Zoltán Sandor Spakovszky

Zoltán S. Spakovszky (born 1972) is an aerospace engineer, academic, and researcher. He is best known for his work on fluid system instabilities and internal flow in turbomachinery. He is T. Wilson Professor in Aeronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and the Director of the MIT Gas Turbine Laboratory.

Education Spakovszky received his Diplôme d'Ingénieur degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) in 1997. He then moved to United States and earned a Master of Science degree and doctorate in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT in 1999 and 2001, respectively.

Career Following his doctoral studies, Spakovszky joined the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT as professorial faculty in 2001. He became the Director of the MIT Gas Turbine Laboratory in 2008. Spakovszky worked as chief engineer on the Silent Aircraft Initiative, a joint project between the University of Cambridge, MIT, and industry partners, that took step beyond aviation industry's noise reduction goals by delivering a credible conceptual aircraft design inaudible on take-off and landing. He also led a team to develop ultra high-speed gas bearings that enabled operation of multi-wafer rotating MEMS machines for power and propulsion applications at micro scale.

Spakovszky is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and the leader of the ASME Gas Turbine Segment Leadership Team,

Awards and honors 1997 - Georg Fischer Award, ETH Zurich 2003 - NASA Group Achievement Award 2003 - ASME Melville Medal 2009 - Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Excellence in Teaching, Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2012 - ASME Gas Turbine Award, International Gas Turbine Institute 2016 - ASME John P. Davis Gas Turbine Applications Award 2021 - ASME Scholar Award 2026 - National Academy of Engineering