James D. McAleese, PhD - NovaTek Senior Engineering Fellow

In his nearly 50 years of aerospace experience, Dr. McAleese has participated in myriad engineering development, projects management, and expert consulting activities.

He began his career at Boeing but early on was lured to NASA to help a fledgling organization achieve success in the area of manned and unmanned spaceflight. Early in his career Dr. McAleese had significant roles in the development of the Centaur high-energy upper stage. As a part of the NASA Lewis Research Center team that spearheaded this very difficult engineering challenge, Dr. McAleese performed technical and management roles in the area of structural mechanics and controls. Due to the wealth of spaceflight experience developed over the course of this project, Dr. McAleese was selected to lead the Loads and Dynamics team supporting the Shuttle Centaur Project. On this accelerated, joint DoD project, Dr. McAleese directed a team of NASA and General Dynamics Convair engineers in the development and verification of the Shuttle Centaur dynamics loads and controls models by means of advanced analytical and testing techniques. Following this highly successful spaceflight project, Dr. McAleese turned his attention to expanding the loads and dynamics engineering and management capability he established during his Centaur project work.

Over the course of the next 10 years Dr. McAleese served as the NASA Lewis Structural Systems Dynamics Branch Chief that led and supported significant engineering efforts on Space Station Freedom, Launch Vehicle Integration, and Space Experiments programs. On Space Station Freedom he led the effort to establish the Level II Loads and Dynamics Working Group and participated extensively in the activities of the Shuttle Loads and Dynamics Working group as a member of the Mission Build 1 (MB1) loads management group. His team of 75 NASA and contractor engineers supported the integration of payloads such as Advanced Communication Technology Satellite (ACTS), Earth Observing System (EOS) - AM, and the Cassini-Huygens spacecrafts onto Atlas, Titan, and Space Shuttle launch vehicle platforms.

Dr. McAleese served as Chairman of the Atlas Loads and Dynamics Working Group and contributed his extensive knowledge and insight to many other launch vehicle technical and management forums. More recently he has served on NASA Constellation Program review boards, assisted in the formation of the Constellation Integrated Vehicle Ground Vibration Test program, and provided expert consulting services in the area of structural mechanics and complex systems project management.