Rae to be inducted into local aviation hall of fame

William J. Rae, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, will be inducted into the Niagara Frontier Aviation & Space Hall of Fame on May 13 in recognition of his long career in aviation.

The annual ceremony has been a highlight for aviation and space enthusiasts in Western New York since its beginning in 1985.

Rae worked for 30 years as a research scientist and engineer at the Cornell Aeronautical Laboratory, now known as the Arvin/Calspan Advanced Technology Center, before joining the UB engineering faculty in 1983.

While teaching the fundamental properties of aerodynamic flight to students in his flight dynamics class 1n 1995, Rae began developing a theory that explains why a football doesn’t fly like a missile or a bullet. His theory demonstrated that “the flight of a football is almost as complicated as the flight of an airplane.”  

Rae received numerous awards during his long career at UB, among them the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1993, the Most Helpful Teacher Award from the UB chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the Carl Naish Award from the Millard Fillmore College Student Association.        

He held several administrative positions at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, including associate dean for graduate education and chair of the mechanical engineering undergraduate committee.

He was awarded the title of SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, the highest faculty rank in the SUNY system, in 2000. He retired from UB in 2002.