Human Engineering: The Astounding Ascent of Karen Van Dyke – Inside GNSS

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June 18, 2025

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Blog editor’s note: We were going to profile our friend and colleague Karen in honor of her retirement from federal service. But Peter Gutierrez did a much better job in this Inside GNSS piece than we ever could. Well done, Peter, and exceptionally well done and congratulations, Karen!

Human Engineering: The Astounding Ascent of Karen Van Dyke

June 5, 2025

By Peter Gutierrez

A look back at a remarkable career as Van Dyke retires from federal service. Karen Van Dyke’s remarkable trajectory as a GNSS engineer took her from helping design tools that notify pilots of GPS outages to spearheading America’s national strategy on the future of positioning, navigation and timing (PNT).

Her personal rise reflects the equally impressive evolution of GPS, from a brilliant but obscure military system to a pillar of modern infrastructure.

When Inside GNSS profiled Van Dyke in 2007, she was already an influential voice in the satellite navigation universe, even as she joked about being “geographically challenged.”

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What Can YOU Do? How Can YOU Help?

PNT is the quiet backbone of everything but too many leaders still don't see the risk.

But you do. You understand the systems, the dependencies, the failure chains. That insight is rare — and it's exactly what your country needs right now. Contact your government leaders and industry decision-makers and tell them resilient PNT isn't a feature — it's the foundation everything else depends on.

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