The Royal Aeronautical Society presented Dr. John Tracy with an award recently. The society’s awards program recognizes individuals and teams who have made an exceptional contribution to aerospace for outstanding achievement, a major technical innovation, exceptional leadership, or for work that will further advance aerospace.

Dr. Tracy, a retired chief technology officer and senior vice president of engineering, operations, and technology of The Boeing Company, received the Royal Aeronautical’s Honorary Fellowship for leadership in advanced composites design and manufacturing technology for air and space vehicles.

During his last decade at Boeing,  Tracy’s responsibilities included leading several organizations comprising more than 100,000 employees. These included engineering, operations, supplier management, information technology, test & evaluation, and research & technology.

Additionally, Dr. Tracy led the engineering team in the production of the X-37 experimental 30-foot unmanned space plane, the first reusable spacecraft since the Space Shuttle. He also provided technical leadership to the production of the Phantom Eye, a hydrogen-powered 150-foot unmanned demonstrator aircraft.

Dr. Tracy has authored more than 40 publications in the areas of composite structural mechanics, launch vehicle structures, smart structures, and aging aircraft. He is an elected Member of the National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow in numerous engineering organizations.

In 2016, Dr. Tracy received a lifetime achievement award at the BEYA STEM Conference.