Dr. Robert H. Liebeck

Dr. Robert (Bob) Liebeck is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a world-renowned authority in the fields of aerodynamics, hydrodynamics, and aircraft design. He received his Ph.D. degree in Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering in 1968 from the University of Illinois. In his long and distinguished career, he has held top positions at Boeing/McDonnell Douglas and has taught and conducted research at the University of Southern California. He is currently a Senior Fellow at The Boeing Company where he is program manager for the Blended-Wing-Body (BWB) Program

Dr. Liebeck attained recognition starting in the 1970s with his novel designs for high-lift airfoils, referred to by the aeronautics community as the "Liebeck airfoils." He has made contributions to a variety of related fields, including propeller design, windmill analysis, wing design for supersonic transports, and the design of high-altitude unmanned aircraft. He is co-developer of the Blended-Wing-Body, a revolutionary design for subsonic transports whose importance is discussed below. The BWB is widely considered as the next revolution in subsonic commercial transportation. It is a 600-passenger, "flying wing" aircraft with significantly better economics and efficiency than traditional designs like the Boeing 747.  There is significant research and development work on the BWB, including flight testing of the X-48B demonstrator.

Dr. Liebeck is teaching our senior-year Aerodynamics / Aircraft Performance / Aircraft Design (MAE136/158/159) sequence.  He is also involved in graduate and undergraduate research projects.

Blended-Wing-Body concept