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Dr. Jan Roskam

Jan RoskamProject Advisor

Dr. Jan Roskam has authored ten books on airplane flight dynamics and airplane design. He co-authored Airplane Aerodynamics and Performance with Dr. CT. Lan. He has written more than 160 papers on these topics and authored the popular Roskam's War Stories. He has actively participated in more than 36 major airplane programs.

In 2003 Dr. Roskam retired as Ackers Distinguished Professor of Aerospace Engineering at The University of Kansas (KU) where he taught airplane design, stability and control.

In 2004, Dr. Jan Roskam retired as President of DARcorporation, a position he held since 1991, when he founded the company with Willem Anemaat. He continues to offer technical guidance for consulting contracts, and suggests features to be implemented in Advanced Aircraft Analysis (AAA) as Project Advisor.

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) presented Dr. Jan Roskam with the 2007 AIAA Aircraft Design Award on October 16, 2007, in Wichita, Kansas.

The AIAA Aircraft Design Award was established in 1968 and is presented annually to a design engineer or team for the conception, definition, or development of an original concept leading to a significant advancement in aircraft design or design technology.

Dr. Roskam received the award for his lifetime achievement in airplane design, airplane design education, configuration design, flight dynamics education; specifically authoring eleven textbooks on airplane design, flight dynamics, aerodynamics and performance.

Dr. Roskam joins a distinguished group of recipients of the Aircraft Design Award, including Ben Rich, Lockheed Skunk Works; Burt Rutan, Scaled Composites; Team Raptor, Lockheed Martin; and Robert Liebeck, The Boeing Company.

Relevant Experience

Dr. Roskam has industry experience with major aircraft companies and has been involved in the design and development of more than 37 aircraft programs.

He is the author of a two-volume text entitled Airplane Flight Dynamics and Automatic Flight Controls and an eight volume text called Airplane Design. He has co-authored (with Dr. C. Edward Lan) a text named Airplane Aerodynamics and Performance. These texts are used by over fifty universities and multiple aerospace companies in the United States and abroad. In addition he has authored or co-authored over 150 papers, articles and technical reports.

Dr. Roskam is a Fellow in the AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics) and a Fellow in the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) as well as an Associate Fellow in the Royal Aeronautical Society (England).

Before joining K.U. in 1967, Dr. Roskam had twelve years of experience working for Aviolanda Aircraft Co. (The Netherlands), for Cessna Aircraft Co. (in Wichita, Kansas) and for The Boeing Company (Wichita, Kansas and in Seattle, Washington). He received his MSAE (1954) from the Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands) and his Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics (1965) from The University of Washington at Seattle.

Before founding DARcorporation, Dr. Roskam was a consultant to companies in the USA and Europe and also served as a consultant to NASA, USAF and DARPA. Dr. Roskam has been actively involved in the design and development of the following aircraft: Aviolanda AT-21, Cessna T-37, Boeing TFX design, Boeing SST design, Learjet Models 25, 35/36 and 55, Cessna Citation I, SIAI Marchetti S-211 and Piaggio 180-Avanti, managing the low speed and transonic speed windtunnel programs for the latter two.

  • 1954-1957 Assistant Chief Designer, Aviolanda Aircraft Company, The Netherlands
  • 1957-1959 Preliminary Design Engineer and Senior Aerodynamics Engineer, Cessna Aircraft Company, Wichita, KS
  • 1959-1967 Senior Group Engineer, The Boeing Company, Wichita, KS and Seattle, WA
  • 1967-1974 Professor of Aerospace Engineering, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
  • 1967-1984 Director, Flight Research Laboratory, Center for Research Inc., Lawrence, KS
  • 1972-1976 Chairman, Department of Aerospace Engineering, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
  • 1972-2001 President, Roskam Aviation and Engineering Corporation, Lawrence, KS
  • 1974-2003 Ackers Distinguished Professor of Aerospace Engineering, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
  • 1976-1985 Member of various Advisory Committees to NASA
  • 1985-1988 Member, Aerospace Engineering Board, National Research Council
  • 1987-1993 Member, USAF X-29 Future Applications Committee
  • 1990-1993 Member, Laboratory Advisory Group, Flight Dynamics Laboratory, WPAFB, Dayton, OH
  • 1991-2004 President, Design, Analysis and Research Corporation (DAR), Lawrence, KS

