Mechanical and aerospace engineering alumnus Christopher John Ruscher ’09, G’11, G’14, has been named by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) as the AIAA Engineer of the Year. Ruscher is the vice president and a senior research engineer for Spectral Energies, LLC.

The AIAA will present the award during the AIAA Awards Gala on Wednesday April 30th at the Grand Hyatt Washington in Washington, DC. The institute also will recognize its Class of 2025 Honorary Fellows and Fellows at the AIAA Awards Gala.

The AIAA Engineer of the Year Award is presented to a member of the Institute who has made a recent individual technical contribution in the application of scientific and mathematical principles leading to a significant technical accomplishment.

Rusher was recognized “for the design, development, integration, and demonstration of a robust pressure sensor on a hypersonic sounding rocket and F404 engine test.”

The AIAA is the world’s largest aerospace technical society with nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries.

Ruscher earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree from Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science in the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering.