John Valasek, Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering
John Valasek, Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Director of the Vehicle Systems & Control Laboratory, received the Outstanding Alumnus of the Year Award for 2009 from the aerospace engineering department at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. The award, which recognizes outstanding accomplishments in the field of aerospace engineering, was presented in a ceremony at the department’s 15th Annual Alumni & Student Awards Banquet, held June 6th 2009.Valasek was also the featured speaker at the banquet and presented results of his current research at Texas A&M University.
John has been with Texas A&M University aerospace engineering department for twelve years, where his research and teaching is focused on bridging the gap between traditional computer science topics and aerospace engineering topics. It encompasses machine learning and multi-agent systems, intelligent autonomous control, vision based navigation systems, fault tolerant adaptive control, and cockpit systems and displays. John is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Member of the Society of Industrial & Applied Mathematics (SIAM), and member of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE). He has received several teaching and education awards, including the university level Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching (2008), college of engineering level Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award for Teaching (2004), Scholar Of The Montague Center For Teaching Excellence (2001), college of engineering level B.P. Amoco Teaching Excellence Award (2001, 2003), and the Thomas U. McElmurry Teaching Excellence Award in the aerospace engineering department (2001, 2004). From 2006 – 2009 he served as the National President of Sigma Gamma Tau, the aerospace engineering honor society, and he received the National Faculty Advisor Award from AIAA in 2005.
John earned the B.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in 1986 and the M.S. degree with honors and the Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Kansas, in 1991 and 1995 respectively.
