Features: April 29, 2002

Hajela Named Fellow of Aeronautical Society of India

Prabhat Hajela, professor of mechanical, aerospace, and nuclear engineering, has been named a fellow of the Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI).

Hajela was honored for his distinguished record of teaching and research in structural and multidisciplinary optimization of aerospace systems.

Internationally recognized for seminal contributions in the adaptation of evolutionary algorithms, neural networks, and fuzzy logic in problems of large-scale multidisciplinary design, Hajela has contributed extensively to educating working professionals, academia, private industry, and governmental laboratories, in the United States and abroad.

He currently serves as chair of the International Chapter of the AeSI and is active in organizing conferences and professional courses for aerospace engineers in India.

Hajela holds a bachelor of technology in aeronautical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India. He earned a master's in aerospace engineering from Iowa State University, a master's in mechanical engineering from Stanford University, and his Ph.D. in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University. He joined the Rensselaer faculty in 1990.

Hajela is a fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a member of the American Helicopter Society, the American Society for Engineering Education, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He is vice president of the International Society for Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization and is a member of SIGMA GAMMA TAU, the National Honor Society in Aerospace Engineering.