Trent Lukaczyk

About Trent Lukaczyk

Trent Lukaczyk is actively developing long-endurance extreme-environment UAVs as co-founder of FlightWave Aerospace Systems. His passion for aerial vehicles is rooted in maritime applications which he discovered during his graduate education. Trent received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in June 2015, and was trained by the Stanford Graduate School of Business\' Ignite Program in July 2014. As part of Stanford\'s Aerospace Design Lab he contributed to several projects, including the design of NASA\'s next-generation supersonic passenger jet, the development of an open-source aerodynamics simulation code called SU2, and the founding of an open-source aircraft design code called SUAVE. In parallel he founded the Stanford UAV Club, a student-organized group for collaboration and discussion among the Silicon Valley drone community; and led mechanical design while consulting for Lumenium, a company that is developing a fundamentally new rotary engine. Trent\'s interests are broad and diverse, yet tied together by the common goal of finding creative design and fabrication techniques that unlock next-generation technologies.

Experience

1. CTO & Co-founder

   FlightWave Aerospace - A Red Cat Company

   Dec 2014 — Present · US

   FlightWave Aerospace Systems Inc. is a California-based aerospace company that designs and manufactures unmanned aerial systems.

Education

• Stanford University

  Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering

  2010 — 2015

• Universidade do Porto

  Postdoctoral Fellow, Autonomous Fleet Systems

  2016 — 2018

• Cornell University

  Bachelor of Science (BS), Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

  2006 — 2010

• Stanford University Graduate School of Business

  Stanford Ignite, Certificate Program in Innovation and Entrepreneurship

  2014 — 2014