The Aerospace Engineering School Advisory Council (AESAC)

From the AESAC Chair

As an alumnus of the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering, I take great pride in the innovation that is the hallmark of this institution. It has created great opportunities for me, in my career. As the chair of the School’s Advisory Council, I am committed to building upon that legacy for the next generation of aerospace engineers.

The rigor of our program today will be the foundation of tomorrow’s leaders.

My colleagues on the Advisory Council share that commitment and something more: we are all constantly scanning our horizons - in business, government, academia, and beyond - to find the next big challenge -- real-world engineering problems worthy of the talent that AE students bring to their endeavors.

I invite you to support our quest,

John E. Laughter
BSAE ‘93
AESAC Chair

Industry, military, academic, and government leaders are recruited to serve on the AESAC. Members meet once a year to discuss the School's progress and define its goals for the coming year. The following are the 2016 members of AESAC:

Ron Bessire
Vice President, Engineering and Technical Operations
Lockheed Martin Corporation
Robert A. Cowart
Director, Supersonic Technology Development
Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation
John W. Elbon
AE '82
Vice President & General Manager, Space Exploration
The Boeing Company
Philip A. Fawcett
AE '89, '92
Principal Director, Advanced Research and Engineering
The Aerospace Corporation
Ram Janakiram
AE '76
Manager, Flight Technology
The Boeing Company
R. Steven Justice
AE '80
Executive Director, Centers of Innovation
Georgia Department of Economic Development
Nicholas D. Lappos
AE '73
Senior Technical Fellow
Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation
John E. Laughter (Chair)
AE '93
Senior Vice President, Maintenance Operations
Delta Air Lines, Inc.
Leslie Livesay
Director, Engineering and Science Directorate
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Robert G. Loewy
Professor Emeritus, Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Sandra H. Magnus
MSE '96
AIAA Executive Director, retired
AIAA
Jaime Peraire
Department Head & H.N. Slater Professor of Aeronautics & Astronautics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Thomas W. Prete
Vice President, Engineering
Pratt & Whitney
Don W. Richardson (Chair Emeritus)
AE '51
President and Chief Operating Officer
Donrich Research Inc.
Alton Romig
Executive Officer
The National Academy of Engineering
Christopher E. Singer
Agency Deputy Chief Engineer
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Rafael Spears
Chief Operating Officer
Alpha Research & Technology
Joseph Daniel Stewart
AE '64, '65, '67
Associate Vice President for Research
University of Tennessee
Robert Stoker
AE '89, '90, '96
Senior Manager Product Development, Collaboration, Commercial Airlines
The Boeing Company
Gary W. Weissel
AE '93
Managing Officer
Tronosjet Aviation Consulting, Inc.
Stephanie Wojcik
AE '03
Engineering Operations Integrated Defense Systems
The Boeing Company
John J. Young, Jr. (Chair Emeritus)
AE '85
Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology
Department of Defense