Research Group

Mason A. Peck

Mason A. Peck

After leaving the Ph.D. program in English at the University of Chicago, Peck earned a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He worked at Bell Helicopter from 1993 to 1994 on structural dynamics. From 1994 to 2001 he was an attitude dynamics specialist and systems engineer at Hughes Space and Communications (now Boeing Satellite Systems). During his years at Boeing he served as attitude dynamics lead in the Boeing mission control center, participating in real-time spacecraft operations and helping to resolve spacecraft performance anomalies. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. at UCLA as a Howard Hughes Fellow from 1998 to 2001. In 2001 he joined Honeywell Defense and Space Systems , and in 2003 was named Principal Fellow. He has been issued several patents. In July of 2004, he joined the faculty at Cornell University, where he teaches courses in dynamics and control and in the systems engineering program. He was promoted to Associate Professor in fall 2010. In 2012 he was appointed as NASA’s Chief Technologist.

The SSDS graduate student group as of June 6th, 2019!

The SSDS graduate student group as of June 6th, 2019!

Current PhD Students

Graduate Alumni

Katherine Wilson, Ph.D. '23

  • SSDS doctoral work: Eddy Current Actuators

  • Post-SSDS work: ASML

Aaron Zucherman, Ph.D. '23

  • SSDS doctoral work: Interplanetary SmallSat Cost and Risk Analysis

  • Post-SSDS work: SpaceRig

Kalani Danas Rivera, Ph.D. '22

  • SSDS doctoral work: Optical Navigation

  • Post-SSDS work: Draper Laboratory

Doğa Yuculan, Ph.D. '22

  • SSDS doctoral work: Autonomous Navigation of Relativistic Spacecraft

  • Post-SSDS work: Assistant Professor of Teaching at University of Buffalo

Aneesh Heintz, Ph.D. '22

  • SSDS doctoral work: Optical Navigation / Deep Learning

  • Post-SSDS work: Lockheed Martin Space

Matt Walsh, Ph.D. '20

  • SSDS doctoral work: Toward General Techniques for Autonomous Rendezvous

  • Post-SSDS work: Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab

Hunter Adams, Ph.D. '19

  • Commercialization fellowship

  • SSDS doctoral work: Theory and Applications of Gram-Scale Spacecraft

  • Post-SSDS work: Lecturer at Cornell University

  • http://vanhunteradams.com/

D. Sawyer Elliot, Ph.D. '19

  • NSTRF fellowship recipient

  • SSDS doctoral work: Momentum Control Systems and their Application in Robotic Systems

  • Post-SSDS work: Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab

Kyle Doyle, Ph.D. '19

  • NSTRF fellowship recipient

  • SSDS doctoral work: Water Electrolysis Propulsion:
    Systems Architecture and Technology Development

  • Post-SSDS work: Blue Origin

Frankie Zhu, Ph.D. '19

  • NSTRF fellowship recipient

  • SSDS doctoral work: System Identification and Intelligent Systems

  • Post-SSDS work: Tenure-Track Faculty at University of Hawaii Manoa

  • franceszhu.space

Lorraine Weis, Ph.D. '16

  • SSDS doctoral work: ChipSat Swarm Dynamics

  • Post-SSDS work: Applied Defense Solutions

Zac Manchester, Ph.D. ’15

  • SSDS doctoral work: KickSat and ChipSats

  • Post-SSDS work: Tenure-Track Faculty at Stanford University

Ben Reinhardt, Ph.D. ’15

  • SSDS doctoral work: Eddy Current Actuation

  • Post-SSDS work: Magic Leap

Rodrigo Zeledon, Ph.D. ’15

  • SSDS doctoral work: Electrolysis Propulsion Spacecraft

  • Post-SSDS work: Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company

Laura Jones, Ph.D. ’12

  • NSF and NDSEG fellowship recipient

  • SSDS doctoral work: Flux-Pinned Spacecraft

  • Post-SSDS work: Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Michael Norman, Ph.D. ’11

  • NASA/New York Space Grant recipient

  • SSDS doctoral work: Flux-Pinned Spacecraft

  • Post-SSDS work: Boeing

Joseph Shoer, Ph.D. ’11

  • NASA/New York Space Grant recipient

  • SSDS doctoral work: Flux-Pinned Spacecraft

  • Post-SSDS work: Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company

Justin Atchison, Ph.D. ’10

  • NSF and NDSEG fellowship recipient

  • SSDS doctoral work: LAO / Sprite Spacecraft

  • Post-SSDS work: Applied Physics Laboratory

Daniel Brown, Ph.D. ’09

  • NSF/IGERT fellowship recipient

  • SSDS doctoral work: CMG Robotics

  • Post-SSDS work: Ithaco Space Systems

Michele Carpenter, Ph.D. ’09

  • SSDS doctoral work: CMG Robotics

  • Post-SSDS work: Draper Laboratory

Brett Streetman, Ph.D. ’08

  • NSF/IGERT fellowship recipient

  • SSDS doctoral work: Lorentz-Augmented Orbits

  • Post-SSDS work: Draper Laboratory