Dr. Rostislav Spektor to speak during Engineers Week Banquet

  • Published
  • By Bradley Hicks
  • AEDC/PA
National Engineers Week activities at Arnold Air Force Base will culminate with a speech from Dr. Rostislav Spektor during the upcoming Engineers Week Banquet.

Spektor is an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Distinguished Lecturer, and he is being sponsored by the AIAA Tennessee Section.

The banquet will be Feb. 22 from 5:30-8 p.m. at the University of Tennessee Space Institute Dining Hall. The cost is $30 per person and $10 for students and the will menu will include chicken, potatoes, green beans, salad and dessert.

Dinner will begin at 6 p.m. following a social period, and the evening program will start at 7 p.m. Spektor’s speech, “Electric Propulsion and the Future of Space Exploration,” is expected to begin at around 7:20 p.m.

Spektor is the Electric Propulsion and Plasma Science section manager in the Propulsion Sciences Department at the Aerospace Corporation. He is also the current chair of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Electric Propulsion Technical Committee and was the technical chair of the International Electric Propulsion Conference held last year in Atlanta.

Spektor holds a doctorate in Aerospace Engineering, with emphasis on electric propulsion and plasma science, from Princeton University. He has bachelor’s degrees in Nuclear Engineering and Materials Sciences from University of California Berkeley.

In 2004, Spektor joined the Aerospace Corporation as a Member of Technical Staff and participated in the design, construction, launches and orbital support of multiple Air Force satellites. In his role as laboratory section manager, Spektor is responsible for coordinating the efforts of a dozen Ph.D. scientists and supporting staff. He helped develop and implement multiple commercial contracts, design and improve innovative diagnostic techniques, and he is an author of multiple journal and conference papers.

This year’s National Engineers Week runs from Feb. 18-24. Other activities around Arnold to mark the occasion will include a Student Design Competition on Feb. 20 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Hands-On Science Center in Tullahoma. This is an impromptu design competition for high school students in tenth through twelfth grades from several local counties. The all-day Engineer for a Day event on Feb. 21 at Arnold AFB will give high school juniors and seniors the opportunity to the AEDC and spend time with engineer mentors at Arnold and local businesses. Mentor volunteers are still needed.

The annual MathCounts® competition, which kicked off the month of engineering activities, was Feb. 3 at the University of Tennessee Space Institute.

For more information about Engineers Week, call (931) 454-6542.