the Xerox Research Center Webster where she held a variety of software engineering positions that focused on data protocols, operating systems and advanced development in high-speed data networking. In February 2017, she was named one of the most powerful female engineers by Business Insider.

Ms. Armstrong has been a long-standing supporter of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo where she earned her degree in computer science in 1982. She serves as a corporate champion for the university at Qualcomm, creating connections between corporate and campus leadership. Ms. Armstrong has also been a loyal annual supporter of the university's computer science department over the last 22 years.

In recognition of her impactful role as a pioneering and worldwide leader in technology, the Board of Trustees of the California State University and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo are proud to confer upon Ms. Susan Armstrong the honorary degree of Doctor of Science.