College of Engineering Distinguished Alumni

2023     Gonzalo Mendoza
BSAE 1998 Summa Cum Laude 
Director of Engineering, Textron Aviation
with responsibility over aircraft and systems advanced design, product plan development and tracking, airplane aerodynamics development, vehicle performance, stability and control, aeroelasticity, acoustics, vibration, structural dynamics, and external loads. 
Has received multiple awards for his contributions in the development of new aircraft and related technologies, including two Chairman’s Awards for Innovation, while leading teams developing the exceptional cabin acoustics environment and the novel lateral-directional flight stabilization mechanisms for the Citation Longitude. He led the team tasked with the certification of the Citation X+ airplane, as the fastest civilian airplane with a cruise speed of Mach 0.935, a record that stands to this day. Over his two decades at Textron Aviation, he has participated in the development and certification of over a dozen new airplanes and derivatives, as well as numerous concepts yet to come to fruition.