Leadership

Shawn Engelland is Director of Engineering at Aerial Vantage, a role he has held since June 2023. He was drawn to the company because it combines two of his passions: aviation and agriculture. At the beginning of his Aerial Vantage journey, Shawn focused on connecting data analysts and software developers with agriculture subject matter experts in central Kansas where his family farms. Since retiring from NASA he has assumed a leadership role within the company.

Shawn’s career as an aerospace engineer at NASA focused primarily on field demonstrations of air traffic management technologies. He managed NASA’s Airspace Technology Demonstrations (ATD) Project, including the ATD-2 Integrated Arrival/Departure/Surface (IADS) field demonstration. The Charlotte, NC demonstration validated surface departure metering and overhead stream insertion capabilities now being deployed by the FAA through the Terminal Flight Data Manager (TFDM) program.

Shawn’s involvement in air traffic management research began in 1995 when he established and managed the NASA/FAA North Texas Research Station (NTX) in the Dallas/Fort Worth region, a collaborative facility supporting the integration and transition of NASA-developed air traffic management technologies with FAA, airline, and airport partners.

Earlier in his career, he worked in the Flight Dynamics and Controls Branch at NASA Ames Research Center on advanced flight control concepts for High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) and Advanced Short Takeoff and Vertical Landing (ASTOVL) aircraft. He earned MS and BS degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Kansas and began his NASA career in 1986 as a participant in NASA’s post-baccalaureate program. He retired from NASA in January 2026 after nearly four decades with the agency.