Georgia Tech was awarded the first Army Rotorcraft Center of Excellence (RCOE) in 1982 under the leadership of Prof. Robin Gray, making it the first Georgia Tech externally designated research center of excellence. Georgia Tech has been the only continuously funded RCOE for the past 30 years, and began the seventh multiyear funding phase (five years) in Fall 2011 with resources from the Army, NASA and Navy.

The Center has contributed to cutting edge research in a number of fundamental areas – aerodynamics, structures and structural dynamics, autonomous vehicle systems, and helicopter design, and offers a well-rounded program in helicopter technology at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The graduates of the Center have won top standings (first or second place) in the American Helicopter Society Design Competitions for the past 26 consecutive years (http://www.vtol.org/education/student-design-competition ). The center has graduated over 200 alumni who serve as leaders in the military, government, industry, and academia. During the period 2001-2011 alone, there were 87 Ph D graduates from the Center. The efforts from the Center have led to several successful spin-off laboratories/centers at Georgia Tech, as well as productive joint collaborations in a variety of government and industry programs. These include (a) the GTRI Advanced Transportation and Aerospace Systems Laboratory (ATAS); (b) the Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory (ASDL); (c) the Center for Aerospace Systems Engineering (CASE); (d) the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Research Facility (UAVRF); and (e) the Integrated Product Lifecycle Engineering (IPLE) Laboratory. Joint collaborative programs with government and industry include the establishment of the International Aerial Robotics Competition, Army Autonomous Scout Rotorcraft Testbed (ASRT) Program, DARPA Software Enabled Control (SEC) Program for Intelligent UAV’s, NASA Carter Aviation Slowed Rotor/Compound (SR/C) STTR program, DARPA Helicopter Quieting Program (HQP), DARPA Heliplane Program, and the DARPA Mission Adaptive Rotor Program.

We are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Georgia Tech RCOE/VLRCOE during the month of October 2012 along with a number of special events planned for 2012. A picture of the current Georgia Tech VLRCOE leaders and co-principal investigators (Co-PIs) is provided below. In addition to the Georgia Tech School of AE faculty, associate directors and Co-PIs from U. of Michigan, Washington University, University of Texas @ Arlington, and Utah State University are also included in the leadership of the Georgia Tech VLRCOE.