ÌÇÐÄVlogÆƽâ°æ

Outstanding Alumni for Excellence in Public Service
Over 40 Category

David Spencer received his PhD in Aerospace Engineering Sciences at CU ÌÇÐÄVlogÆƽâ°æ, his BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Kentucky, an MS in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Purdue, and an MBA from Penn State University.

His graduate work, performed under the direction of Professor Robert Culp through the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research, studied the development of analytical methods to perform near-optimal orbit transfers in Earth orbit.

Prior to returning to graduate school in 1991, Spencer was a member of the technical staff in the Astrodynamics Department at The Aerospace Corporation in Los Angeles. Upon completion of his PhD, he became a research program manager at the U.S. Air Force Phillips Laboratory (now the Air Force Research Laboratory) where he led the lab’s Space Debris Research Program and later also led the lab’s Advanced Space Flight Dynamics research program. He joined the faculty in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Penn State in 1999, beginning as an assistant professor and retiring in 2021 as a full professor. During that time, Spencer was a NASA/JPL Faculty Fellow and an AAAS Science and Technology Fellow at the U.S. Department of Defense. He is now an Emeritus Professor of Aerospace Engineering at PSU.

Upon retiring from Penn State, David rejoined The Aerospace Corporation, first as a department director in the Advanced Technology Division and now as a Senior Project Leader in the Emerging Missions Flight Dynamics Department. His research areas include spacecraft dynamics and controls, trajectory optimization, theoretical and applied astrodynamics, space systems engineering, space traffic management, orbital debris dynamics and space technology development.

He is a Vice President of the International Astronautical Federation, a Full Member of the International Academy of Astronautics, a Fellow of the American Astronautical Society (AAS), an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and a former Associate Editor for the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets. He is also the lead author of the textbook, Interplanetary Astrodynamics. He remains active in AAS, where he currently chairs the Honors and Awards Committee. This position follows many years as a Vice President, where he alternated between VP for Publications and VP for Technical Activities. In AIAA, he serves the National Capitol Section as the treasurer, and has served as Chair of the Astrodynamics Technical Committee.