Steven Ray Hall (born July 6, 1959 in

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The populati ...

) is the Chair of the Faculty and Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

. His research interests are in aerospace controls systems, including flexible space structure control, control of noise and vibration, especially in helicopters, and the development of smart material actuators. He is the coauthor of seven patents, mostly in the area of smart material actuation. His teaching includes graduate and undergraduate subjects in signals and systems, control theory, guidance and navigation, and flight mechanics and control. Hall was the lead instructor for the Unified Engineering course freely available through MIT OpenCourseWare.

Personal life

He grew up in Florida, living in a half dozen towns throughout the central part of the state before graduating from high school in

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the ...

. Living in Florida at the height of the

space race The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the tw ...

, he developed an interest in aircraft and rockets early in life. Since 2008, he is the Associate Housemaster of Simmons Hall, where he runs the Simmons Hall Residential Scholar program. He greatly enjoys living with the Simmons Hall community of students and scholars, which he describes as “warm, welcoming, and vibrant.” His daughter Caitlin lives with him at Simmons Hall and is a graduate student at

Emerson College Emerson College is a private college with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts. It also maintains campuses in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California and Well, Limburg, Netherlands ( Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a ...

. His son Michael lives in nearby

Watertown, Massachusetts Watertown is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and is part of Greater Boston. The population was 35,329 in the 2020 census. Its neighborhoods include Bemis, Coolidge Square, East Watertown, Watertown Square, and the West End. Watertown ...

. He is a certificated pilot, and proud owner of a Cessna Cutlass RG, which he flies on weekends and vacations.

University positions

* Chair of the Faculty, 2013–present * Associate Professor, 1991 – present * Assistant Department Head, 1997-1998 * Assistant Professor, 1985-1991

Honors and awards

* MacVicar Faculty Fellow, 2002 * Raymond L. Bisplinghoff Fellow, 1998 * Hertz Fellow, 1983-1985 * Member,

Tau Beta Pi The Tau Beta Pi Association (commonly Tau Beta Pi, , or TBP) is the oldest engineering honor society and the second oldest collegiate honor society in the United States. It honors engineering students in American universities who have shown a ...

Society memberships

* Associate Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics * Member, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers * Member, American Helicopter Society * Member, American Society for Engineering Education

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Steven Ray Living people 1959 births American aerospace engineers MIT School of Engineering faculty Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni