Operational Test Command Commander Col. Laura 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 WIA news release.

Richardson, who took command of OTC in July, was chosen for her “extraordinary leadership and her dedication to the development of current and future generations of female aviators.” An awards 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., where she deployed in support of Operation 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 in Washington, D.C. Her last assignment before taking command of OTC was as the Army liaison officer to the U.S. Senate. OTC is the Army’s only independent operational tester, and a subordinate command of the Army Test and Evaluation Command located at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md. OTC is comprised of a headquarters and four test directorates located at Fort Hood and four forward test directorates located at Fort Bliss, Fort Bragg, N.C., Fort Huachuca, Ariz., and Fort Sill, Okla.

Richardson’s awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Bronze Star Medal, Army Meritorious Service Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, Air Medal (seven) and Joint Service Commendation Medal. Her husband, Brig. Gen. James Richardson, is the 1st Cav. Div. deputy commanding general for support.

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

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

More information is available at their website, www.womeninaerospace.org.

Learn more about USAOTC at www.otc.army.mil.