Dr. Keith M. Boyer retired from the Air Force as a Colonel in 2012 after serving as Associate Dean for Students at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT). He started his Air Force career in 1979 as an enlisted electronic warfare (EW) maintainer on B-52 aircraft and EW instructor. His varied aircraft and engine experience includes hands-on flight line and back shop maintenance, test and analysis, sustainment and depot maintenance, systems engineering, logistics and supply chain management, multinational requirements management, and advisory roles in Iraq and to the USAF Propulsion Product Group Manager.
Keith taught for ten years in the Air Force Academy’s Department of Aeronautics, and served in numerous positions including Director of Propulsion and Deputy Department Head. He was awarded Outstanding First Year Instructor, Outstanding Academy Educator and the Heiser Award as Outstanding Senior Faculty Educator selected by the graduating class of 2007. For seven years, he was adjunct faculty to the Air Force Test Pilot School, where he twice was selected by the students for the Flight Test Instructor of the Quarter award.
From 1996-2009, Keith developed and taught a variety of jet engine short courses to over 1,000 attendees in support of their professional development. He is co-author of two textbooks with Dr. Jack Mattingly – Elements of Propulsion, Second Edition, and Aircraft Engine Design, Third Edition (with PAI Associates Bill Heiser & Brenda Haven). Both texts are winners of the AIAA Summerfield Book Award. He earned his BS in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Florida (1987), MS in Aeronautical Engineering from the AFIT (1992), and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech (2001). Keith is a Fellow of the ASME (2021).