Kevin A. Wise was born in Champaign, IL on Nov. 10, 1956. He received the B.S. (1980), M.S. (1982), and Ph.D. (1987) degrees in ME from the University of Illinois-UC. Dr. Wise joined McDonnell Douglas Astronautics Company in June 1982, and has been actively involved in the application of modern estimation and control methodologies in guidance, navigation, and flight control problems. Dr Wise is currently Senior Technical Fellow, Advanced Flight Controls, in The Boeing Company. He has developed flight control systems using optimal and adaptive control theories for manned and unmanned fighter aircraft, UAVs, missiles, advanced weapons, and ejection seats.
Dr. Wise has pioneered the use of optimal control theory at Boeing, personally developing a toolset that automates the design of command tracking optimal controllers over the flight envelope. The design tool, called AUTOGAIN, uses a robust servomechanism LQR with state feedback and then projects the state feedback design into an output feedback implementation, eliminating sensors in the implementation. His tools and designs have become the standard for weapons programs since 1990, and include the optimal control of the aerodynamically unstable X-45A Joint-Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS).
Dr. Wise has also led the development and transition of model reference adaptive control in aircraft and weapons systems, using adaptive control to augment both optimal and dynamic inversion baseline controls. These adaptive systems have flown on the X-36 aircraft, MK-84 and MK-82 JDAM, and Laser-JDAM, and are now being used in production.
Dr. Wise has authored more than 60 technical articles, and teaches graduate level control theory at Washington University in St. Louis, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, and at the University of Missouri - Rolla graduate extension in St. Louis. Dr. Wise is a Senior Member of the IEEE, and an Associate Fellow of the AIAA.