Alumnus David Van Wie Elected to the National Academy of Engineering

University of Maryland (UMD) Department of Aerospace Engineering alumnus David M. Van Wie (B.S. '80; M.S. '82; Ph.D. '86) has been elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). The NAE recognized Van Wie for his contributions to hypersonic technology enabling new classes of flight vehicles.

Election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions to "engineering research, practice or education, including, where appropriate, significant contributions to the engineering literature" and to "the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of engineering or developing/ implementing innovative approaches to engineering education."

Van Wie is the mission area executive for Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory’s precision strike mission area. He is responsible for strategic planning, execution, and performance of approximately $100M in annual funding in programs addressing integrated strike, air dominance and electronic attack. As the nation’s largest University Affiliated Research Center, APL performs research and development on behalf of the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, National Aeronautics Space Administration and other federal agencies. The Laboratory has more than 5,000 staff members who are making critical contributions to a wide variety of nationally and globally significant technical and scientific challenges.

Prior to his current appointment, Van Wie served as the Chief Technology Officer for the mission area focusing on technology development supporting asymmetric multi-domain system concepts for use in Anti-Access/Area-Denial (A2/AD) environments. He also served on the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board where he led a science and technology quality review of the Air Force Research Laboratory and conducted studies on advanced weapons, virtual training and space launch vehicles. Van Wie has served on National Academies studies addressing a wide range of complex topics such as Conventional Prompt Global Strike, Civil Aeronautics, Future Air Force Needs for Survivability, Boost-Phase Missile Defense, Reusable Booster Systems and Air Force Development Planning.

An active member of the U.S. science and technology community, Van Wie has published more than 140 papers in the fields of high-temperature fluid dynamics, plasma aerodynamics and hypersonic airbreathing propulsion systems.

Van Wie has lectured extensively in UMD’s Department of Aerospace Engineering in the areas of hypersonics, fluid dynamics and space propulsion, and he holds a research faculty position in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. In addition, he currently serves on the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board of the National Academies National Research Council.

Van Wie is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and has been recognized for his sustained contributions by the Joint Army, Navy, NASA and Air Force Airbreathing Propulsion Subcommittee as a recipient of the Air Force Award for Meritorious Civilian Service.

In 2016, UMD’s Department of Aerospace Engineering inducted Van Wie into their Academy of Distinguished Alumni, which recognizes alumni who have made notable contributions to the field of aerospace engineering and/or achieved other significant accomplishments.

Van Wie, along with fellow 2017 NAE members, will formally inducted during a ceremony at the NAE’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., on October 8, 2017.

Published February 9, 2017