Faculty

The School of Aerospace Engineering has twenty-eight full time faculty members, three joint faculty members (Dr. Ahuja, Dr. Pritchett, Dr. Giddens), and several adjunct faculty members. This corresponds to a student-to-faculty ratio of eighteen (483 full-time and part-time undergraduate students, 28 full-time faculty members). We have an adequate number of faculty members (at least four) in each of our disciplines. As a result of Georgia Tech’s and our School’s successful centennial capital campaign, funding became available to attract exceptionally qualified young faculty members as Endowed Chairs. Two of these positions (Boeing Chair, Dr. Mavris, and Lockheed Chair, Dr. Johnson) have already been filled, and a search is underway for a Chair in the area of space research. Faculty searches are also underway in the areas of structures (two positions), structural dynamics and aeroelasticity (one position), and design (one position). These positions, when filled, will bring the total number of full-time faculty members to thirty-three.

The number and strength of our faculty allows us to offer all required courses regularly. All the 2000 level courses are offered three times a year (fall, spring, and most summers). Multiple sections are offered as needed. All the 3000 level courses are offered two times a year (fall and spring, and some summers). The 4000 level courses are offered at least twice every year (fall and spring). Capstone design sequence is offered once every year. Beginning in the fall of 2002, two tracks (aircraft design and spacecraft design) will be offered.

As shown in the appendix, many of our faculty members have several years of industry or government laboratory experience. As shown in Table I-4, all of them have substantial interaction with industry, government, and professional societies through their research, consulting, service. Many are recognized as Fellows or Associate Fellows of their Professional Societies. Two of them have been inducted into the National Academy of Engineers. Many of them serve as Editors of technical journals, and have authored textbooks.

Many of our younger faculty members have been awarded NSF CAREER awards or DoD Young Investigator awards. A senior faculty member is assigned as a mentor to each one of our untenured faculty members to periodically advise and assist them in their career progress. A written record is kept of the meetings between the faculty member and the mentor.

The Center of Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) offers a number of resources to young faculty, as well as senior faculty. All of our new faculty members and many of our senior faculty members have taken advantage of this opportunity. The resources include seminars on effective teaching techniques, review and critique of the faculty teaching techniques, mentoring by senior faculty, and availability of electronic tools and support staff for course development. Faculty members who take advantage of this opportunity are given financial support and incentives by CETL and our School to develop and experiment with new ideas. The faculty members also receive results from course surveys, which contain detailed feedback on the effectiveness of the teacher as well as the material.

Georgia Tech recently instituted a policy of post-tenure review. Under this policy, each tenured faculty member is reviewed once every five years to ensure that the faculty member is actively engaged in teaching, research, and service to the community. The faculty member receives a written communication summarizing the findings of the post-tenure review.

The Chair does an annual performance review of each of our faculty members. This review includes faculty teaching assignments during the current fiscal year, level of sponsored research support, publication record, development of new courses, mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students, and service to the institute and the society. The Chair communicates the findings of this review in one-on-one oral discussions, as well as a written letter.