Professor Garrard's work concentrates on flight mechanics and control of aerospace vehicles.

Professor Garrard's work concentrates on flight mechanics and control of aerospace vehicles.

Recent projects have included optimal planetary entry, guidance and control of airships, student satellites, student high altitude balloons, suborbital payloads for sounding rockets, and supersonic parachutes for planetary entry. He has published over 100 technical papers and has received external research funding from NASA, NSF, U. S. DOT, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Army Research Office, Sandia Labs, and private industry.

In 1996, Garrard received the Educational Award for Excellence from the U.S. Army Soldier System Command for his work in parachute systems. Garrard is a Fellow in AIAA “For a career of outstanding contributions to aerospace engineering education, to the development of methods for advanced flight controls, and to aerodynamic decelerator technology. In 2003, he was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by the AIAA in recognition for "the many years of organizing, coordinating, and conducting the H. G. Heinrich Parachute Systems Short Course and for the large number of parachute engineers it has produced." In 2005, Garrard was selected as an AIAA Fellow and in 2006 he was the recipient of the J. Leland Atwood award. This award is jointly sponsored by ASEE and AIAA and is presented to recognize a recent outstanding educational achievement and to encourage innovative improvements in aerospace education.

Garrard served as the Director for the NASA Funded Minnesota Space Grant Consortium from 1991 to 2016.

Education

B.S., Mech. Engineering, Universitiy of Texas-Austin, 1962
Ph.D., Engineering Mech, Universitiy of Texas-Austin, 1968

Professional Background

2017 - Present: Professor Emeritus, Aerospace Engineering & Mechanics, University of Minnesota

1991 - 2016: Director, Minnesota Space Grant Consortium Aerospace Engineering & Mechanics, University of Minnesota

1986 - 2017: Professor, Aerospace Engineering & Mechanics, University of Minnesota

1995: Visiting Scientist ,CERT/ONERA (Centre d'Etude et de Recherches de Toulouse/Office National d'Etudes et Recherches Ae'rospatiales), Toulouse, France (Spring)

1991 - 2006: Department Head ,Aerospace Engineering & Mechanics, University of Minnesota

1983 - 1991: Associate Department Head ,Aerospace Engineering & Mechanics, University of Minnesota

1973 - 1986: Associate Professor, Aerospace Engineering & Mechanics, University of Minnesota

1967 - 1973: Assistant Professor, Aerospace Engineering & Mechanics, University of Minnesota

Scientific & Professional Societies

Honors and Awards

Aerospace Division ASEE/AIAA John Leland Atwood Award, 2006-2007
Background
Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2005
AIAA Certificate of Appreciation from Aerodynamic Decelerator Committee, 2003
Educational Award for Excellence from the U. S. Army Soldier Systems Command, 1996

Consulting, Patents, etc.

Alliant Tech Systems (1993)
Thiokol Space Services Division (1992)
Stewart and Stevenson (1989)
FluiDyne Engineering (1988)
MTS Systems (1988) Rosemount Inc. (1971)
Ballistic Recovery Systems Co. (1987)
Rapid Deployment Parachute Co. (1986 - 1989)
Boeing Military Airplane Co. (1981)
Pioneer Recovery Systems Inc. (1981)
Raytheon Missile Systems Division (1975)
Honeywell Inc. (1971 - 1983)

Short Courses Parachute Systems Technology:

Fundamentals, Concepts, and Applications, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (1982, 1998)
Toulouse, France (1992) 
Cocoa Beach, Florida (1992)
Natick, MA, (1990)
Houston, TX (1994)
DFVLR, Munich, Germany (1987)
Sandia Labs, Albuquerque, NM (1985)

Selected Publications

J. Mueller, Y. Zhao, and W. Garrard, 2009, Sensitivity and Solar Power Analysis of Optimal Trajectories for Autonomous Airships, AIAA Guidance and Control Conference, AIAA-2009-6014

Vladmyr Gidzak, Michael Barnhardt, Travis Drayna, Iaonnis Nompelis, Graham Candler, and William Garrard, 2009, Comparison of Fluid-Structure Interaction Simulations of the MSL Parachute with Wind Tunnel Tests, AIAA Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Conference, AIAA-2009-2971

Vibhor Bageshwar, Demoz Gebre-Egziabher, William L. Garrard, Tryphon T. Georgiou, 2009, Stochastic Observability Test for Discrete-Time Kalman Filters, Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics

Joseph Mueller, Yiyuan Zhao, and William L. Garrard, 2009, Optimal Ascent Trajectories for Stratospheric Airships Using Wind Energy, AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics

Bageswhar, Vibhor, Gebre-Egziabher, Demoz, Garrard, William, Shestople, Paul, and Adams, Michael, 2008, Inertially-Aided Vector Matching Algorithm for Attitude Determination of Spin Stabilized Satellites, AIAA Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference, AIAA 2008-6295

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