Dr. Trevor Elliott, left, and Dr. Reetesh Ranjan will be formally honored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the annual AIAA SciTech Forum in January.
Two members of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga College of Engineering and Computer Science, UC Foundation Associate Professor Trevor Elliott and Associate Professor Reetesh Ranjan, have earned national recognition from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)—the world’s largest aerospace technical society.
Elliott has been selected as one of seven recipients of the 2025 Sustained Service Awards, which recognizes sustained, significant service and contributions to AIAA by members of the Institute.
Ranjan has been elected as an AIAA Class of 2025 Associate Fellow. The grade of associate fellow recognizes individuals “who have accomplished or been in charge of important engineering or scientific work, or who have done original work of outstanding merit, or who have otherwise made outstanding contributions to the arts, sciences, or technology of aeronautics or astronautics.”
Elliott and Ranjan will be formally honored in Orlando in January as part of the annual AIAA SciTech Forum.
Ranjan has been a member of AIAA since 2013. He is one of three UTC engineering professors who have been chosen as AIAA associate fellows, joining Elliott (Class of 2021) and Dr. James C. Newman III, professor and head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering (Class of 2017).
Ranjan joined the UTC faculty in 2019 after spending six years at Georgia Institute of Technology. He received a bachelor of technology degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and master’s and doctoral degree from the University of Illinois—where he was also a graduate research assistant.
Ranjan’s research focuses on the development and application of multi-scale methods and models. He said the associate fellow recognition “is based on those research contributions as well as the service contribution to the AIAA.”
“I’m very happy to get this recognition,” he said. “It’s a recognition of your effort. For example, I have spent a lot of time reviewing abstracts or planning and organizing conferences. It’s a significant amount of work, but it has been a good learning experience for me because I get to see the different types of work that people are involved in.”
AIAA CEO Dan Dumbacher, in the organization’s announcement, said associate fellows “personify the innovation that drives our industry forward.”
“The members of the Class of 2025 Associate Fellows embody the ingenuity that is crucial for developing solutions to the complex questions raised across aeronautics, aerospace R&D and space,” Dumbacher said. “On behalf of the Institute, we recognize the families, friends and colleagues who support the associate fellows as they contribute their expertise to our community.”
In being selected for the AIAA’s Sustained Service Award, Elliott was cited for his “prolific, dedicated and outstanding service to AIAA forums, technical committees, student teams, outreach groups, rocketry organizations and aerospace communities leading to numerous student-led recognitions.”
Sustained Service Award winners are AIAA members in good standing who have shown continuing dedication to the interests of the Institute by making significant and sustained contributions over a period of time, typically 10 years or more.
“Volunteers are the driving force of the Institute; we couldn’t achieve our mission without the ingenuity, hands-on collaboration and selfless service of our members,” AIAA CEO Clay Mowry said in an announcement. “This year’s Sustained Service honorees exemplify servant leadership. We are grateful for their invaluable contributions to our community.”
Elliott is the primary faculty advisor for the UTC Rocket Mocs, NASA USLI competition team, Racing Mocs and SAE Chapter—among others—mentoring students who have achieved national recognition in collegiate competitions and set a world record in amateur rocketry. He is actively involved with the AIAA Solid Rockets Technical Committee and the Hybrid Rockets Technical Committee.
“It’s really awesome to have your peers and people that you consider to be beyond your peers—your mentors and people you look up to in the industry—and have them look at you and say that you’re doing a great job and that they appreciate the service that you put into it,” Elliott said. “It’s always nice to get a thank you for things that you do with service because, a lot of times, service gets overlooked by many different organizations. So it really feels good.”
Elliott, a member of the UTC faculty since 2012, received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from UTC and his Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from UT Space Institute in Tullahoma. He also serves as deputy director of the UTC Center for Energy, Transportation and the Environment.
With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries and 100 corporate members, AIAA—according to its website—“brings together industry, academia and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space and defense.”
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