Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
STEM

Achille Messac named chair of LCS’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Friday, July 16, 2010, By Kelly Homan Rodoski
Share
College of Engineering and Computer Science

Achille Messac has been named as distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in Syracuse University’s L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science (LCS). The appointment is effective July 26.

Achilles MessacMessac becomes the second active distinguished professor in LCS, a rank that indicates he has attained the highest levels of achievement in his area of expertise.

Messac comes to SU from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, N.Y., where he has been a professor in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering since 2000. He served as the acting department chair from July 2008 to July 2009.

Mark Glauser, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and associate dean for research and doctoral programs in LCS, notes that, “Professor Messac is a fellow of both professional societies represented in the department—the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). This is a truly remarkable accomplishment from an outstanding researcher and academic leader.”

The current thrust of Messac’s research revolves around energy systems design and optimization, including wind and solar energy harvesting. He is also currently leading the development of advanced design technologies, including physical programming, a methodology that brings optimization within easy reach of industry engineers.

“Dr. Messac is most widely known for his pioneering work in Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) for which he was recently named the winner of the prestigious MDO Award, conferred every two to four years to one person internationally by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics,” says LCS Dean Laura J. Steinberg. “He will be accepting the award this fall at the AIAA meeting as a member of the LCS faculty. I am very proud to have Achille join our team at LCS where he will undoubtedly be a wonderful colleague, an inspiring leader and a passionate researcher and teacher.”

The MDO Award will be presented to Messac for his pioneering research in MDO in the areas of control structure, integrated design and physical programming. The citation also recognizes his outstanding and visionary leadership in the aerospace community. It is the highest technical award in Messac’s field of engineering.

Prior to his appointment at RPI, Messac was a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical, Industrial, and Manufacturing Engineering at Northeastern University in Boston from 1994-2000. There, he led the successful reform of the academic design program.

He was a senior member of the technical staff at The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, Mass., from 1981-1994. In this position, Messac led and participated in numerous research and development efforts. He pioneered Control Structure Integrated Design, and led NASA efforts in the award-winning development of a large simulation for the dynamics and control of the Stabilized Payload Deployment System, a two-arm payload manipulator for the shuttle orbiter. He also led the development of a large simulation to study the dynamic stability, structural behavior and control properties of the space system composed of the space station (SS), the space shuttle and the translating SS mobile transporter.

Messac holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from the Department of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He was a recipient of the prestigious CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation and has received the AIAA Sustained Service Award. Messac also received the Annual Capstone Design Award from Northeastern University in recognition of the successful pedagogical reforms he led while there.

He is a fellow of the AIAA and the ASME. He is the former chair of the AIAA Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) Technical Committee (TC), and is a former member of the AIAA Structural Dynamics TC. He currently serves as the national AIAA deputy director for aerospace with responsibility for four technical committees.

Messac is an editorial board member and associate editor of the journal, Optimization and Engineering. He is an associate editor of the AIAA Journal, and former member of the AIAA Publications Editorial Advisory Board of the Education Series. He is also an editorial board member of the Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization Journal of the International Society for Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization.

Messac has authored or co-authored more than 165 publications. He is a member of the honor societies Sigma Xi, Tau Beta Pi and Sigma Gamma Tau, a member of the Strathmore, and the International Who’s Who.

  • Author

Kelly Rodoski

  • Recent
  • Timur Hammond’s ‘Placing Islam’ Receives Journal’s Honorable Mention
    Tuesday, May 27, 2025, By News Staff
  • Syracuse University 2025-26 Budget to Include Significant Expansion of Student Financial Aid
    Wednesday, May 21, 2025, By News Staff
  • University’s Dynamic Sustainability Lab and Ireland’s BiOrbic Sign MOU to Advance Markets for the Biobased Economy
    Wednesday, May 21, 2025, By News Staff
  • Engaged Humanities Network Community Showcase Spotlights Collaborative Work
    Wednesday, May 21, 2025, By Dan Bernardi
  • Students Engaged in Research and Assessment
    Tuesday, May 20, 2025, By News Staff

More In STEM

University’s Dynamic Sustainability Lab and Ireland’s BiOrbic Sign MOU to Advance Markets for the Biobased Economy

This month at the All Island Bioeconomy Summit held in Co. Meath, Ireland, it was announced that BiOrbic, Research Ireland Centre for Bioeconomy, comprising 12 leading Irish research universities in Ireland, signed a joint memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Dynamic Sustainability…

Professor Bing Dong Named as the Traugott Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The College of Engineering and Computer Science has named Bing Dong as the Traugott Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. This endowed professorship is made possible by a 1998 gift from the late Fritz Traugott H’98 and his wife, Frances….

Physics Professor Honored for Efforts to Improve Learning, Retention

The Department of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) has made some big changes lately. The department just added an astronomy major approved by New York State and recently overhauled the undergraduate curriculum to replace traditional labs with innovative…

ECS Team Takes First Place in American Society of Civil Engineers Competition

Civil and environmental engineering student teams participated in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Sustainable Solutions and Steel Bridge competitions during the 2025 Upstate New York-Canada Student Symposium, winning first place in the Sustainable Solutions competition. The symposium was…

Chloe Britton Naime Committed to Advocating for Improved Outcomes for Neurodivergent Individuals

Chloe Britton Naime ’25 is about to complete a challenging and rare dual major program in both mechanical engineering from the College of Engineering and Computer Science and neuroscience from the College of Arts and Sciences. Even more impressive? Britton…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.