BRIGADIER GENERAL PHILLIP NELSON LARSEN Brigadier General Phillip N. Larsen is special assistant for program management assistance, Air Force Systems Command, Andrews Air Force Base, Md. General Larsen was born in Colorado in 1929. He graduated from Kit Carson High School, Kit Carson, Colo., in 1946. In 1950 he received a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colo. Degrees of master of science and doctor of philosophy in electrical engineering were awarded General Larsen by the University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill., in 1953 and 1956, respectively. In 1967 his formal education was expanded to include a master's degree in business administration from The George Washington University. He entered active military service through the Reserve Officers Training Corps program in July 1950 and served as a training officer at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, until January 1951. General Larsen then entered the University of Illinois under the Air Force Institute of Technology Master's Degree Program. The Ph.D. requirements were completed without formal Air Force sponsorship. From March 1953 to October 1956, he was assigned to the Rome Air Development Center at Griffiss Air Force Base, N.Y., first as project engineer, Applied Research Unit, Special Circuits Branch, and later as acting chief of the Radio Frequency Transmitter Branch. General Larsen next served at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., from October 1956 to April 1957 as an instructor in the Effects Division, Air Weapons Course, at the Air Command and Staff College. During the following year, he attended pilot training, graduating in April 1958. He then returned to the Rome Air Development Center and served as a pilot with the Flight Test Directorate. From 1959 to 1961 he was technical adviser for the center's Space Defense System Laboratory. During the subsequent five years, General Larsen was an associate professor and chairman of instruction for communications engineering in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the U.S. Air Force Academy. After attending the Industrial College of the Armed Forces from August 1966 to February 1968, General Larsen went to the Republic of Vietnam to command an operational flying unit at Da Nang Airfield. In February 1969 he became a member of the Chairman's Special Study Group in the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington, D.C., and in September 1969 he joined the Office of the Director of Defense Research and Engineering as a special assistant to the director and principal deputy director. General Larsen assumed command of the Rome Air Development Center in May 1972. His next assignment, in September 1973, was as vice commander of the Electronic Systems Division, AFSC, at L.G. Hanscom Field, Mass. From August 1975 until October 1976 General Larsen served as deputy chief of staff for systems, AFSC Headquarters. He was appointed special assistant for program management assistance, AFSC, in October 1976. General Larsen is a registered professional engineer; a member of Sigma Xi, Eta Kappa Nu, Pi Mu Epsilon, Kappa Nu Epsilon, and Sigma Tau; and a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His military decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Distinguished Flying Cross, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal with 11 oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal, and the Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with service star. He was promoted to the grade of brigadier general Sept. 1, 1973, with same date of rank. (Current as of December 1976)