U.S. Army Operational Test Command leader Col. Laura J. Richardson has been selected to receive the 2011 Women in Aerospace leadership award for her advancement of the role of women in combat aviation, according to a news release from the organization.

Richardson, who took command of the Test Command in July 2011, was chosen for her "extraordinary leadership and her dedication to the development of current and future generations of female aviators."

An award ceremony is scheduled Nov. 1 in Arlington, Va., for Richardson and six others who were also selected to receive WIA awards.

"I am so humbled and honored to have been selected to receive this award," Richardson said. "Anything I've been able to achieve was made possible by the sacrifice and hard work of the countless others who came before me."

Richardson was commissioned in aviation upon graduation from Metropolitan State College in Denver, Colo. She served as a company commander in the 6th Cavalry Brigade at Fort Hood in the mid-1990s and an air assault helicopter battalion commander in the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky., from which she deployed in support of Operational Iraqi Freedom in 2006.

Richardson served as the military aide to Vice President Al Gore and as garrison commander of Fort Meyer, Va., and Fort McNair, Washington, D.C. Her last assignment before taking command of the Test Command was as the Army liaison officer to the U.S. Senate.

Other Women in Aerospace honorees include Air Force Captain Amanda Zuber, Space Based Infrared Program; Dr. Diane E. Pugel, NASA; Cheryl Moore McNair, Science Literacy Foundation; Rene M. Kimura, Hawaii Space Grant Consortium; Julie A. Sattler, Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company; and Angela Phillips Diaz, Purdue University Global Policy Research Institute.

Founded in 1985, Women in Aerospace is a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding women's opportunities for leadership and increasing their visibility within the aerospace community.

For more information, go to http://www.womeninaerospace.org/ or call (202) 547-0229.