Edward C. Smith

Dr. Ed Smith is now in his 28th year as Director of Penn State’s national Vertical Lift Center of Excellence. He was appointed a Distinguished Professor in 2024.

​Dr. Smith’s received a Young Investigator Award from the Army Research Office (1994), followed by the Bagnoud Award from the American Helicopter Society (AHS), for outstanding contributions to vertical flight technology by an AHS member under the age of 30. Several years later, he received the Lawrence Sperry Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), citing his “extraordinary leadership of a rotorcraft technology center, pioneering research in composite-tailored rotor blades, and dedication to aerospace engineering education.” In 2008, he was elected a Technical Fellow of the AHS (now the Vertical Flight Society (VFS)). Penn State has also recognized Dr. Smith’s achievements, with the Penn State Engineering Society (PSES) Outstanding Research Award (2002), the PSES Outstanding Advising Award (2007), and the President’s Award for Engagement with Students (2013). He was named an inaugural College of Engineering Deans Fellow (2017-2021).

​Dr. Smith is an acknowledged and decorated leader in composite structures, helicopter rotor dynamics and aeromechanics, elastomeric lag damper modeling, vibration reduction, drive systems, and icing. He and his collaborators have received at least six national best paper awards, including four at the AHS/VFS Forum (Dynamics, 1995; Dynamics, 2017; Propulsion, 2018; Propulsion, 2022) as well as the ASME Rudolf Kalman Best Paper Award (2009), and the Best Paper at the 2nd Asian/Australian Rotorcraft Forum (2013). Four of his graduate advisees also received national best student paper awards (3 AHS Lichten, 1 AIAA Jefferson Goblet). And Dr. Smith has advised at least four undergraduate teams to 1st-place finishes in national AHS design competitions.

​Dr. Smith has served on influential high-level advisory boards, including the Technical Advisory Board for the Army Research Lab’s Vehicle Technology Division, and he chaired the Airworthiness of Complex Systems Study Group for the Army Aviation Development Division. Dr. Smith actively promotes collaboration between the rotorcraft centers and other universities. In 2004, he was elected by the ten university members as the first academic representative to the Technical Advisory Committee of the Vertical Lift Consortium (VLC), a major industrial-government consortium, a position he held until 2017. NASA sought out Dr. Smith to oversee the structural design for their Heavy Lift Rotorcraft Systems Integration study, for which his team received the 2007 NASA Group Achievement Award. He received another NASA Group Achievement Award in 2018 for efforts related to future rotorcraft propulsion systems. In 2014, he dedicated a sabbatical leave to serve as Visiting Professor at the US Military Academy (West Point), where he expanded rotorcraft engineering within the curriculum.

​Dr. Smith has published more than 230 journal and proceedings papers, virtually all with student collaborators. He has led or contributed to more than $50M in research awards at Penn State During the same period, he advised 10 B.S. honors, 47 M.S., and 32 Ph.D. students, as well as 7 post-docs.

As part of his leadership of the Rotorcraft Center, he developed new courses in helicopter design, helicopter aeromechanics and dynamics, and a popular first-year seminar called “Hands-On Helicopters.” Dr. Smith has organized an annual professional Comprehensive Short Course in Rotary Wing Technology for more than 15 years and, with ~60 students per year, has boosted the careers of almost 1000 practicing engineers along the way. As advisor to the local AHS student chapter, which grew to become the largest in the nation, Dr. Smith led more than 50 off-campus field trips and organized innumerable on-campus seminars. He has also assisted nearly 100 B.S. grads in gaining employment in the rotorcraft industry.