AIAA Honors 2027 Class of Associate Fellows

RESTON, Va., Sept. 21, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has announced the newly elected Class of 2027 Associate Fellows, a group of distinguished individuals who have made significant contributions to the field of aeronautics and astronautics. The Institute will honor this distinguished group at the AIAA Associate Fellows Induction Ceremony and Dinner, which will take place on Wednesday, January 13, 2027, during the AIAA SciTech Forum 2027, a major aerospace and defense conference that will be held from January 11 to January 15 in Orlando, Florida.

This year's class of Associate Fellows represents 50 AIAA sections across all seven AIAA regions and comes from 7 different countries and 42 U.S. states. The grade of Associate Fellow is awarded to individuals who have accomplished or been in charge of important engineering or scientific work, or who have done original work of outstanding merit, or who have otherwise made outstanding contributions to the arts, sciences, or technology of aeronautics or astronautics. Only 17% of AIAA members are ever selected for this grade.

To be selected for the grade of Associate Fellow, an individual must be an AIAA Senior Member in good standing and must have at least 12 years of professional experience. They must also be recommended by at least three AIAA members. AIAA, with over 33,000 individual members from 91 countries and more than 100 corporate members, brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense.

The AIAA Associate Fellows will be honored at the AIAA Associate Fellows Induction Ceremony and Dinner, which will take place on January 13, 2027, during the AIAA SciTech Forum 2027 in Orlando, Florida. The ceremony will recognize these individuals for their sustained excellence and technical leadership, which reflects the caliber of talent shaping the future of aerospace. The ceremony will be held at the Hyatt Regency Orlando, a prominent hotel in Orlando, Florida, where delegates and attendees will gather to celebrate the achievements of these distinguished individuals.

The newly elected Class of 2027 Associate Fellows will include Pinar Acar from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Vivek A from Siemens Digital Industries Software, Daniil Andrienko from the University of Colorado, Elias J. Acondoulis from the University of Southampton, Eldad J. Avital from Queen Mary University of London, Sally Purdue from Purdue University, Lance V. Bitter from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Neal Bitter from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Eleonora M. Botta from the University at Buffalo, Christoph Brehm from the University of Maryland, College Park, Brian S. Burgess from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Stefano Campagnola from NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Yongcan Cao from the University of Texas at San Antonio, Jesse C. Howison from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Anirban Chaudhuri from the University of Texas, Austin, Bradley W. Cheetham from Advanced Space, LLC, Yin Chen from the U.S. Army T2COM - AC, James Chou from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Brandon Charles Chynoweth from Purdue University, Gökçin Çınar from the University of Michigan, Steve Clark from The Boeing Company, Raghvendra V. Cowlagi from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Chloe E. Dedic from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Mary Engola from Rocketdyne, Brian E. Est from Boeing Defense, Space & Security (retired), Imraan A. Faruque from Oklahoma State University and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Ola Fasehun from The Boeing Company, Ian J. Fialho from The Boeing Company, Wilhelm A. Fieho from the University of Maine, Dustin G. Gomani from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Ebenezer P. Gnanamanickam from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Patrick W. Goulding from the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex (AEDC), Carmen Guerra-Garcia from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Patrick R. Harn from the Air Force Research Laboratory, Frank D. Han from Missouri University of Science and Technology, Svetlana Hanson from Metecs, Matthew E. Harvazinski from the Air Force Research Laboratory, John T. Hays from Hays Research, LLC / General Dynamics Mission Systems (Retired), Matthew A. Hitt from NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Linton K. Honda from The Aerospace Corporation, James F. Horton from Rocketdyne, Jason C. Howison from CFD Research Corporation, Zhen Hu from the University of Michigan, Dearborn, Wade W. Hovensch from West Virginia University, Milos Ilak from RTX Technology Research Center, Prahladh S. Iyer from Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc., Devin P. Jack from Adaptive Aerospace Group, Inc., Steven A. Jacobson from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., Lulin Jiang from Baylor University, Kursat Kara from Oklahoma State University, Adeel Khalid from Kennesaw State University, Syed J. Khalid from GE Aerospace, Donghoon Kim from the University of Cincinnati, Andrew J. Knoedler from DARPA, Timothy Kokan from Rocketdyne, Zhaodan Kong from the University of California, Davis, Boris Kramer from the University of California, San Diego, Steven E.