2024 Hassan A. Hassan Distinguished Lecture: Lesley A. Weitz
November 8 @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am
About the Dr. Hassan A. Hassan Distinguished Lecture Series:
The Dr. Hassan A. Hassan Distinguished Lecture Series was established in 2015 through the generosity of Dr. Hassan’s former students and faculty members as a way to honor his staggering impact on NC State’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
In 1962, Dr. Hassan joined North Carolina State University as a full professor and spent 53 years at NC State before beginning his phased retirement in 2015. While at NC State, he was the major adviser to 34 doctoral students, he authored more than 200 publications, and has been recognized with numerous research awards; including the Alcoa Foundation Distinguished Engineering Research Award in 1987, the Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor in 1991, the NASA Public Service Medal in 1992, the R. J. Reynolds Co. Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research, and Extension in 1993, the AIAA Thermophysics Award in 1999, and the Alexander Holladay Medal For Excellence in 2004 – the highest honor bestowed on a faculty member by the NC State trustees. Dr. Hassan died at the age of 87 in 2019, but through his massive contributions to the field of Aerospace Engineering, and through the Dr. Hassan A. Hassan Distinguished Lecture Series, his legacy lives on.
Title:
Challenges in Modernizing and Integrating New Entrants into the National Airspace System
Abstract:
The MITRE Corporation’s Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD) is the Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). In this role, MITRE CAASD works with the FAA to study and improve today’s operations in the National Airspace System (NAS) and envision future operations and their enabling technologies. The future NAS will support diverse users – uncrewed systems, Advanced Air Mobility, space launch and re-entry operations, as well as traditional air transport and general aviation operations – through increasing levels of automation and information exchange to aid in data-driven decision making and proactive safety monitoring.
This presentation will provide a high-level overview of MITRE CAASD’s work supporting the FAA in achieving a more information-centric NAS that supports diverse airspace users. Real-world challenges where technology, human decision makers and operators, policies, and budgets intersect will be highlighted. The presentation will also cover recent projects Dr. Weitz has led to highlight specific examples of MITRE’s impact on modernizing and integrating new entrants into the NAS.
Bio:
Dr. Lesley A. Weitz is a Senior Principal Aerospace Engineer and Department Chief Scientist in The MITRE Corporation’s Center for Integrated Transportation. Her current research includes advanced avionics for NextGen concepts, including concept development, design, trajectory modeling, and performance analysis. Dr. Weitz has recently led projects related to integrating space launch and reentry and Advanced Air Mobility operations into the NAS. Dr. Weitz is the Chair of an avionics standards body developing advanced avionics applications, and she developed an inter-aircraft spacing algorithm (think automatic cruise control for airplanes) as part of that work.
Dr. Weitz received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 2002 from the University at Buffalo and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Aerospace Engineering from Texas A&M University in 2005 and 2009, respectively. She is the author of over 50 peer-reviewed conference and journal papers. She has been awarded a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office entitled, “Methods and Systems for Determining Required Interval Management Performance.”
Dr. Weitz is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). She was Chair of the Guidance, Navigation, and Control Technical Committee (2016-2018), was Director of the Aerospace Sciences Group (2021-2023), and is currently the Chief of AIAA’s Technical Activities Division.