Aerospace Engineering Faculty Ranked in Top 2% of Authors Worldwide

Four San Diego State University aerospace engineering faculty members have been listed in a 2022 Stanford study’s top 2% of authors in the subfield of Aerospace & Aeronautics out of a total of nearly 50,000 authors worldwide in the subfield. 

The study lists SDSU professors Ping Lu (No. 9), Luciano Demasi (No. 306), Josef Katz (No. 465), and Gustaaf Jacobs (No. 1053), accounting for four of 11 SDSU aerospace engineering faculty in the department.

“To have 36% of the faculty in the aerospace engineering department earn such a high distinction speaks volumes to the research prowess and high-quality scholarship in Aerospace Engineering and the College of Engineering at SDSU,” said Lu, department chair. 

The study, which is conducted annually at Stanford University, creates a publicly available comprehensive database of 100,000 top scientists in 22 scientific fields and 176 subfields. To accomplish this, the team of researchers analyze a number of factors in the impact of authors using a composite indicator, an index to measure multiple variables at once, that accounts for a number of citations, co-authorships, the productivity and citation impact of a given publication, and more. 

In the study’s latest 2022 update, the list includes the top 2% of 49,631 authors worldwide in the subfield of aerospace & aeronautics. Two lists are available, based on single-year (2021) and career-long impact. 

The aerospace engineering department at SDSU is well represented in both lists, featuring researchers who publish their work on advanced guidance of aerospace systems, renewable energy using wind turbines, internal combustion engines, and more:

Top 2% Aerospace Authors based on Single-Year Impact in 2021:

• Ping Lu (No. 9)
• Luciano Demasi (No. 306)
• Josef Katz (No. 465)
• Gustaaf Jacobs (No. 1053)

Top 2% Aerospace Authors based on Career-Long Impact:

• Ping Lu (No. 23)
• Luciano Demasi (No. 153)
• Josef Katz (No. 294)

Demasi said he is grateful not only for the education he received at his alma mater, Politecnico di Torino (Italy), and University of Washington, but also for the opportunities he found at SDSU. 

“The fact that several of my colleagues received similar recognition is an indication of the quality of our Aerospace Engineering program,” said Demasi. 

The College of Engineering at SDSU was established in 1961 with Aerospace Engineering (AE) as one of the options for specialization. The AE Program received its first accreditation in 1974. The Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Department was established in 1978 and was ultimately renamed the Aerospace Engineering Department in 2013. 

Through the years, the department has grown to a strong enrollment and active research activity, with its graduate programs now ranked No. 50 in the nation by U.S. News & World Report.

The recognition for the faculty members is one of the many indicators that the Department of Aerospace Engineering at SDSU is growing and is qualitatively very strong, said Jacobs. 

“I am quite confident that many of the early career professors in the department will join this list of illustrious researchers as they develop their research programs,” said Jacobs.