Tag: AIAA News

AIAA Announces Candidates for the 2026 Election

FROM THE INSTITUTE
The Council Nominating Committee has selected candidates for next year’s openings on the AIAA Council of Directors. Council Nominating Committee Chair Laura Richard and AIAA Governance and Executive Operations Administrator Susan Silva confirmed the names of the candidates who will appear on the 2026 ballot.
Full Story (Aerospace America)

AIAA Survey: Forecast of Emerging Aerospace Technologies

FROM THE INSTITUTE
AIAA is working with BryceTech to produce the AIAA 2026 Forecast of Emerging Aerospace Technologies, a strategic assessment of the innovations that will define the aerospace landscape over the next two decades. This forecast will explore technologies driving future competitiveness, national capability, and societal impact. As a member of the AIAA community, your expert perspective will provide valuable insights into these technology trends. Please take a moment to fill out the emerging technology trends survey by Friday, 21 November.

AIAA Announces 2026 Sustained Service Awards Winners

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 19, 2025 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce the winners of the 2026 Sustained Service Awards. The award recognizes sustained, significant service and contributions to AIAA by members of the Institute.

“Our volunteers are the Institute’s driving force. Their ingenuity and dedicated service make AIAA great,” said AIAA CEO Clay Mowry. “This year’s honorees exemplify servant leadership. We are grateful for their enduring contributions to our community.”

The Sustained Service Award winners are AIAA members in good standing who have shown continuing dedication to the interests of the Institute by making significant and sustained contributions over a period of time, typically 10 years or more. Active participation and service at the local section/regional level, and/or the national level is a potential discriminator in the evaluation of candidates.

The 2026 Sustained Service Awards winners are:

Melissa Carter, NASA Langley Research Center

For sustained leadership, service, and contributions to the Hampton Roads Section, Region I, and AIAA National

Carter became an AIAA student member at Penn State in 1997. She held many positions in the Hampton Roads Section, including Young Professional Committee Chair and Section Chair. She is a member of the Inlets, Nozzles, and Propulsion System Integration (INPSI) Technical Committee and served two years as Chair. Carter started working at NASA Langley Research Center as a co-op student in 1998, converted to a full-time employee in 2000, and is retiring in January 2026.

David Casbeer, Air Force Research Laboratory

For leadership advancing AIAA’s focus on autonomy and intelligent systems in aerospace.

Casbeer, a 20-year member of AIAA, heads the UAV Cooperative and Intelligent Control Team at the Air Force Research Laboratory. His team works to develop enabling technology for autonomous UAVs, supporting future Air Force missions.

Wayne Hurwitz, Northrop Grumman Aeronautics Systems

For sustained leadership and dedicated service to AIAA at the national level through significant contributions to Corporate Membership advocacy, the Air Breathing Propulsion TC, Propulsion & Energy Group, TAD leadership, and the Ethics Committee.

Hurwitz is the Northrop Grumman Fellow for Propulsion. He has served as a manager or IPT leader on a range of military aircraft programs, including F-5/T-38, F-20, TSSAM, legacy F/A-18 and E/F, B-2, B-21, X-47A, JAST, F-22, F-35, UCLASS, NGAD, and other advanced programs. Hurwitz is an AIAA Associate Fellow and Deputy Director for the AIAA Propulsion and Energy (P&E) Group. He is a past chair of the AIAA Ethics Committee, served as Director of the P&E Group, and chair for the Air Breathing Propulsion Technical Committee. Hurwitz is the 2023 recipient of the Engineer’s Council Jack Northrop Spirit of Innovation Award.

Elizabeth Lee-Rausch, NASA Langley Research Center

For sustained leadership, service, and contributions to the Hampton Roads Section, Region I, and AIAA national.

Lee-Rausch is the Chief Engineer for the AeroSciences Division at NASA Langley Research Center. She received her B.S. in aerospace engineering from Auburn University in 1987 and her M.S. in aeronautics and astronautics from Purdue University in 1992. Lee-Rausch joined the staff of Langley in 1987 and has spent most of her career as a Research Engineer at the center working on the application and validation of CFD tools for large-scale aerospace systems.

Michael Oppenheimer, Air Force Research Laboratory

For sustained leadership, service, and contributions to the Dayton/Cincinnati Section, Region III, and AIAA national.

Oppenheimer is a Senior Electronics Engineer at the Air Force Research Laboratory and an Associate Fellow of AIAA. He has performed flight control research on reusable launch vehicles and flapping wing micro air vehicles, as well as development of control allocation techniques for multiple applications. Oppenheimer holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Akron and a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology.

Kerri Phillips, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

For sustained leadership and service through Technical, Ethics, and Public Policy Committees; the AIAA DEFENSE Forum Executive Steering Committee; and outreach at the section, regional, and national levels of AIAA.

