An accomplished, much loved teacher who is greatly missed in the classroom, Leland Carlson joined the faculty at Texas A&M in 1969. His primary activities were teaching, advising and research, with research interests in computational fluid dynamics, aerothermodynamics, hypersonics, and aircraft design. In addition, Carlson served three years as assistant-associate dean of engineering and eight years as director of aerospace engineering undergraduate programs, and devoted considerable time and effort to aerospace engineering education activities with ABET.
Having received numerous awards throughout his career at Texas A&M, Dr. Carlson is one of the few faculty to receive the Texas A&M University Former Students Award for Excellence in Teaching three times, once at the college level and twice at the university level. He is an AIAA Fellow, an ASEE Fellow, and the recipient of many teaching awards, including the J. Leland Atwood Aerospace Engineering Education Award and the Charles W. Crawford Service Award. He retired in 2009 and still serves the department as Emeritus Faculty.