Army research engineer earns fellowship

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Md. -- The Vertical Flight Society chose an Army research engineer as a member of its technical fellowship.

Dr. Rajneesh Singh, associate chief of the Science of Intelligent Systems Division, U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, known as DEVCOM, Army Research Laboratory, received the VFS Technical Fellow award May 18. The VFS selects four awardees each year and previous winners include researchers and leaders, who have made immense contributions in the field and have been role models in the S&T community for their achievements.

Fellowships are granted to Society members whose career-based technical accomplishments significantly advance the interests of the vertical flight community.

“Getting the award reenergizes me to continue to contribute to the advancement of the vertical flight sciences,” Singh said. “Joining the select group brings happiness but it also creates a sense of responsibility to perform at the level worthy of the fellowship honor and be a mentor to the next generation.”

The Vertical Flight Society is the world’s oldest and largest technical society dedicated to enhancing the understanding of vertical flight technology. VFS is a non-profit, charitable educational and technical organization. Since it was founded as American Helicopter Society in 1943 — just as the first U.S. helicopter was being put into service — the Society has been the primary forum for interchange of information on vertical flight technology.

Outgoing Executive Director Mike Hirschberg and Chair of the Board Tomasz Krysinski (Airbus) presented Singh with the honor for his body of work in “advancing the vertical flight sciences with research contributions in computational aeromechanics, strategic leadership for expanding collaborations, assembling teams for transformative research, and mentoring the future workforce.”

“My immediate reaction to getting the award was joy; however, it soon turned into a feeling of gratitude to so many who have helped in my career,” Singh said. “I believe that such awards are not possible without the help of people around you. It is more so in the multi-disciplinary field of vertical flight sciences where teaming with experts in different disciplines is necessary to advance the technical state of the art.”

Singh said he has been fortunate to work at an organization that provided resources and opportunities, had leaders who allowed the freedom to pursue ideas and initiatives, and colleagues who shared their expertise, knowledge, and have been valuable research partners.

“The fellowship will offer opportunities for more engagements with leaders in the global vertical flight S&T community,” he said. “Organizing and moderating a special session like the one I organized at the forum with major thought leaders in the vertical flight eco-system is one example of such an opportunity.”

The Vertical Flight Society's 79th Annual Forum & Technology Display is the “world's leading international technical event on vertical flight technology,” according to its website.

During the event in West Palm Beach, Florida, Singh also moderated the Special Session 2: US VTOL R&D.

“I hope to exploit opportunities enabled by this fellowship to advocate for ARL interests and engage with members across the government, industry and academia to accelerate technology maturation and concept development for the Army of 2040,” Singh said. “I believe that my work in operationalizing vertical flight and intelligent system sciences will positively impact future Soldiers by enabling next-generation autonomous systems and technologies.”

The conference lasted three days and included more than 200 technical papers on every discipline from acoustics to unmanned systems, as well as invited presentations and discussions by leaders in the military, government agencies and industry.

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As the Army's foundational research laboratory, ARL is operationalizing science to achieve transformational overmatch. Through collaboration across the command’s core technical competencies, DEVCOM leads in the discovery, development and delivery of the technology-based capabilities required to make Soldiers more successful at winning the nation’s wars and come home safely. DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory is an element of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command. DEVCOM is a major subordinate command of the Army Futures Command.