A Bermudian scientist has advanced at a major United States technology firm after achieving national recognition – not once, but twice.

Carol Brevett is now a technical fellow at Leidos, an engineering and technical services company based in Reston, Virginia, with specialities ranging from biomedical research to aviation and defence.

Dr Brevett’s heightened role comes on the heels of two awards.

She received an outstanding technical contribution in industry award at the October 2020 Women of Colour Science Technology Engineering and Maths Conference.

Dr Brevett was also recognised as a modern technology leader at the Black Engineer of the Year Awards earlier this year.

The role of technical fellow at Leidos enables Dr Brevett “to network across the company and contribute to idea generation”, she told The Royal Gazette.

Both ceremonies were held virtually for health and safety reasons.

Dr Brevett, the daughter of the Reverend Erskine Simmons and the late Marie Simmons, has worked across scientific fields since graduating with her PhD in inorganic chemistry from Iowa State University.

She was drawn to chemistry as a student at the Berkeley Institute and went on to study molecular theory at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, in Canada as a Bermuda government scholar.

As a principal scientist at Leidos, Dr Brevett’s contributions include laboratory studies, technical publications and risk assessment.

Dr Brevett said Leidos had put her forward for her latest award.

“I was really surprised, and elated,” she added.

“I felt honoured to be nominated by Leidos, and even more so to win the national award.”