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Breeden awarded prestigious FXB Fellowship

PhD student in safety-critical controls for space systems is awarded one of Aerospace’s most prestigious fellowships.

Joseph Breeden was awarded the 2021 FXB Fellowship for his research in safety-critical control of space systems. 

A third year PhD student in the Distributed Aerospace Systems and Control Lab within the Department of Aerospace Engineering, his research focuses on safety-critical control of space systems, and his ultimate research objective is to enable new space mission concepts by expanding capabilities for multi-spacecraft coordination. 

“I was thrilled to hear the news that Joseph was awarded the FXB Fellowship, which constitutes a great honor and recognition of his academic accomplishments. Joseph has been an outstanding student, and the FXB fellowship will give him the opportunity to continue his research on safety-critical space systems,” comments Professor Dimitra Panagou, Breeden’s faculty advisor.

The (FXB) Fellowship is one of the most prestigious and valuable doctoral-level awards in the aerospace department, providing $250,000 in funding to support the recipient and his research. The FXB Fellowship is given to students who had an impact on the analysis and design of flight vehicles with their research. The award is funded by the FXB Foundation named in honor of the late Michigan Aerospace graduate Francçois-Xavier Bagnoud.

“It is an honor to be recognized by the fellowship committee, and it is exciting to be given the flexibility to implement my research vision. I look forward to expanding upon my current studies and moving towards more complicated multi-spacecraft system concepts in the future with the support of this fellowship.”

Joseph completed his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and Mathematics at the University of Maryland, where he finished Summa Cum Laude. Joseph has also worked at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as an Attitude Control Systems Engineer through the NASA Pathways program. He is a past recipient of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. 

A multi-talented student, Joseph is also an accomplished figure skater and an active member of the UM Figure Skating Club.