Ping Lu, a professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering, was named a 2016 Fellow by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Being named an AIAA Fellow is one of the most prestigious honors in the field of aerospace engineering as only one in 1,000 AIAA members receives the distinction each year.
“It’s a very competitive process and a lot of highly qualified people were nominated,” Lu said. “It is a great honor to be recognized and finally selected.”
Lu earned the distinction due to his innovative contributions in theory and algorithms for advanced guidance of aerospace vehicles in atmospheric and space flight. Over the past twenty years, Lu has established himself as an expert in guidance and control through multiple scientific contributions, lectureships, as well as his service as editor in chief of the AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics.
An algorithm that Professor Lu created aids entry guidance for vehicles of different lifting capabilities or in different types of missions, which cuts down on extensive pre-mission planning and tuning. Prior to Lu’s adaptive algorithm, a unique algorithm would need to be created for each mission and each different vehicle.
Fellows are current AIAA members chosen by the Institute and its Board of Directors who have made “valuable contributions to the arts, sciences, or technology of aeronautics or astronautics.” The AIAA is the largest technical society for the global aerospace profession.
Professor Lu will receive his honor at the 2016 Aerospace Spotlight Awards Gala on June 15 in Washington, D.C.