Phillips serves as Program Area Manager for Threats and Intelligence in the National Security Space Mission Area at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Formerly APL’s Chief Scientist for Air and Missile Defense, she is an AIAA Associate Fellow and recognized expert in missile guidance and control. She was recently inducted into West Virginia University Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering’s Academy of Distinguished Alumni for her technical and leadership achievements.

Joshua Rovey, University of Illinois

For sustained leadership, service, and contributions to the Illinois Section, Region III, and AIAA national.

Rovey is Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Illinois and Director of the Illinois Space Grant Consortium. He is an Associate Fellow and a member of the Electric Propulsion Technical Committee and the Publications Committee. He spent several years as an associate editor of the Journal of Propulsion and Power.

Todd Treichel, Sierra Space

For exemplary leadership, dedicated service, and significant contributions to the Wisconsin Section, Region III, and the AIAA national organization.

Treichel is an Operations Manager at Sierra Space with over two decades of experience spanning quality, reliability, environmental testing, manufacturing, and design engineering. Notable spaceflight contributions include ISS payloads, Cygnus & HTV-X spacecraft, and Mars landers. Since founding the AIAA Rocket Science STEM short courses in 2010, Treichel has continued to lead this Wisconsin-based educational initiative. He is an AIAA Associate Fellow, Section Chair, and recipient of the NASA Silver Achievement Medal.

Media Contact: Rebecca Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell

About AIAA The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org, and follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

2026 AIAA Durand Lectureship for Public Service Awarded to University of Colorado Boulder’s Brian Argrow

Lecture Set for Monday, 12 January, During AIAA SciTech Forum 2026

November 17, 2025 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce the 2026 AIAA Durand Lectureship for Public Service is awarded to Brian M. Argrow, Distinguished Professor and Glenn L. Murphy Endowed Chair, Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences; Director, Integrated Remote & In Situ Sensing Program (IRISS), University of Colorado Boulder.

Argrow will deliver his lecture, “Aerospace Engineering for Science and Public Safety: Aerial Robots to Explore Tornadogenesis,” on Monday, 12 January, 3:30 p.m. ET, during the SciTech Forum, Orlando, Florida. Forum registration is available now. Journalists can request press credentials to cover the forum at [email protected].

Argrow is founding Director of the Integrated Remote & In Situ Sensing Program (IRISS) and founding Director (Emeritus) of the Research and Engineering Center for Unmanned Vehicles (RECUV) at the University of Colorado Boulder. His research covers the design and field deployment of small UAS, aero-gasdynamics, and hypersonics. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and AIAA Fellow. He received the Department of the Air Force Exemplary Civilian Service Award for service on the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board.

In 2024, the 30-year average for tornado-related fatalities in the United States stood at 72 per year. This figure masks episodic tornado events over just the past 20 years that resulted in 126, 553, and 104 fatalities, respectively, in 2008, 2011, and 2021. Recent studies of tornado warning statistics indicate that from 1986 to 2011 the average tornado warning time in the United States was about 18.5 minutes but has been about 15 minutes since (yes, a decrease in warning time). Severe storms researchers seek to understand how storms, particularly supercell thunderstorms, create tornadoes while forecast and warning researchers seek to use that knowledge to increase tornado warning times. In 2010, aerospace engineers from the University of Colorado Boulder (CU) teamed with meteorologists from the University of Nebraska Lincoln (UNL) for the first intercepts of supercell thunderstorms using uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) during the “Second Verification of the Origins of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment (VORTEX-2).” Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and NOAA, VORTEX-2 remains the largest study of tornadogenesis to date. The cross-disciplinary CU-UNL team has continued to advance capabilities for increasingly autonomous and collaborative small UAS deployed from highly mobile ground stations, including the 2019 Targeted Observations with Radar and UAS of Supercells (TORUS) field campaign, involving many participants from VORTEX-2. The research continues through long-term university and agency collaborations that are seeking answers to tornadogenesis—the atmospheric conditions and processes that create tornadoes.

Argrow’s lecture presents 30 years of research and development of small aerial robots that continue to be deployed to increase knowledge of tornadogenesis while contributing to public safety by supporting advances in accurate and life-saving methods for tornado prediction, detection, and warnings.

The Durand Lectureship for Public Service, named in honor of William F. Durand, Ph.D., is presented for notable achievements by a scientific or technical leader whose contributions have led directly to the understanding and application of the science and technology of aeronautics and astronautics for the betterment of humanity. Durand was a United States naval officer and a pioneer in mechanical engineering. During his remarkable 99-year life, Durand contributed significantly to the development of aircraft propellers. He was the first civilian chair of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the forerunner of NASA.

The Institute’s Public Policy Committee takes pride in selecting accomplished leaders in aeronautics and astronautics for this honor who can share their knowledge through the Durand Lecture for Public Service. For more information about the AIAA Honors and Awards program, contact Patricia A. Carr at [email protected] .

