Biography
Susie Armstrong started her career as a software/systems engineer at Xerox Systems Development Department, the branch of the Palo Alto Research Center that collaborated and commercialized PARC extensive inventions in the computing and communications industry. She worked on the first 10Mbps Ethernet driver and Xerox’s network systems transport and routing protocols, and wrote Xerox’s implementation of TCP/IP, one of only a handful of independent implementations of these protocols. She participated in the standards work for IEEE 802 standards based on Ethernet and developed high speed document handling protocols at the Xerox Webster Research Center.
Armstrong joined Qualcomm in 1994, at the time when the company was working on CDMA and did systems and software work on both the base station group and the mobile phone and chipset groups. With her background in computer communications and Internet protocols, she invented a simple and efficient way to connect a cellular phone to the internet, resulting in the first web surfing on a cellular phone at the CTIA ’97 industry show. That invention was commercialized and adopted by major infrastructure and phone makers within a year, creating a communications platform for Qualcomm’s early work on downloading and running apps from apps stores – the first smartphones.
In the late 90’s, Armstrong moved to the new semiconductor division, leading the software/firmware group that develops the millions of lines of code that drives the semiconductors and implements the 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G interoperability standards. She subsequently created and led the worldwide engineering group who works with Qualcomm’s customers to integrate our semiconductors and software/firmware in their devices, a 6 – 12-month process for every new chipset. Armstrong opened Qualcomm’s first chip software development office in Hyderabad, India in 2004, and has spent extensive time in Japan, Korea and China working with device engineers.
In 2015, Armstrong joined Qualcomm’s Government Affairs group, bringing an engineering focus to the policy work. She is involved in STEM initiatives, invention initiatives, Export Control, national security, and supply chain work, educating policy makers in topics such as 5G, AI, cyber security, and semiconductors. She has spoken on these topics in various forums, including the Woodrow Wilson Center, SIA (Semiconductor Industry Association), Hill.tv, MIT Technology Review and a Brookings podcast.
Armstrong’s career has been focused on technology and now policy for moving and protecting the data that is used to train Artificial Intelligence. Qualcomm itself is focused on the movement of AI to the connected, intelligent edge by building AI engines into their semiconductors, both as platforms for AI applications, and to utilize AI for efficiency (such as tuning a device’s radio in real-time). As the world moves into 5G and beyond, collecting and moving data from huge numbers of devices in the form of IoT, and as AI is increasing used in security, surveillance, and efficient senso-systems, she looks forward to this unique time of ensuring the policies around AI and data are well thought-out and avoid unintended consequences.
Armstrong holds a Bachelor of Science from California Polytechnic State University in Computer Science in 1982 and was granted an honorary PhD from Cal Poly in 2020. She is a member of the FIRST Robotics Advisory Board and splits her time between San Diego, CA and Washington, DC, and holds patents in the area of mobile wireless internet access.