Jeffrey A. Schroeder
Chief Scientist for Flight Simulation Systems
Federal Aviation Administration
BSAAE 1984
MSAAE 1990
"I discovered how special my Purdue education is after I left the university. Engineers from other schools would ask in amazement, "you had a whole course on orbit mechanics?" Also, Purdue's reputation seems to grow with distance from West Lafayette. When abroad, a colleague asked me where I went to school, and when I told him, he said "Oh, the school of the astronauts." It was hard not to beam with pride."
Dr. Jeffery Schroeder graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering in 1984 and a Master of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1990. He also holds a Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University.
Dr. Schroeder is the Federal Aviation Administration's Chief Scientist for Flight Simulation Systems. He has led, or been associated with, all of the FAA's commercial airplane upset prevention and recovery training efforts. These efforts include establishing both the legal requirements and guidance for pilot training and the necessary simulator modeling requirements to allow for effective training. By 2019, all commercial transport pilots in the U.S. will receive this training.
Previously, Dr. Schroeder worked at NASA Ames Research Center for over 20 years, with his last position as Chief of the Aviation Systems Division. This division had 200 employees and conducted, or led, the majority of the nationâs air traffic management research. Earlier, he was the NASA Chief of the Flight Control and Cockpit Integration Branch, which designed and built the only helicopter in-flight simulator in the United States.
Before these management positions, Dr. Schroeder was a research scientist at NASA. He developed and validated criteria for how a flight simulator should physically move to increase its realism. He also designed, developed, and flight-tested control and display concepts that enabled pilots to hover and land a helicopter without using external visual cues. Components of these concepts have been used by others on several operational aircraft.
While at NASA, Dr. Schroeder served as a lecturer at Stanford University, and as an adjunct professor at San Jose State University, teaching dynamics and control at both universities. He is Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.