Ivett A. Leyva

Ivett A. Leyva became the head of the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University in September 2021. Previously, she worked at the Air Force for 15 years. She was the program officer for Hypersonic Aerodynamics at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, AFRL and prior to that she was a researcher at the AFRL Rocket Lab working on liquid rocket instabilities.

Her technical expertise is in hypersonic aerodynamics and liquid rocket engines. While at the Air Force Ivett also worked on the protection of basic and applied research. Ivett holds a bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree from Caltech. Her Ph.D. was in Aeronautics. 

Ivett has six patents and has authored numerous papers and two book chapters. She is a fellow of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Air Force Research Laboratory, a National Associate of the National Research Council of the National Academies, and a recipient of a Civilian Achievement Medal and two meritorious Civilian Service Awards and Medals from the Air Force. Ivett has co-authored six NRC reports and was a member of the ASEB for 6 years.