Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0150
Phone: 404.894.7783
Fax: 404.894.2760

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Congratulations to SSDL graduate student Richard Otero, who completed his Ph.D. defense in January 2012 and will graduate in the spring semester. His dissertation is entitled, "Problem Decomposition by Mutual Information and Force-Based Clustering." Richard currently works at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Congratulations to SSDL graduate student Joy Brathwaite, who completed her Ph.D. defense in December 2011 and will graduate in the spring semester. Her dissertation is entitled, "Value-Informed Space Systems Design and Acquisition." Joy begins work at the Institute for Defense Analyses in March 2012.

Congratulations to SSDL graduate student Jarret Lafleur, who completed his Ph.D. defense in December 2011 and will graduate in the spring semester. His dissertation is entitled, "A Markovian State-Space Framework for Integrating Flexibility into Space System Design Decisions." Jarret begins work at Sandia National Laboratories in March 2012.

Congratulations to SSDL graduate student Chris Tanner, who completed his Ph.D. defense in December 2011 and will graduate in the spring semester. His dissertation is entitled, "Aeroelastic Analysis and Testing of Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerators." Chris begins work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in February 2012.

Congratulations to SSDL graduate student Tom Pappas, who completed his M.S. in December 2011 and graduated in the fall semester. His master's project is entitled, "Design, Analysis, and Testing of the Prox-1 Satellite Structure."

Congratulations to SSDL graduate student Hemanshu Patel, who completed his M.S. in December 2011 and graduated in the fall semester. His master's project is entitled, "Relative Navigation for Satellites in Close Proximity Using Angles-Only Observations."

Congratulations to SSDL graduate student Amanda Pietruszewski, who completed her M.S. in December 2011 and graduated in the fall semester. Her master's project is entitled, "Prox-1 Attitude Determination and Control."

Congratulations to SSDL graduate student Josh Ross, who completed his M.S. in December 2011 and graduated in the fall semester. His master's project is entitled, "Efficient Mission Design via EXPLORE: Employing EXPLORE for Rapid Trajectory Design and Analysis."

Congratulations to SSDL graduate students Nitin Arora and Jean-Francois Castet, who sucessfully completed their Ph.D. proposals in the fall semester.

Professor Braun returned to the Georgia Tech campus on October 24 after completing nearly two years of service as the first NASA Chief Technologist in a decade. At NASA, he served as the senior Agency leader for technology and innovation policy and programs and led the creation and initial implementation of a spectrum of broadly-applicable space technology programs designed to build the capabilities required for our nation's future space missions.

Professor Braun was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal by NASA's Administrator Dr. Charles Bolden and Deputy Administrator Lori Garver on September 21, 2011. This honor is the highest award which may be bestowed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on behalf of the United States of America. The citation that accompanies this award reads, "In recognition of distinguished service in fostering cultural change, the advancement of crosscutting technology, and innovative approaches within NASA and the Government."

In August 2011, four SSDL graduate students were awarded NASA Space Technology Research Fellowships. Congratulations to Nicole Bauer, Cole Kazemba, Demyan Lantukh, and Zach Putnam.

SSDL is pleased to welcome six new graduate students in Fall 2011: Nicole Bauer, Sean Currey, Byron Davis, Rachel Haga, Lin Li, Grant Rossman, and Richard Zappulla.

Congratulations to SSDL graduate student Zarrin Chua, who sucessfully completed her Ph.D. proposal in May 2011.

Congratulations to SSDL graduate student Grant Wells, who completed his Ph.D. in May 2011 and graduated in the spring semester. His dissertation is entitled, "A Comparison of Multiple Techniques for the Reconstruction of Entry, Descent, and Landing Trajectories and Atmospheres."

Congratulations to SSDL graduate student Greg Dubos, who completed his Ph.D. in March 2011 and graduated in the spring semester. His dissertation is entitled, "Stochastic Modeling of Responsiveness, Schedule Risk and Obsolescence of Space Systems and Implications for Design Choices."

In January 2011, Professor Braun was awarded the Von Karman Lectureship in Astronautics for advancing the understanding of the challenge of Mars entry, descent, and landing, and for the development of systems concepts and technologies enabling Martian exploration programs.

In September 2010, SSDL students met with NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden (center and far right). During his visit, General Bolden spoke with the students regarding NASA's plan for robotic and human exploration, discussed the contributions young people could make to our future in space, and answered questions.

SSDL graduate students Ashley Korzun (pictured) and Chris Cordell have been supporting the testing of supersonic retropropulsion in the NASA Langley Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel.