Paul A. Lagace

Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Professor of Engineering Systems
MacVicar Faculty Fellow
Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
33-310
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139

(617) 253-3628
pal@mit.edu

S.B., 1978, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
S.M., 1979, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ph.D., 1982, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Specialization and Research Interests

Composite Materials and their Structures, Fracture, Longevity, and Damage Tolerance, Manufacturing, Generic Systems Applications, Engineering Systems

Teaching Interests

Aerospace Structures, Solid Mechanics, Composite Materials and Structure, Design for Longevity, Systems Engineering, Manufacturing and Production Issues, Systems Thinking

Positions Held at MIT

Co-Director, Leaders for Manufacturing/System Design and Management Programs, 1998 - 2003; Associate Director, Engineering Systems Division, 1999 - 2001; Director, Technology Lab for Advanced Composites, 1986 - present; Assistant Professor, 1982 -1986; Associate Professor, 1986 -1994; Department Executive Officer, 1990 -1991; Acting Department Head, Summer 1991; Professor 1994 - present

Honors and Awards

Hertz Fellow, 1978 -82; Sigma XI; Tau Beta Pi; Sigma Gamma Tau; Department Undergraduate Teaching Award 1988 -89; Baker Teaching Award 1990; Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; von Karman Award, Israel Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1995; MacVicar Faculty Fellow, 1995 - present; Department Undergraduate Teaching Award, 1989; Department Advising Award, 1995 and 1998; 1997 L.P. Coombs Award of the Institute of Engineering, Australia; ASTM Stinchcomb Award, 2000; ICCM World Fellow of Composites; Fellow, American Society for Composites; ASTM International Award of Merit, 2007; Fellow, American Society for Testing and Materials International

Society Memberships

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; Society for the Advancement of Materials and Process Engineering; American Society for Testing and Materials American Society for Composites, Founding Member; American Society for Engineering Education

Comments

In the early 1990s, Professor Lagace, a long-time Boston Red Sox fan, supervised an Experimental Lab project in the Department’s Wind Tunnel to prove to Red Sox management that when the 600 Club edifice was built behind home plate in 1988-89, it affected the flight of balls hit, leading to a reduction in home runs. (The Club has since been redesigned and renamed the ".406 Club.")

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