Statler College Professor Jason Gross selected for Generation Next: 40 Under 40

Jason Gross, associate professor and chair of the mechanical and aerospace engineering department receives the State Journal's 2023 Generation Next: 40 Under 40 award.

Jason Gross, chair and associate professor for the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources was selected for The State Journal‘s 2023 Generation Next: 40 Under 40 award.

Story by Brittany Furbee, Communications Specialist
Photos by Paige Nesbit, Director of Marketing

Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

The State Journal‘s Generation Next: 40 Under 40 award recognizes outstanding young professionals who work and volunteer to make West Virginia a better place. Gross was selected for his dedication and contributions to West Virginia University and the Statler College’s MAE department.

Gross has spent nearly his entire academic career at WVU. He received his undergraduate degrees in mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering from WVU in 2007, during which time he served as WVU’s student body president from 2007-2006. He then completed his Ph.D. in aerospace engineering at WVU in 2011 and went on to work as a technologist in the Near Earth Tracking Applications Group at Caltech's NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a position he held through December 2013.

Gross joined the Statler College as a professor in 2014. As a professor, Gross has contributed to strengthening the robotics program at WVU, and since 2022 has been serving as the chair of mechanical and aerospace engineering, which is the largest academic program at the Statler College consisting of over 700 students and 35 faculty who conduct nearly $10 million in externally funded research annually.

Gross was hired as assistant professor in 2014, and promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2019. In 2021, he was appointed as the Statler College’s MAE department associate chair for research. Gross was then appointed as interim chairperson for MAE in 2022, before being named the permanent chair of the department in 2022.

Gross has received many accolades and awards during his time at WVU, including the Statler College Outstanding Researcher Senior Level Award in 2021, the Mechanical and Aerospace Academies of Distinguished Alumni Outstanding Teacher Award in 2019, the Statler College Outstanding Teacher Award in 2017, and the Statler College New Researcher of the Year Award in 2016. 

He is a past recipient of a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency New Investigator Program grant, Air Force Office of Scientific Research Faculty Fellowship, and WVU Big XII Faculty Fellowship. He has also been the principal investigator or co-principal investigator on research projects that have received approximately $7.5 million in external funding.

Today, he directs the WVU Navigation Lab and was the lead for WVU’s Space Robotics Challenge 2 team that competed from 2020-2021.

Gross will be honored during an awards ceremony hosted by The State Journal on June 15 at the Mollohan Building in Fairmont, WV.

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