Dr. Aaron Byerley is a Distinguished Graduate of the USAF Academy (BS in Engineering Mechanics), Stanford University (MS in Mechanical Engineering and MS in Engineering Management), and the University of Oxford, UK (DPhil in Engineering Science). While a cadet, he earned the free fall parachutist badge and flew both gliders and powered aircraft. Dr. Byerley served in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Mercer University but spent most of his career at the U.S. Air Force Academy serving in academic leadership positions (aero department head and associate dean) and as a classroom instructor teaching courses including introductory aeronautical engineering, thermodynamics, gas dynamics, heat transfer, air-breathing propulsion, and the two-semester capstone engineering sequence on the preliminary design of aircraft and propulsion systems. His research activity included turbine heat transfer and aerodynamics and aircraft and propulsion system design education. One of his career highlights occurred in 2017 when he was selected by the graduating seniors for the William H. Heiser Award as the senior instructor who “contributed the most to cadets’ personal and intellectual development by inspiring and challenging them to work harder on their academic pursuits” and who “continually and personally demonstrated and promoted the USAF’s Core Values of Integrity, Service, and Excellence”. He retired from the Academy in December 2020 as Professor Emeritus but remains active in both AIAA and ASME. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Colorado.
