Prasun Desai, acting associate administrator of the Space Technology Mission Directorate, will deliver the 2023 Dr. Hassan A. Hassan Distinguished Lecture. Desai will present an overview of the work of the Space Technology Mission Directorate, and he will also discuss NASA’s work and how the country will proceed regarding space technology.

The lecture series was established in 2015 through the generosity of Hassan’s former students and faculty members to honor his staggering impact on NC State’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

In 1962, Hassan joined NC State University as a full professor and spent 53 years at NC State before beginning his phased retirement in 2015. While at NC State, he was the major adviser to 34 doctoral students, and he authored more than 200 publications. He also earned numerous research awards, including the Alcoa Foundation Distinguished Engineering Research Award in 1987; the Alumni Distinguished Graduate Professor in 1991; the NASA Public Service Medal in 1992; the R. J. Reynolds Co. Award for Excellence in Teaching Research and Extension in 1993; the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Thermophysics Award in 1999; and the Alexander Holladay Medal For Excellence in 2004 — the highest honor bestowed on a faculty member by NC State trustees. Hassan died at the age of 87 in 2019, but through his massive contributions to the field of aerospace engineering and through the Dr. Hassan A. Hassan Distinguished Lecture Series, his legacy lives on.