John Junkins


John L. Junkins is a Distinguished Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University specializing in spacecraft navigation, guidance, dynamics and control. He holds the Royce E. Wisenbaker Endowed Chair at Texas A&M University and also serves as the founding Director of the Texas A&M University Institute for Advanced Study.

Biography

John L. Junkins is a professor, inventor and aerospace engineer. Junkins was born in Oakman, Georgia May 23, 1943. Junkins professional history has seen him working in government, industry, and academia over a five decade career. Junkins' scholarship is documented in over 400 professional publications, including seven texts, 220 archival papers and several patents. His work has supported numerous spaceflight missions including the final three Apollo missions and his inventions have led to commercial products including navigation sensors for autonomous aerial refueling of aircraft, and for pointing navigation of spacecraft based on star pattern recognition. He also patented an early electronic whiteboard in 1994 for use in computer conferencing and academic classrooms. He has directed over 120 graduate students, including 47 who completed their PhD under his direction; his former students have given rise to three generations of PhD descendants.
Junkins is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the International Academy of Astronautics and an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Education

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