Penina Axelrad Awarded 2024 Yvonne C. Brill Lectureship in Aerospace Engineering Written 10 July 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dr. Axelrad’s address, “The Evolution and Impact of Global Navigation Satellite Systems,” set for Oct. 1, 2024

Dr-Penina-Axelrad-2024

Penina Axelrad, distinguished professor at the University of Colorado Boulder

July 10, 2024 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) are pleased to announce that Penina Axelrad, distinguished professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, has been selected as the recipient of the 2024 Yvonne C. Brill Lectureship in Aerospace Engineering.

Dr. Axelrad will present her lecture, “The Evolution and Impact of Global Navigation Satellite Systems,” on Tuesday, Oct. 1, at 11 a.m. ET, in conjunction with the NAE Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. Registration for this lecture is free and open to the public.

Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) provide the basis for smartphones to effectively guide us to our destinations, safe and flexible navigation for tens of thousands of airline flights per day, seamless synchronization of power grids, and precise timing of financial transactions. GNSS also enable scientific observation of Earth’s variable gravity field, soil water content and vegetation, and even Earth’s atmosphere and ocean surface winds. Dr. Axelrad’s lecture will discuss what we can learn from the remarkable evolution of a military navigation system into a global utility, and will explore where today’s advances in the utilization of signals-of-opportunity, optical communications, atomic clocks, and quantum sensing might lead.

Dr. Axelrad is a distinguished professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1985 and 1986, respectively. In 1991, she earned her doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University.

Since 1992, she has been a faculty member in aerospace engineering sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder, with a focus on astrodynamics and satellite navigation, and she served as department chair from 2012 to 2017. She has supervised 26 doctoral graduates and taught courses on topics including GPS, dynamics and systems, spacecraft dynamics, and estimation.

Axelrad and her students have made key contributions to GPS receiver autonomous integrity monitoring, GPS-based attitude determination, the characterization of multipath effects in GPS measurements, the utilization of reflected GPS signals for remote sensing of Earth’s surface, and direct positioning. Her current research interests include new technologies and algorithms for positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) in space, airborne, and land environments.

Axelrad is a member of the NAE and an AIAA Fellow. She also is a fellow of the Institute of Navigation (ION). She is a past recipient of the AIAA Lawrence Sperry Award, the ION Johannes Kepler Award, and the Women in Aerospace Educator Award.

AIAA, with the participation and support of the NAE, created the Yvonne C. Brill Lectureship in Aerospace Engineering to honor the memory of the late pioneering rocket scientist, AIAA Honorary Fellow, and NAE member Yvonne C. Brill. Brill was best known for developing a revolutionary propulsion system that remains the industry standard for geostationary satellite station-keeping. The lectureship emphasizes research or engineering issues for space travel and exploration, aerospace education of students and the public, and other aerospace issues such as ensuring a diverse and robust engineering community.

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AIAA Media Contact: Rebecca Gray, rebeccag@aiaa.org, 804-397-5270

NAE Media Contact: Sabrina Steinberg, ssteinberg@nae.edu, 202.334.2622

About AIAA
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.

About NAE
Founded in 1964, the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is a private, independent, nonprofit institution that provides engineering leadership in service to the nation. The mission of the NAE is to advance the welfare and prosperity of the nation by providing independent advice on matters involving engineering and technology, and by promoting a vibrant engineering profession and public appreciation of engineering. Follow NAE on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.