Theresa Campioli Shafer

Dr. Theresa Shafer began her career at the Naval Air Systems Command, Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) in the Air Vehicle Engineering Department in 2007. For the majority of her tenure at NAWCAD, she has focused on high fidelity computational aerodynamic analysis of fixed wing manned and unmanned aircraft for the Navy as well as being a part of the DOD HPCMP (High Performance Computing Modernization Program) CREATE-AV Program (Computational Research & Engineering Acquisition Tools & Environments – Air Vehicles). Dr. Shafer supported the software development team, software implementation, quality assurance (QA), course development, instruction and sustainment of the $360M, 12-year CREATE-AV program. The HPCMP CREATE program awarded her the Outstanding Technical Achievement Award in 2013 and the Innovation Excellence Award in 2012.

Dr. Shafer leveraged her technical expertise and interactions with international collaborative programs to advance small UAV safety of flight certifications through the development of capabilities and processes for UAV aerodynamic databases. As a result of her work, The American Society of Naval Engineers (ASNE) awarded Dr. Shafer the 2014 Rosenblatt Young Engineer Award.

In 2018, Dr. Shafer was selected as the Director of Developmental Programs for the National Air Vehicle Engineering (AVE) Department where she managed over 140 entry-level engineers and interns. She also acted as the core recruiter for AVE where she implemented new recruiting methods to enable the department to be competitive in the war for talent.

In 2019, Dr. Shafer was selected as the Director of Engineering Education and Research Partnerships for NAWCAD.  In this role, her primary duties center on facilitating partnered academic research for the Command, and developing education programs that build NAWCAD’s technical pipeline and STEM base. Dr. Shafer has facilitated over 30 research grants, managed 8 Educational Partnerships Agreements, supported 20+ faculty fellowships and 150+ internships annually. She was awarded an $880K grant from OUSD(R&E) to create a community of STEM engagement across K-20 that sustains the Naval Aviation workforce.

Dr. Shafer is a graduate of the NAVAIR Leadership Development Program (NLDP), and leads 100+ volunteers in the outreach event, STEM-ING, that impacts 100 young girls yearly. Prior to her work at NAVAIR, Dr. Shafer worked for Aerojet Corporation in Gainesville, VA where she supported air-breathing rocket propulsion development. Dr. Shafer received her PhD and Master’s Degrees in Aerospace Engineering from Virginia Tech and Bachelor’s Degree in Aerospace Engineering from Auburn University.  Dr. Shafer is the author of 15 papers and publications.