Dr. John Valasek ('86, Aerospace Engineering)

Dr. John Valasek

Professor & Director, Vehicle Systems & Control Laboratory,

Aerospace Engineering Department, Texas A&M University

BS Aerospace Engineering, Cal Poly Pomona, 1986

MS Aerospace Engineering, University of Kansas, 1991

PhD Aerospace Engineering, University of Kansas, 1995

Dr. John Valasek says he was destined to become an aerospace engineer pointing to the fact that his mother attended a Blue Angels airshow when she was seven months pregnant with him in 1961. In terms of careers, there was never a consideration of anything other than a career than aerospace.

John got his first engineering job in Northrop Corporation’s Aircraft Division and cites learn by doing as the main reason for being hired. Northrop was familiar with this ethos and wanted more engineers with that background and skill.

“I learned to keep applying learn by doing throughout my career, rather than just view it as a paradigm that is only applied in college,” he says.

John’s career path took him from a flight controller engineer in Northrop’s Flight Controls Research Group to a researcher in the aerospace engineering department at the University of Kansas, while he earned his doctorate degree. In 1997, he joined Texas A&M University, where he serves today as professor in the aerospace engineering department and is director of the university’s Vehicle Systems & Controls Laboratory.

In 2017, John was elected a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) for his pioneering contributions and leadership in flight mechanics and control leading to new capabilities in autonomous air refueling, morphing flight and flight safety. He also influenced aerospace on a national level by providing expert input to federal law makers of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

John’s advice to engineering students is simple: “Advancing a career is done proactively, not reactively. Determine where growth needs to occur, and make it happen.”