Russell M. Cummings

Russ Cummings graduated from California Polytechnic State University with a B.S. and M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering in 1977 and 1985, respectively, before receiving his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Southern California in 1988. He also received a B.A. in music from Cal Poly in 1999. He is currently Professor of Aeronautics at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Prior to that he was Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Cal Poly from 1986 through 2004, where he served as department chairman for four years. He worked for Hughes Aircraft Company in the Missile Systems Group as a missile aerodynamicist from 1979 through 1986. He completed a National Research Council postdoctoral research fellowship at NASA Ames Research Center in 1990, working on the computation of high angle-of-attack flowfields in the Applied Computational Fluids Branch. He was named an AIAA Associate Fellow in 1990, received the AIAA National Faculty Advisor Award in 1995, the U.S. Air Force Science and Engineering Award in 2002, is the past chairman of the AIAA Student Activities Committeee, and is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets as well as Aerospace Science and Technology. He co-authored the 5th edition of Aerodynamics for Engineers with John J. Bertin in 2008, and the 6th edition was completed in 2014. His research interests involve computational simulation of maneuvering aircraft and supersonic/hypersonic flow. He lives on a ranch near Larkspur, Colorado with his wife, 2 kids, 3 horses, 5 sheep, 2 alpacas, and various other animals, surrounded by pine trees with a nice view of Pikes Peak.