Morton elected AIAA Fellow

Published Feb. 13, 2020
Head shot of Dr. Scott Morton by Rhonda Schaefer.

Head shot of Dr. Scott Morton by Rhonda Schaefer.

Dr. Scott Morton, a senior computational physicist in ITL’s Computational Science and Engineering Division, has been elected as an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Fellow. AIAA, the world’s largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession, inducts only one member as Fellow for every 125 Associate Fellows each year, a practice that allows the recognition to be bestowed on only the most influential members of the field.

“It is a great honor to have been chosen for this elite group after a career of more than 34 years,” said Morton, who works remotely from Niceville, Fla. “I am very humbled.”

According to the congratulatory letter sent to Morton, “AIAA Fellows are persons of distinction in aeronautics or astronautics, who have made notable and valuable contributions to the arts, sciences, or technology thereof.” His election is concrete evidence of the respect and admiration his peers have for him – the society, which was developed in 1963, boasts nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries and 95 corporate members.

“I have been associated with the Department of Defense High Performance Computing Modernization Program’s CREATE effort since its inception in 2007,” said Morton. “In October of 2017, I became a senior scientist in ITL. I am the portfolio manager of the CREATE Air Vehicles component and oversee the efforts 40 scientists, engineers, and software developers.”

The CREATE Air Vehicles team is in charge of three major products: Aircraft Design Analysis Performance and Tradespace (ADAPT), an aircraft design tool; Helios, a virtual rotary wing air vehicle simulation tool; and Kestrel, a fixed-wing air vehicle simulation tool. In addition to portfolio manager, Morton also served as principal software developer for Kestrel. His areas of specialty include high angle of attack aerodynamics, aeroelasticity, and computational stability and control.

He has a bachelor’s from Parks College of St. Louis University, and both a master’s and doctorate from the Air Force Institute of Technology.  During his 20-year Air Force career, Morton served at the National Air Intelligence Center, the Air Force Flight Test Center, the Air Force Research Lab, and the Air Vehicles Directorate. Additionally, he served as a professor of aeronautics at the Air Force Academy from 1998 to until his 2006 retirement from the Air Force at the rank of Lt. Col.