Contact
Email: alfriend@tamu.edu
Kyle "Terry" Alfriend, a well-respected researcher with more than 40 years of diverse experience in the aerospace field, focuses on projects regarding space surveillance and the dynamics and control of swarms of small satellites flying in a precise formation.
Dr. Alfriend earned his bachelor of science degree and doctorate in engineering mechanics and from Virginia Tech. He earned his masters from Stanford.
He began his professional career as a research engineer with aerospace giant Lockheed Missiles and Space Co. After obtaining his Ph.D., Dr. Alfriend went to work for Cornell University as an assistant professor of theoretical and applied mechanics. In 1973, he joined the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center where he was awarded a one-year research associateship by the National Academy of the Sciences to conduct research on methods of orbit prediction and determination. In 1974 he became the director of the naval research laboratory’s advanced systems branch of the space systems division. His group worked on advanced technologies and techniques that had applications to space systems. In 1983 he joined the office of development and engineering of the Central Intelligence Agency where he was responsible for the development and application of advanced technologies to intelligence space systems. In 1985, Dr. Alfriend opened an office for the General Research Corp., now known only as GRC, in northern Virginia. He quickly expanded its operations to 15 technical staff and approximately $2 million of annual funding, mostly in the area of advanced technologies for space systems. After nine years, Dr. Alfriend was named to the Navy TENCAP Space chair for three years in the Space Systems Academic Group at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, Cal. He moved to Texas A&M in 1997 to head its department of aerospace engineering. Within two years of his arrival the department’s research budget increased 50 per cent. He was also named chairman of the board of the Texas Space Grant Consortium in 1998. In 2001 the University made him the Wisenbaker II Professor of Aerospace Engineering.
Dr. Alfriend's contributions led to the highest honor for an engineer, membership in the National Academy of Engineering. He is also a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the American Astronautical Society (AAS).
Currently, Dr. Alfriend is the Texas Engineering Experiment Station Distinguished Research Chair Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University and a visiting professor at the Naval Postgraduate School. His current research is primarily focused on the development of methods for improving the state of the art in space situational awareness. He also continues to do research in the dynamics and control of formation flying satellites.