Professor Sergio Pellegrino

Sergio Pellegrino, Joyce and Kent Kresa Professor of Aeronautics and Professor of Civil Engineering at the California Institute of Technology and JPL Senior Research Scientist, received a Laurea in Civil Engineering from the University of Naples in 1982 and a PhD in Structural Mechanics from the University of Cambridge in 1986. His general area of research is the mechanics of lightweight structures, with a focus on packaging, deployment, shape control and stability. With his students and collaborators, he is currently working on novel concepts for future space telescopes and spacecraft antennas. As a member of the NASA Superpressure Balloon design team, for the past 10 years he has worked on analysis methods for stratospheric balloons. Professor Pellegrino's publications have been selected for several awards, including the ICE James Watt Medal 2000; AIAA Gossamer Spacecraft Forum Best Paper Award in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2011 and 2013; IASS Tsuboi Award in 2004, 2005, and 2007; ASME/Boeing Best Paper Award in 2008; and ASME Mechanisms and Robotics Committee Best Paper Award in 2013. He has received a Pioneers' Award in 2002 from the Space Structures Research Center, University of Surrey and a NASA Robert H. Goddard Exceptional Achievement Team Award in 2009. Professor Pellegrino is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of AIAA and a Chartered Structural Engineer. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the IASS and an Associate Editor of the AIAA Journal. Professor Pellegrino is the author of over 250 technical publications.