Daniel P. Raymer President Conceptual Research Corporation
Dan Raymer is President of the design and consulting company, Conceptual Research Corporation, and serves as Program Manager, Configuration Designer, and Chief Engineer for its varied projects. Currently these include the DARPA Flying Missile Rail, the Raymer Manned Mars Plane, and a proprietary high-altitude UAV.
Recipient of the prestigious AIAA Aircraft Design Award, Dr. Raymer is a recognized expert in the areas of Aerospace Vehicle Design and Configuration Layout, Computer-aided Design Methodologies and Design Education. During his 10 years in the Advanced Design Department of Rockwell (North American Aviation) he conceived and did the layout design of Rockwell's entries in what became the F-22, B-2, and T-45 programs, and was Head of Air Vehicle Design for X-31 from "blank sheet of paper" (CAD screen) to the configuration that flew (with minor fabrication-driven changes).
His industry career includes positions as Director-Advanced Design with Lockheed, Director-Future Missions at the Aerojet Propulsion Research Institute, and Project Manager-Engineering at Rockwell North American Aviation. He also served as a research engineer and aerospace design consultant at the famous RAND Corporation think tank.
Dr. Raymer is the author of the best-selling textbook "Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach" and the well-regarded layman's book, "Dan Raymer's Simplified Aircraft Design for Homebuilders". His biographical book, "Living In The Future: The Education and Adventures of an Advanced Aircraft Designer", covers his career and his design projects including most of those described below.
Raymer wrote and continues to improve the RDSwin aircraft design and analysis software. This is 100,000 lines of original source code including a full CAD module, calculations of aerodynamics, propulsion, weights, performance, range, mission sizing, and cost, plus carpet plots and MDO including stepping searches and Genetic Algorithms (in the professional version).
Raymer has received both Rockwell Engineer of the Year and the AIAA Summerfield Book awards. He is a Fellow of the American Inst. of Aeronautics & Astronautics (AIAA) and the International Society for Philosophical Enquiry (ISPE).
Dr. Raymer teaches a variety of advanced design short courses including the well-known five-day Aircraft Conceptual Design Short Course which has been attended by over 3,000 engineers to date. Dr. Raymer is often a Forum Speaker at the EAA AirVenture (Oshkosh).
Dr. Raymer received B.S. and M.S. engineering degrees in Astronautics and Aeronautics from Purdue, an MBA from the University of Southern California, and a Doctorate of Engineering (Ph.D.) from the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). He is a recipient of the Purdue University Outstanding Aerospace Engineer Award which is given "to honor those alumni who have distinguished themselves in the aerospace industry". Dr. Raymer is listed in both Who's Who in America and Who's Who in Science and Engineering.