Dr. Stephen Corda, former flight researcher for the NASA
Dryden Flight Research Center, has assumed duties as Program
Chair for the Aviation Systems and Flight Research Group at The
University of Tennessee Space Institute.
“We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Corda to our Aviation
Systems program faculty,” said Dr. John E. Caruthers, UT
associate vice president and chief operating officer of UTSI.
“He comes to us with excellent credentials for this position. We
look forward to a new era of achievement and growth of the
Aviation Systems program under his leadership.”
Caruthers thanked Dr. Peter Solies, Aviation Systems associate
professor, for serving as interim Chair since Dr. Ralph
Kimberlin retired last September.
Corda was at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air
Force Base, California, for more than twelve years serving in
various capacities including propulsion research engineer,
project chief engineer for the SR-71 Blackbird and F-15B
supersonic test bed, Chief of the Propulsion and Performance
Branch, and as a project manager for the NASA F-15B. During his
tenure at Dryden, he flew as a NASA flight test engineer in the
F/A-18, T-38, and F-15 aircraft.
Before joining NASA in 1990, Corda was a member of the senior
professional staff in the Aeronautics Department of The Johns
Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md., for
two years. He conducted research and testing in hypersonic
scramjet propulsion and hypersonic vehicle design. He began his
flight test career conducting research with the Naval Air Test
Center, Patuxent River, Mad
In 2001, Corda left NASA to become a master instructor in the
Performance Branch at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School at
Edwards where he taught courses in aeronautical engineering and
flight test techniques. As a U.S. Air Force civilian flight test
engineer, he flew in the F-16, T-38, and C-12 aircraft.
In 2003, Corda joined the faculty of the Aerospace Engineering
Department at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md. He taught
courses to midshipmen in aerodynamics, aircraft design, wind
tunnel testing, and flight test engineering. In 2004, he
returned to NASA.
A graduate of McNamara High School, Forestville, Md., Corda
earned three degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the
University of Maryland, including his Ph.D. in 1988. He also
received an Aeronautics Diploma from the Von Karman Institute
for Fluid Dynamics in Belgium where he conducted research on
hypersonic waveriders in a Mach 15 gun tunnel.
Corda is an avid aerobatic pilot and holds FAA certificates as a
commercial pilot, flight instructor, instrument instructor,
multi-engine, seaplane and glider pilot, and airframe and power
plant mechanic.
Dr. Stephen Corda, new chair of UTSI’s Aviation Systems program, is welcomed by, from left, Dr. K.C. Reddy of Tullahoma, acting dean for academic affairs, Dr. Joel W. Muehlhauser of Manchester, UT assistant vice president and UTSI research dean, and, right, Dr. John E. Caruthers of Tullahoma, UT associate vice president and chief operating officer of the Space Institute.
- UTSI Photo
Writer: Weldon Payne (931) 393-7222
wpayne@utsi.edu
