ALUMNI IN FOCUS
Wilson ’82 Designs Test Programs
for Military Aircraft
He designs test programs to simulate the behavior
of the F/A-18 aircraft,
but Charles Wilson ’82 can’t see the results—he’s
been blind since childhood.
The electrical engineering graduate is senior software engineer at L-3 Communications Link Simulation and Training
in Arlington, Texas. Wilson
works to make his blindness a non-factor in his job, but it hasn’t always been easy, particularly with the increasing popularity of graphical user interfaces on computers.
“Ten to 15 years ago, I could operate and test the simulator systems myself,” he says. “Now
I rely on sighted colleagues to run tests on the systems for me and tell me what they ‘see.’”
He credits English professor David Johnson, now associate provost, with inspiring him to enroll in upper-level English classes, “where engineering students fear to tread—and
didn’t back in those days.
“When I think back,” he says, “there were so many professors that so prepared me, not specifically for what I’ve wound up doing, but truly educated me, which I believe was their goal.”
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