From the desk of Dean Mike Bragg:

I am pleased to announce that Professor Kristi Morgansen has accepted the position of Chair of the William E. Boeing Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics, effective May 1, 2019, subject to the approval of the Provost.

Kristi has served as the Interim Chair since September and as the Associate Chair for Academics since 2015. She is well versed in departmental administration and UW and professional service, including as a member of the Defense Science Study Group and an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Her experience and dedication to the mission and excellence of A&A will serve the department and college well.   

Kristi’s research interests focus on nonlinear systems where sensing and actuation are integrated, stability in switched systems with delay, and incorporation of operational constraints such as communication delays in control of multi-vehicle systems. Applications include both traditional autonomous vehicle systems such as fixed-wing aircraft and underwater gliders as well as novel systems such as bio-inspired underwater propulsion, bio-inspired agile flight, human decision making, and neural engineering.  

I appreciate the time and effort of the search committee, Per Reinhall (Chair), Eve Riskin, Kourosh Hadi, Dana Dabiri, Kaitlin Colleary, Eli Livne and Jinkyu Yang. I would also like to thank all who shared input and opinions with the committee and me during the selection process.

Please join me in welcoming Kristi to her new position. I am confident that Kristi’s leadership will move the department toward great success and the whole college will benefit from her dedication to the mission and excellence of the department.

Best regards,

Michael B. Bragg, Ph.D.
Frank & Julie Jungers Dean of Engineering 
College of Engineering 
University of Washington