NEWS    MERL researcher Purnanand Elango receives Best Paper Award at the AIAA SciTech Forum 2026.

Date released: March 11, 2026

  •  NEWS    MERL researcher Purnanand Elango receives Best Paper Award at the AIAA SciTech Forum 2026.
  • Date:

    January 12, 2026

  • Where:

    Orlando, FL

  • Description:

    MERL research scientist Purnanand Elango received the Atmospheric Flight Mechanics (AFM) Best Paper Award at the AIAA SciTech Forum 2026 in January for the paper, “Auto-tuned Primal-dual Successive Convexification for Hypersonic Reentry Guidance.”, that he co-authored during his PhD research at the University of Washington, before joining MERL.

    The paper presents a trajectory optimization method that reduces parameter-tuning effort for nonconvex optimization algorithms, such as sequential convex programming, in solving a challenging real-world optimal control problems.

    The AIAA SciTech Forum is the flagship conference (more than 6000 attendees from 48 countries) of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the world's largest professional technical society dedicated to aerospace.

  • MERL Contact:
  • Research Areas:

    Control, Optimization