As part of the honor, Smith will present a technical talk on rotorcraft's growing role in space exploration.
Marilyn Smith, the David S. Lewis Professor in the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech, has been selected to receive the 2026 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Yvonne C. Brill Lectureship in Aerospace Engineering.
The prestigious lectureship, presented by AIAA and the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), recognizes distinguished leaders whose work has advanced the aerospace profession. As part of the honor, Smith will deliver a lecture titled Rotorcraft: The New Frontier in Extraplanetary Exploration on October 5 in Washinton, D.C., during the NAE annual meeting. The lecture will highlight the growing role of rotorcraft technologies in planetary science and space exploration.
An internationally recognized expert in rotorcraft aerodynamics and computational methods, Smith is an AIAA Fellow, a Technical and Honorary Fellow of the Vertical Flight Society, and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.
She serves as Technical Director Emeritus of the Vertical Flight Society and is a member emeritus of the boards of both the Vertical Flight Society and the Vertical Lift Consortium.
"My rotorcraft colleagues at NASA asked if they could nominate me to tell the story of rotorcraft in extraplanetary exploration," Smith said. "I was deeply touched by the honor and trust they placed in me."
David S. Lewis Professor and Director of Vertical Lift Research Center of Excellence
Her lecture will showcase how rotorcraft technologies, long associated with critical missions on Earth, are hezlping expand humanity's ability to explore other worlds. From search-and-rescue operations and disaster response to emerging air mobility applications, rotorcraft have demonstrated a unique ability to operate in challenging environments. Those same capabilities are now proving valuable beyond Earth.
"Many people do not fully appreciate the role of rotorcraft in aerospace compared to more familiar space and fixed-wing vehicles," Smith said. "I hope to help change that perception through this lecture."
Smith points out the success of NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter as a powerful example of rotorcraft's potential. Future missions, including NASA's Dragonfly mission to Saturn's moon Titan, will continue to build on decades of research and innovation in vertical flight technologies.
"By applying what we have learned through terrestrial rotorcraft applications, engineers can take advantage of unique atmospheric environments and enable scientific exploration that would not be possible with ground vehicles alone," Smith said.
Smith serves as the director of the Georgia Tech Vertical Lift Research Center of Excellence (VLRCOE) which has played a significant role in advancing the fundamental research that supports these efforts. Through collaborations with government agencies, industry partners, faculty, and students, the center has expanded understanding of complex rotorcraft physics while developing advanced modeling and simulation capabilities.
Research conducted through the VLRCOE spans aerodynamics, autonomy, structural dynamics, aeroelasticity, and materials, all of which have applications for future planetary flight systems. Georgia Tech students have also contributed to the field through capstone design projects and participation in the Vertical Flight Society's Student Design Competition, where they have developed conceptual rotorcraft designs for extraplanetary exploration.
"Space is the final frontier," Smith said. "We are pushing those boundaries in extraplanetary exploration thanks to rotorcraft."
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