Patricia Neil, Ph.D.

The people who are most happy here at CNA are people who are curious. They want to know how things work. They want to know how to make things better.

Patricia Neil, Ph.D., a field representative for CNA’s Operations Evaluations Group, has traveled the world as a research scientist for CNA. “I’ve stood on the Great Wall of China. I’ve seen the killing fields of Cambodia. I’ve been to Seoul, Bangkok, and Tokyo. It’s a really remarkable opportunity that CNA gave me.”

Neil, whose work has included providing support for large-scale amphibious operations, real-world disaster relief operations, and bilateral and multilateral exercises, believes that success as an analyst is as much a matter of attitude as it is skill. “It’s not about being really smart on any particular thing,” she says. “The people who are most happy here at CNA are people who are curious. They want to know how things work. They want to know how to make things better.”

Neil also has worked on a variety of other important projects during her more than six years at CNA including analysis of the Marine Corps’ airborne fire support during Operation Iraqi Freedom and of the U.S. Navy’s post-transitional presence on the Korean peninsula. She is currently assigned to U.S. Marine Forces, Special Operations Command (MARSOC), Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

Neil earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado in 1998 and a Ph.D. in Computation and Neural Systems from the California Institute of Technology in 2006.

• Click here to see a video interview with Neil.