Russell M. Cummings Appointed Editor-in-Chief of the AIAA Education Series Written 7 October 2022

October 7, 2022 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has selected Russell M. Cummings, Professor of Aeronautics, U.S. Air Force Academy, and AIAA Fellow, as its new editor-in-chief for the AIAA Education Series. Cummings will begin this new role in January 2023. He succeeds Joseph Schetz of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, who has served as editor-in-chief of the book series since 2003.

The AIAA Publications Committee oversees the search and selection effort for new editors-in-chief. This year’s search committee was led by Noel Clemens, University of Texas at Austin, AIAA Publications Committee member. Cummings was chosen from among a group of highly qualified candidates.

“My experiences with book publishing, coupled with my education, research, and program management background, have given me significant insight into the Education Series and how we can continue to improve and expand the reach of the series,” said Cummings.

Cummings holds a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Southern California, and Master of Engineering and B.S. degrees in Aeronautical Engineering from California Polytechnic State University. He is currently a Professor of Aeronautics and managing director of the Department of Defense High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) Hypersonic Vehicle Simulation Institute at the U.S. Air Force Academy. From 2015 to 2018, he was the technical director at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) European Office of Aerospace Research & Development in London. He has previously worked at Hughes Aircraft Company, NASA Ames Research Center, and California Polytechnic State University.

Cummings currently serves as deputy editor of AIAA’s Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets and is an associate editor of AIAA’s Journal of Aircraft. He has also served as an associate editor for Elsevier’s Aerospace Science & Technology. He is co-author of the sixth edition of Aerodynamics for Engineers, and lead author for the textbook, Applied Computational Aerodynamics. Cummings also is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. 

The AIAA Education Series publishes books that are adopted for classroom use in many of the top undergraduate and graduate engineering programs around the world. These important texts are also referred to on a daily basis by aeronautics and astronautics professionals who want to expand their knowledge and expertise. Books in the series present the subject material tutorially, discussing fundamental principles and concepts.

Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, RebeccaG@AIAA.org, 804-397-5270 cell

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The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org, and follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.