Principal Consulting Work

  • The Boeing Company, Seattle, WA and Wichita, KS
  • Gates Learjet Corporation, Wichita, KS
  • Beech Aircraft Corporation, Wichita, KS
  • Cessna Aircraft Company, Wichita, KS
  • Bell Helicopter Company, Fort Worth, TX
  • Teledyne Brown Engineering, Huntsville, AL
  • SRI International, Stanford, CA
  • Piper Aircraft Corporation, Vero Beach, FL
  • SIAI-Marchetti S.p.A., Sesto Calende, Italy
  • Rinaldo Piaggio S.p.A., Finale Ligure, Italy
  • Grumman Corporation, Bethpage, NY>
  • Smith Aircraft Corporation, Bay St.Louis, MS
  • Airbus Industrie, Blagnac, France
  • Coleman Research Corporation, FL
  • Fairchild Aircraft Corporation, San Antonio, TX
  • DreamWings, Lawrence, KS
  • Air Tractor, Olney, TX
  • Visionaire Aircraft Corp., Chesterfield, MO
  • Safire Aircraft Corporation, FL

Relevant Skills, Memberships, and Honors

  • Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Gamma Tau, Sigma Xi, Omicron Delta Kappa
  • Gould Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching: 1969 and 1996
  • SAE Forest McFarland Award: 1983
  • AIAA General Aviation Award: 1986
  • University of Kansas Higuchi Award: 1986
  • AIAA John Leland Atwood Award: 1987
  • Fellow, AIAA: 1989
  • Fellow, SAE: 1990
  • SAE Distinguished Speaker Award: 1990
  • AIAA Distinguished Lecturer: 1989-1990
  • University of Kansas Ned Fleming Teaching Award
  • Outstanding Aerospace Engineering Educator by the aerospace engineering seniors in 1990, 1992, 1996, 1998 and 2000
  • Governor of Kansas General Aviation Award for 1993
  • Design Awards for leading a team of 30 students and faculty from KU, WSU and K-State to a first place win in the first NASA/FAA General Aviation Aircraft Design Competition of 1995, 1997 and 1998.

Short Courses

Dr. Roskam has taught over 150 courses through the KU Division of Continuing Education including short courses on the subjects of Airplane Design, Airplane Performance, and Airplane Stability and Control. These courses have taken him around the world: USA, France, England, Germany, Singapore, Canada and Australia.

Dr. Roskam has also taught two courses through the National Science Foundation on Airplane Design. Nineteen US university professors visited the University of Kansas for a two week course July 13-24, 1990, and another twenty July 22-August 2, 1991.

International Service

  • Expert Member, Search Committee for a Professorship in Aeronautics at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) Stockholm, Sweden.
  • Served as committee member on the PhD committee for Mr. J. Middel of Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands at the request of Professor E. Torenbeek, chairman of that committee. Was invited and accepted to review the dissertation and to attend its public defense in Delft, The Netherlands on April 13, 1992
  • U.S. Editor of the Aircraft Design Journal, a quarterly journal published by Elsevier Publishing, United Kingdom. First issue published in March 1998. This was a three-year appointment. Prof. E. Torenbeek of Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands was the European Editor.

National Service

Member, ETAB (Emerging Technologies Applications Board) for the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) 1993-1995.

Member, AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics) Aircraft Design Technical Committee (1982-1994)

Member, SAE General Aviation Aircraft Committee for the organization of the 1997 SAE Business Aircraft Meeting, April 29-May 3, 1997 in Wichita, Kansas.

Organizer of the Session on Aircraft Design Methodology at the SAE Business Aircraft Meeting, May 17-19, Wichita, Kansas, 1993

AIAA Distinguished Lecturer, 1989 - 1991

Member, Fellow-Peer-Review committee for AIAA (1990-2000)

Member, X-29 Applications Committee, USAF (1991)

Member of the USAF/DARPA X-29 Future Applications Committee (1992)

Community Service

Member, Board of Trustees, Ottawa Public Education Trust (1990 through 1994).