Our Bureau
Raleigh, NC
Farhan Gandhi, world-renowned for his research contributions to the field of eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) aircraft technologies has been named as the newly established Hassan A. Hassan Distinguished Professor at the NC State University, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, MAE. He was selected as somebody who could be as capable as Hassan A. Hassan, the late titan of the MAE department and legend in the field of aerospace engineering.
Gandhi will play an important role in carrying out that legacy in the MAE Department and at NC State University as a whole. Gandhi obtained his BTech in Aeronautical Engineering from IIT-Bombay in 1989, and his doctoral degree in Aerospace Engineering from The University of Maryland’s Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center in 1995. After 17 years on the Penn State Aerospace Faculty, he moved to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2012 as the Redfern Endowed Chair Professor in Aerospace Engineering.
With an academic career of more than 29 years, Gandhi has published around 360 technical papers in journals and major conference proceedings and has advised 29 PhD students to graduation. He currently leads a vibrant research group comprising two research scientists and eight doctoral students.
In 1962, Professor Hassan joined North Carolina State University as a full professor and spent 53 years at NC State before beginning his phased retirement in 2015. Professor Hassan died at the age of 87 in 2019, but through his massive contributions to the field of Aerospace Engineering, and his establishment of both the Dr. Hassan A. Hassan Distinguished Professorship, the Hassan A. Hassan Distinguished Lecture Series, and many more lasting contributions to the department, his legacy lives on.
