John Junkins

John L. Junkins (born May 23, 1943) is an American academic and a distinguished professor of aerospace engineering in the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University He was the interim president until May 31, 2021.

The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents on March 5, 2021, named M. Katherine Banks as the sole finalist to be president of Texas A&M University. On May 27, 2021, Junkins issued a farewell message welcoming his successor as the 26th president of Texas A&M University. After his term as interim president, he returned to his positions as distinguished professor in the College of Engineering and continues as the director of the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study.

Early life and education John Junkins was born on May 23, 1943, in Oakman, Georgia, to George Manley Junkins (1917–1986) from Carter's Quarter, Georgia, a World War II veteran, machinist, mechanic, and welder, and Alice Lenell Junkins (née Searcy; 1922–2008) from Gordon County, Georgia, who worked in the textile industry.

Junkins grew up near the town of Dalton, Georgia, on his family's five-acre mini-farm, where he later attended North Whitfield High School and participated in the football and track and field teams. He began to be interested in Aerospace Engineering after watching the artificial satellite Sputnik make history during his Freshman year of high school in 1957. Junkins was advised by Samuel Herrick.

Career While an undergraduate at Auburn University, Junkins began his career at the age of 19 as a co-op student during the Apollo program at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in Huntsville, Alabama, working with Wernher von Braun. In addition to seven technical books (see Works below), he has about 600 journal and conference publications. Junkins released a statement.

Career chronology 1970–1977, University of Virginia 2016 NAI Fellow, National Academy of Inventors 2019 Robert H. Goddard Astronautics Award, AIAA