Dr. Nhan Nguyen received a Ph.D. degree from Santa Clara University in mechanical engineering, an M.S. degree from Stanford University in mechanical engineering, and two B.S. degrees from California State University-Chico in applied mathematics and mechanical engineering. He is a senior research scientist at NASA Ames Research Center with 35 years of experience. He is the technical group leader of the Advanced Control and Evolvable Systems group in the Intelligent Systems Division where he leads a group of 24 researchers to advocate for research funding in guidance, navigation, and control. His technical expertise includes adaptive control theory, optimal control theory, distributed control theory, aircraft flight dynamics and control, aerodynamics, and aeroelasticity.
Dr. Nhan Nguyen publishes over 250 technical publications and one textbook “Model-Reference Adaptive Control – A Primer” with Springer publisher. He holds 6 U.S. patents and two patents pending as the primary inventor. He received numerous prestigious NASA honors and awards including the “NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal” and two NASA Ames awards for “Excellence in Engineer Category.” He was elected and served as the chair of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Intelligent Systems Technical Committee during 2015-2017. He received the “AIAA Distinguished Service Award.” He gave numerous talks including an invited keynote talk in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany organized by the German Aerospace Center DLR.