Media Contact: Rebecca Gray, APR, [email protected] , 804.397.5270

About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, and follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

2026 AIAA Dryden Lectureship in Research Awarded to Thomas C. Corke, University of Notre Dame

Lecture Set for 13 January During AIAA SciTech Forum 2026

November 17, 2025 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce the 2026 AIAA Dryden Lectureship in Research is awarded to Thomas C. Corke, Clark Chair Professor of Engineering, University of Notre Dame.

Corke will deliver his lecture, “Active Drag Reduction with Net Power Savings in Turbulent Boundary Layers – Physics and Scaling,” Tuesday, 13 January, 3:30 p.m. ET, during the SciTech Forum, Orlando, Florida. Forum registration is available now. Journalists can request press credentials to cover the forum at [email protected].

Corke is the Founding Director of the Notre Dame Institute for Flow Physics and Control (FlowPAC), the third Director of the Notre Dame Hessert Laboratory for Aerospace Research, and currently the Director of the Hypersonic Systems Initiative. He is internationally recognized for his research in the areas of fluid instabilities and transition, plasma dynamics, and flow control covering a full range of flow fields and Mach numbers from incompressible to hypersonic. He is a Fellow of APS, ASME, and AIAA, and founding Chair of the new Fluid Instabilities and Transition TC. Among his many publications, he is the author of three textbooks.

Corke’s lecture examines the realization of a long-sought capability in aeronautics, namely significant turbulent boundary layer net skin friction drag reduction. Laminar flow control can be applied for skin friction reduction on wings, tails, and engines; however, for sizable transports and many other applications, significant turbulent boundary layer drag reduction has long been sought. The new approach, essentially an aerodynamic breakthrough, will utilize plasma aerodynamics to control the turbulence production processes in the boundary layer (sometimes termed “coherent structures”) that are linked to viscous drag. The essential control approach is the imposition of a small spanwise mean flow, in a very economically energetic fashion. Experiments thus far indicate excellent net drag reduction performance up to Mach 0.5, with indications of similar performance into supersonic regimes. This turbulence control/large net-drag reduction success has informed the understanding of boundary layer turbulence dynamics. Fuselage turbulent skin friction accounts for 25% of the drag on a conventional transport at cruise. It holds a much greater percentage for advanced designs with greater aspect ratios and laminar flow wings. This technology appears to be capable of reducing the turbulent skin friction of such aircraft by a net 50% amount. The lecture concludes by outlining a plan for an upcoming flight test.

The Dryden Lectureship in Research is one of the most prestigious lectureships bestowed by the Institute. Since the inaugural lecture in 1961, it has been a catalyst for sharing research advancements and knowledge. This premier lecture is named in honor of Dr. Hugh L. Dryden, a renowned aerospace leader and a director of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, or NACA, as well as the first deputy administrator of NASA when the agency was created in 1958. The award emphasizes the importance of basic research in advancing aeronautics and astronautics. For more information about the AIAA Honors and Awards program, contact Patricia A. Carr at [email protected] .

Media Contact: Rebecca Gray, [email protected] , 804-397-5270 cell

About AIAA

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org, or follow AIAA on X/Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

28th Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Conference and Seminar

CALL FOR CONTENT: The 28th Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Conference and Seminar invites submissions of abstracts on parachute and aerodynamic decelerator design, testing, and analysis, from Orion and Artemis Mission parachute systems to deployable decelerators and/or aero-capture. Submit your abstract by 18 December 2025.

Smart Sustainment in the National Interest: Protecting Innovation While Enabling Readiness

FROM THE INSTITUTE
The debate over right to repair in the defense sector has intensified as Congress considers sweeping changes to data access and repair rights. Efforts to improve system readiness and reduce sustainment costs are clearly essential, but emerging legislative proposals risk unintended consequences for national defense. This article outlines the core engineering, acquisition, and industrial implications of proposed mandates while highlighting opportunities to preserve innovation, security, and warfighter readiness through carefully scoped data-access policies.

AIAA Fellow Saric Died in April 2025

William S. Saric, Ph.D., NAE, died on 22 April 2025. Saric dedicated his academic career to 1) foundational theoretical and experimental understanding of boundary-layer instability, laminar-turbulent transition, and flow control including under flight-operational conditions, 2) establishing the standards for careful validation-quality experiments and flight research, and 3) freely educating, collaborating with, and serving the international community and the next generation of researchers.

AIAA Volunteers Bring Aerospace Careers to Life

From the Institute
Since September, AIAA has been bringing student branches together with volunteer and staff speakers to inspire the next generation of aerospace professionals in our Back to School Campaign. From the University of Maryland, College Park to San Diego State University, AIAA representatives have met with student branches across the country to share their own career journeys and answer questions about how students can map their own paths forward. The initiative reflects AIAA’s commitment to support our members as they grow from students into accomplished professionals.