Biography

Dr. E. Glenn Lightsey is an Associate Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at the University of Texas at Austin.  He holds the Henderson Centennial Fellowship in Engineering.  Dr. Lightsey specializes in the dynamics and control of vehicles using avionics sensors such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) for navigation and attitude determination.  Prior to joining the College of Engineering in 1999, Dr. Lightsey worked at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.  He was the Lead Engineer for the Attitude Control System on the Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer (SAMPEX), a successful Earth physics satellite that was launched in 1993. 

He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1997 on the thesis topic “Development and Flight Demonstration of a GPS Receiver for Space.” He has authored over 40 technical publications on the dynamics and control of vehicles using sensors such as GPS.  Dr. Lightsey has been recognized nationally for his research with awards such as the Institute of Navigation’s Tycho Brahe Award, the AIAA Young Engineer of the Year, the NASA Center of Excellence Individual Award, and the NASA Manned Flight Awareness Award.  He has served on the Institute of Navigation’s National Council (1998-2000), the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Technical Committee (2000-present), and the International Forum on Automatic Controls Aerospace Technical Committee (2001-2002). 

Dr. Lightsey has received the 2000 Halliburton Young Faculty Excellence Award, the 2003 Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Department Teaching Award, and the 2003 College of Engineering Award for Outstanding Engineering Teaching by an Assistant Professor.