• Professor, Aerospace Engineering
  • Drs. L. Diane '88 and John E. Hurtado '91 Professor
  • Director, Vehicle Systems & Control Laboratory (VSCL)
  • Site Director, NSF Center for Autonomous Air Mobility and Sensing (CAAMS)
  • Site Director, FAA Center for General Aviation Research (PEGASAS)
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John Valasek Profile Photo

Educational Background

  • Ph.D., Aerospace Engineering, University of Kansas - 1995
  • M.S., Aerospace Engineering, University of Kansas - 1990
  • B.S., Aerospace Engineering, California State Polytechnic University - 1986

Research Interests

    • Autonomous and nonlinear control of cyber-physical air, space and ground systems
    • Air vehicle control and management
    • Vision based sensors and navigation systems
    • Advanced cockpit/UAS systems and displays
    • Control of Bio-nano materials and structures

Certifications & Memberships

  • Member, Honors Faculty - 2025
  • Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics – 2017
  • National President, Sigma Gamma Tau National Aerospace Engineering Honor Society - 2006 - 2009

Awards & Honors

  • Drs. L. Diane '88 and John E. Hurtado '91 Professorship, Aerospace Engineering Department - 2025
  • Initial Cohort of Academy of Eminent Educators (AE2), College of Engineering, Texas A&M University - 2025
  • Engineering Genesis Award for Multidisciplinary Research, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University - 2024
  • Engineering Teaching Impact Award, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University - 2024
  • Aerospace Engineering Honor Roll, Aerospace Engineering Department, University of Kansas - 2018
  • Charles H. Barclay, Jr. ‘45 Faculty Fellowship, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University - 2018
  • University Thaman Professorship for Undergraduate Teaching Excellence, Texas A&M University - 2016
  • Herbert H. Richardson Faculty Fellowship, College of Engineering, Texas A&M University - 2012
  • Outstanding Alumnus Award, Aerospace Engineering Department, Cal Poly Pomona - 2009
  • Special Service Citation, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics  - 2007
  • National Faculty Advisor Award, AIAA Headquarters - 2005

Selected Publications

  • Goecks, Vinicius, G., Gremillion, Gregory M., Lawhern, Vernon J., Valasek, John, and Waytowich, Nicholas, "Integrating Behavior Cloning and Reinforcement Learning for Improved Performance in Dense and Sparse Reward Environments," International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems 2020 (AAMAS20), Auckland, New Zealand, 9-13 May 2020.
  • Goecks, Vinicius, G., Woods, Grayson, Das, Niladri, and Valasek, John, "Combining Visible and Infrared Spectrum Imagery Using Machine Learning for Small Unmanned Aerial System Detection," Automatic Target Recognition XXX, SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing 2020, Anaheim, CA, 28 April 2020.
  • Bera, Ritwik, Goecks, Vinicius G., Gremillion, Gregory M., Valasek, John, and Waytowich, Nicholas R., “PODNet: A Neural Network for Discovery of Plannable Options,” Combining Machine Learning and Knowledge Engineering in Practice (AAAI-MAKE) 2020, Palo Alto, CA, 23-25 March 2020.
  • Saha, Dipanjan, Valasek, John, Leshikar, Christopher, and Reza, Mashfique, “Multiple-Time-Scale Nonlinear Control of Aircraft with Model Uncertainties,” Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Volume 43, Number 3, March 2020
  • Saha, Dipanjn,Valasek, John, Famularo, Douglas, “Output Feedback Control Using State Observers of a Class of Nonlinear Nonstandard Two-Time-Scale Systems,” International Journal of Control, Nov 2019
  • Goecks, V.G., Gremillion, G.M., Lawhern, V.J., Valasek, John, and Waytowich, N.R., "Efficiently Combining Human Demonstrations and Interventions for Safe Training of Autonomous Systems in Real-Time,” 6613, Thirty-Third AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-19), Honolulu, HI, 27 January 2019.
  • Saha, Dipanjan, and Valasek, John, “Nonlinear Multiple-Time-Scale Attitude Control of a Rigid Spacecraft with Uncertain Inertias,” AIAA-2019-0932, 2019 AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, AIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition, San Diego, CA
  • Valasek, John, and Bowden, Ezekiel, “A UAS Flight Test Engineering Course Modeled on Professional Methodologies and Practices,” AIAA-2019-1078, 2019 AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference, AIAA Science and Technology Forum and Exposition, San Diego, CA, 9 January 2019.
  • Lauderbach, Alison H., (Eds.), Complex Aerospace Systems Engineering, AIAA Progress in Aeronautics and Astronautics Series, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2018. Chapter: Valasek, John, “Aerospace Capstone Design and Senior Technical Electives with Enhanced Complex Aerospace Systems Engineering Content”
  • Valasek, John (Ed.), Advances in Computational Intelligence and Autonomy for Aerospace Systems, AIAA Progress in Aeronautics and Astronautics Series, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2018.
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