Mark L Psiaki

Mark L. Psiaki is the Kevin Crofton Faculty Chair in Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech. His research focuses on dynamics, control, and estimation with applications in GPS/GNSS navigation, spacecraft systems, and remote sensing. He holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University (1987) and has been recognized with prestigious awards, including AIAA Fellow and ION Fellow.

Education:

• Ph.D. (Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering), Princeton University, 1987
• M.A. (Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering), Princeton University, 1982
• B.A. (Physics), Princeton University, 1979

Research Interests: GPS/GNSS signal processing, Kalman filtering, spacecraft attitude/orbit determination, anti-spoofing techniques, and ionospheric remote sensing. His work combines algorithmic innovation with experimental validation, including hardware development for space weather monitoring and spoofing detection systems.

Articles Overview: Recent publications emphasize LEO-based navigation, spoofing detection, and Earth orientation studies. His work bridges theoretical estimation methods with real-world applications, such as autonomous lunar positioning and HF signal navigation.

Awards: Includes the AIAA Mechanics of Control and Flight Award (2022), ION Johannes Kepler Award (2021), and multiple best-paper awards at AIAA conferences.

Advising & Grants: Advised over 20 graduate students, many now leading in academia and industry. Active in federally funded projects, including NASA and DoD initiatives on navigation security and space systems.

Labs/Teams: Leads the Psiaki Group at Virginia Tech, focusing on GNSS receiver design, space systems, and cybersecurity. Collaborates with institutions like Cornell University and NASA on projects like the GROUP-C ISS experiment.