My name is Jay and I will be starting my PhD program with the University of Missouri August, 2022. I am an historian of aviation technology. My focus is on the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).  The NACA was the premier research agency for aeronautical research for Army, Navy, and Civil aviation.  The research conducted on aircraft focused on the basic science of aerodynamics and hydrodynamics. Without the work of the NACA, aeronautical science would have progressed much more slowly.

My Master's Thesis focused on the seaplanes and the flying boats that the NACA did research on with the establishment of towing tanks in 1931. This is a  little known aspect of NACA research that has long been overshadowed by wind tunnel research. This work made it possible for the United States Navy to provide effective coastal defense, and bombing operations for the fleet during World War II.

It is my belief that the NACA deserves more study. Aeronautics today would not be what it is today without the research performed by the NACA engineers. Also, NASA would not be in the position it is today with space research without the foundational work of the NACA.

My PhD research will focus on the NACA and the aeronautical research performed with an aim to highlight how the process of NACA research is a model of efficiency that could be used in aeronautical research today. The NACA is far too important to be forgotten, and it is a goal of mine to present this history to the widest audience possible.