Col Aaron Tucker, USAF
Deputy Program Executive Officer, Mobility and Training Aircraft
Air Force Life Cycle Management Center

About the lecture:
An engineering education provides valuable lessons for a career in aerospace and defense. Designing a logical approach to difficult problems, a disciplined work ethic, and intellectual humility in face of a complex world enables success in a meaningful career. Reflect on the lessons provided by a technical education and how that shapes a career as an Air Force officer, test pilot, engineer, and program manager. Discuss examples which apply these lessons to military aviation, test, and research missions.

Bio:
Colonel Aaron Tucker is the Deputy Program Executive Officer (PEO) and Deputy Director for Mobility and Training Aircraft in the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. He assists the PEO in executive management and leadership of over 2000 personnel supporting airlift, tanker, and training aircraft development and sustainment including the C 5, C-17, C-130, KC-46, KC-10, KC-135, T-1, T-6, T-7, T-38 and numerous international partners. Previously, Col Tucker was the Director, Test and Evaluation for Air Mobility Command; Program Manager, Live-Virtual-Constructive Training Systems, and Deputy Division Chief for the Aerospace Vehicles and Turbine Engine Divisions of the Air Force Research Laboratory. He holds a PhD in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M University specializing in laminar flow control in addition to degrees in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California and systems engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology. Col Tucker is a command pilot with over 4000 hours in 43 aircraft types including over 500 hours each of combat and flight test and is a graduate of the USAF Test Pilot School. He is a Member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.