Fred DeJarnette

B.S. Aeronautical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1957
M.S. Aeronautical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1958
Ph.D. Aerospace Engineering, Virginia Tech, 1965

After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Georgia Tech in the 1950s, followed by a stint in the army, DeJarnette earned his Ph.D. from Virginia Tech in 1965 and worked as a civil service employee at NASA. He briefly served as interim department head of Aerospace Engineering at Virginia Tech before joining the faculty at N.C. State’s Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering. He taught there for 45 years, and was named Department Head of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in 1993 and currently holds the title of Professor Emeritus.

Among his many accomplishments at the university, and while serving as a consultant to NASA, are working on the technology that was used for the Mars Exploration Rover Project, and doing the re-entry calculations for the space shuttle’s heat shield as it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere. He also served as director of NC Space Grant Consortium, and Coordinator of Educational Programs and Outreach for NIA at NCSU.

Sadly, Dr. DeJarnette passed away in May 2022.