Ivett A. Leyva is a Mexican-born American aerospace engineer whose research involves the

aerodynamics Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...

of hypersonic flight and the use of injectors to modify the airflow around hypersonic aircraft. She is College of Engineering Excellence Professor and head of the Department of Aerospace Engineering at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

Education and career

Leyva is originally from Mexico, where she was raised by a single parent and educated in specialized technical schools. She describes her inspiration for going into aerospace engineering as stemming from "wanting to go really fast". She became a student at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), where she earned a bachelor's degree in engineering and applied science in 1994, a master's degree in aeronautics in 1995, and a Ph.D. in aeronautics in 1999, under the supervision of

Hans G. Hornung Hans G. Hornung is an emeritus Clarence Johnson, C. L. "Kelly" Johnson Professor of Aeronautics and Director of the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology (GALCIT). He received his bachelor (1960) and master ...

. She worked for

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

on microturbines and pulse detonation engines. After stints as a thermal engineer at

Exponent Exponentiation is a mathematical operation, written as , involving two numbers, the '' base'' and the ''exponent'' or ''power'' , and pronounced as " (raised) to the (power of) ". When is a positive integer, exponentiation corresponds to re ...

and as a rocket scientist at Microcosm, a Southern California defense contractor, she moved to the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL), where she "transformed a boutique hypersonics basic research program into one of the largest basic research programs for hypersonic aerodynamics in the U.S." Next, she worked in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Science, Technology and Engineering, and returned to academia in 2021 as chair of aerospace engineering at Texas A&M University.

Recognition

Leyva was named as a Fellow of AFRL in 2019, and as a Fellow of the

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...

in 2021. She was a 2019 and 2020 recipient of the Air Force Meritorious Civilian Service Award.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leyva, Ivett Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Torreón Mexican emigrants to the United States American aerospace engineers American women engineers Women aerospace engineers California Institute of Technology alumni Texas A&M University faculty Fellows of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics