My Director when I was working at a large aerospace company regularly called me doctor Knowles. I was a sort of backhanded friendly insult. I have only a BS degree, he had a masters degree, I think an MBA. Anyway, I lectured a lot, basically holding classes in our office to educate and indoctrinate our staff. Yes, indoctrinate because in our business it is important to adhere to strict protocols for things like cleanliness, accuracy and a thing we call "stamp warranty." Many of us had a rubber stamp with a letter, number and symbol that the use of which was equivalent to your signature. You affirmed your compliance to or approval of the stamped instructions. This was to create a traceable record of the work performed to keep the people doing the work and the astronauts riding the rock the safe.

Later in my career the Director was a VP and I was a Principal Investigator, he still called me doctor Knowles. I was still teaching and leading a staff conducting research supported by NASA, Stanford, multiple subcontractors and the National Institute for Standards and Technology. I have authored a few papers on the research we did. I lead the work but don't claim to be a Doctor, never used the title. I find those that use the title a mixed bag. The title means little to me no matter who uses it.

TEK