BROOKLYN CENTER, MN, December 06, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- George Studor has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Mr. Studor has retired from two careers spanning 20 years, one with the U.S. Air Force ending in 1999 and overlapping with 30 years with the NASA human spaceflight programs. Since retiring from NASA in 2013, Mr. Studor continues to be a consultant for the NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) in the areas of wireless avionics, in-space inspection and systems engineering process, specifically changes to include natural systems.
After graduating from the USAF Academy with a BS in astronautical engineering, Mr. Studor attended USAF pilot training with the rank of lieutenant at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma and became a senior pilot in the 41st Tactical Airlift Squadron of C-130s at Pope Air Force Base. With over two thousand flight hours, he was selected to attend Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. After earning the rank of captain and his MS in astronautical engineering with a focus on spacecraft stability and control, Mr. Studor was detailed to the NASA Space Shuttle Program Office in the Johnson Space Center, specifically in its Systems Engineering and Integration Office and assigned to become an expert in shuttle turnaround enhancements and manager of the development team on the initial set of shuttle orbiter periodic inspection requirements. After the Space Shuttle Challenger accident in 1986, Mr. Studor was charged with developing and maintaining the Space Shuttle Program's return-to-flight plan which he matured into the Space Shuttle Program Schedule System. After NASA, he continued in the Air Force Reserve with the U.S. Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory where he developed structural dynamics and control tests on a 40 foot truss flown in NASA's zero-g aircraft. Promoted to major, he supported curricula development for U.S. Air Force Academy and development of the first "Fly-by-Wireless" (FBW) concept just prior to retirement in 1999.
For leadership after the Challenger accident, Mr. Studor was awarded the 1999 Exceptional Achievement Medal, following the 1994 NASA Superior Accomplishment Award for a Special Act of Service for his leadership in addressing a $1.2 billion dollar shortfall in the Space Station Freedom Verification Program. In 1993, a Montana state senator requested Mr. Studor to be detailed to Montana State University (MSU) in Bozeman as adjunct professor in mechanical engineering. There, he taught fundamentals of astronautics, managed senior projects, and established new technology relationships for MSU with NASA for two years.
In January of 1996, Mr. Studor returned to Johnson Space Center to develop stand-alone, wireless data acquisition systems, called wireless instrumentation system (WIS) and micro-WIS systems in partnership with Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program awards. There were approximately 20 different systems developed that provided loads, dynamics, and thermal environments data for many purposes, from assembling the International Space Station (ISS) to validating ISS loads and dynamics models as the ISS grew. After the loss of the Shuttle Columbia, Mr. Studor's mature Micro-WIS system was used for impact monitoring of the orbiter wing leading edge for the remainder of the shuttle program. In addition, he developed a LADAR video system with Sandia National Labs to validate the ISS on-orbit dynamics, called the LASER Dynamic Range Imager (LDRI), that was adapted to inspect the orbiter wing leading edge on-orbit after the Columbia accident for the remainder of the shuttle program.
Mr. Studor's initial Air Force Reserve white paper on FBW triggered many years of growth at NASA and led to applications in aerospace and other industries. He led a FBW workshop with the aerospace industry in 2007 that led to a project to obtain protected spectrum for commercial aircraft manufacturers, enabling them to use wireless avionics and sensors for safety-critical functions. Organizing various NASA center experts, Mr. Studor proposed and supported the first of this project's flight tests at Armstrong Flight Research Center. His passive wireless sensor technology workshops have resulted in over 150 presentations on user needs and technology developments to help eliminate the need for wires to sensors, reduce sensor complexity, expand sensor operational environments, and simplify sensor manufacturing and installation. (http://sites.ieee.org/wisee-2017/program/workshops).
Before and after his retirement from NASA in 2013, Mr. Studor worked extensively on in-space monitoring and inspection for structural damage and leaks to the ISS and inflatable habitats such as the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) on the ISS. He played a key role in two major NASA assessments of orbital debris impact damage for the Russian Soyuz, Orion, Boeing and Space-X manned spacecraft. Besides "Fly-by-Wireless" and on-orbit inspection, Mr. Studor is internationally known for his efforts to expand the systems engineering process to include consideration of natural systems throughout any program life-cycle: "from concept to bone-yard." He initiated the first natural systems working group in 2013 with the International Council of Systems Engineering (INCOSE), a 10,000 member organization (https://sites.google.com/site/incosenswg).
Presentations from Mr. Studor's In-Space Inspection Workshops in 2012, 2014 and 2017 are available at https://www.asnt.org/MajorSiteSections/Events/Past_Events/ISIW_2017.aspx
Since 2007, Mr. Studor has been a key player in three NESC technical discipline teams, in avionics, robotic spacecraft, and non-destructive evaluation. He also consulted for the image science and analysis group at Johnson Space Center from 2013 to 2016. Outside the aeronautics industry, Mr. Studor stays involved with his local church, including men's ministry, missionaries, bible studies, choirs and worship teams. He has initiated divorce education and recovery programs in Bozeman, and continues to lead efforts to preserve the history of his father's World War II outfit, the 83rd Infantry Division. Mr. Studor is dedicated to his family, including his wife Mary, his three sons, his daughter, and foreign exchange students he and his wife have hosted from France, Brazil, South Korea, and Spain.
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America , Marquis Who's Who has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
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