Lewis Named Willis Young, Jr. Faculty Fellow

Mark Lewis has been selected as the Willis Young, Jr. Faculty Fellow in Aerospace Engineering. This named professorship will begin in the Fall of 2007.

Lewis is currently serving as Chief Scientist for the United States Air Force. He began teaching at the University of Maryland in 1988, and served the department as Director of its Undergraduate Program and Director of the Space Vehicles Technology Institute before his post with the Air Force. Lewis is a Fellow of AIAA and ASME, and in 2005 was honored with the Department of Defense's Award for Meritorious Service.

Dr. Erik Young (B.S. '74, biochemistry) and his wife, Joyce, helped the Department of Aerospace Engineering in establishing this faculty fellowship with a gift of $250,000.

The gift, part of a total $1 million the couple recently gave to the university, was given in memory of Erik Young’s father, Willis H. Young Jr. (B.S. '43 and M.S. '49, aerospace engineering).

"The department is deeply honored by the fact that Dr. Young wishes to acknowledge the education that his father, Willis Young, received with the significant gift of a named faculty endowment," said Darryll Pines, chair of the aerospace engineering department.

A formal ceremony will take place in the fall of 2007 to honor Lewis.

Published March 18, 2007