Achille Messac

Achille Messac is the Dean of the College of Engineering, Architecture and Computer Sciences at Howard University. He has previously served as Professor of Aerospace Engineering Mississippi State University. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2019.

Early life and education Messac grew up in Haiti. He lived in Port-au-Prince until he was fifteen years old. He completed his doctoral studies in the Department of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering in 1986. After earning his PhD Messac joined the Draper Laboratory where he worked on multibody dynamics and structural optimisation. He was a pioneer in control structure integrated design and computational visualisation. In 2008 Messac was made Head of the Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering Department at Rensselaer. He moved to Syracuse University in 2010, where he was made Distinguished Professor and Chair of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. In 2015 Messac was made Director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, where he led nine technical committees. Messac moved to Howard University Dean of the College of Engineering, Architecture and Computer Sciences at Howard University in 2016. During his time as Dean he led the re-accreditation of the architecture program and improving the national ranking of Howard University programs. In the three years since he was elected Dean, Howard University has risen 66 positions in the U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Rankings. He partnered with Carnegie Mellon University to create a dual-degree program for postgraduate students.

Awards and honours His awards and honours include;

2008 Elected Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Selected publications

His publications include;