Sergio Pellegrino
Joyce and Kent Kresa Professor of Aerospace and Civil Engineering; Jet Propulsion Laboratory Senior Research Scientist; Lynn Booth and Kent Kresa Department of Aerospace Leadership Chair, Executive Officer for Aerospace; Co-Director, Space-Based Solar Power Project
Laurea, University of Naples, 1982; Ph.D., University of Cambridge, 1986. Professor, Caltech, 2007-2010; Kresa Professor, 2010-; Jet Propulsion Laboratory Senior Research Scientist, 2009-; Co-Director, Space-Based Solar Power Project, 2016-; Booth and Kresa Leadership Chair, 2026-; Executive Officer, 2026-; Director, Graduate Aerospace Laboratories, 2025-26.
Research Overview
Professor Pellegrino's research focuses on lightweight structures and particularly on problems involving packaging, deployment, shape control and stability.
Research Summary:
Structural mechanics; lightweight structures; novel concepts for deployable and adaptive space structures; packaging concepts; deployment kinematics and dynamics; analysis and model verification studies; bistable and multistable structures; ultra-thin composite materials; constitutive models, including time-dependent behavior and failure.
Related News
Read more newsRelated Courses
2025-26
Ae/AM/CE/ME 102 abc – Mechanics of Structures and Solids
Ae/CE 221 – Space Structures
2022-23
Ae/AM/CE/ME 102 abc – Mechanics of Structures and Solids
Ae 105 abc – Space Engineering
Ae 220 – Theory of Structures