Dr. Kevin D. Jones

Dr. Kevin Jones came to the Naval Postgraduate School as an NRC Post-Doctoral Fellow in 1994, after receiving his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering Sciences from the University of Colorado. During his tenure as a PostDoc he developed numerical simulation software to investigate unsteady fluid dynamics, with applications to aeroelastic phenomena and flapping-wing propulsion. In 1997 he joined NPS as a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and continued research on aeroelasticity and flapping-wing propulsion with application to Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs). In 1999 he received the Outstanding Research Achievement award from NPS, and in 2001 he was promoted to Research Associate Professor. The work in flapping wing propulsion led to the design of a flapping-wing propelled MAV in 2002, featured on CNN and the Discovery Channel. A resulting conference paper was nominated for best paper of the year by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and was presented again as an invited paper at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London, and later received the Bronze award by the RAeS. In 2004 Dr. Jones joined the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and the Unmanned Air Vehicle group, and is now responsible for system design and integration of the school’s research UAV fleet, as well as sensor payload design and integration in the research fleet and the school’s ScanEagles. He has participated in the field experimentation program since 2004, and has served as the UAS coordinator for non-NPS UAS participation in the field experiments since 2009. Dr. Jones is the author or co-author of more than 40 refereed publications and contributions to books, and more than 60 conference papers.