Jonathan Black
Professor, Virginia Tech
Dr. Jonathan Black is a Professor in the Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech (VT), the Director of the Aerospace and Ocean Systems Division (AOSD) within the VT National Security Institute (formerly Hume Center), and the Northrop Grumman Senior Faculty Fellow in C4ISR. Prior to joining VT, Dr. Black served as a faculty member in the Aeronautics and Astronautics department at the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, where he was the founding Director of the Center for Space Research and Assurance. As Center/Division Director, Dr. Black focuses the division’s efforts on the execution of cutting-edge space technology development and scientific space experiments; manages and executes an annual $4 million research portfolio; supervises a diverse group of 30 research faculty, program managers, laboratory and administrative staff, graduate students, and summer interns; briefs senior Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, and corporate leadership advising national strategy; and cultivates research and educational relationships inside and outside the university. He served as PI or Co-PI on six spaceflight experiments. Dr. Black works across academic departments and multiple research centers at the intersection of mission platforms and mission payloads. His research interests include space and atmospheric vehicle dynamics, linear and nonlinear control theory, autonomous vehicle design, structures, structural dynamics, advanced sensing technologies, space systems engineering, and novel orbit analysis for a wide variety of military and intelligence applications including large lightweight space structures, micro UAV development, and taskable satellites. Dr. Black is the Co-Director of the Virginia SmallSat Data Consortium (VSDC), which supports Commonwealth-wide data cube, real-time cloud computing, rural broadband, and AI/ML work. He is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the past chair of the Spacecraft Structures Technical Committee.
