Saetti Umberto

Dr. Umberto Saetti is an Associate Professor in the Department of Aerospace Science and Technology at Politecnico di Milano (PoliMi). Prior to UMD, he held appointments as Assistant Professor at University of Maryland and Auburn University, as Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech (GT), and as Visiting Scholar at the U.S. Army Aviation Development Directorate at NASA Ames. Dr. Saetti holds a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering (with a minor in Computational Science), an M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering, and an M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University (PSU). He received a B.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, Italy. Dr. Saetti is proud to have been part of all three Vertical Lift Research Centers of Excellence (VLRCOE) as a student (PSU), postdoc (GT), and faculty (UMD).

Dr. Saetti's research and teaching focus on three major (diverse) areas:

1. Flight dynamics & control, handling qualities;
2. State-space modeling of aeromechanics/aeroacoustics;
3. Human-machine interaction.

In more detail, his research involves modeling, simulation, order reduction, and control of the coupled flight dynamics, aeromechanics, and aeroacoustics of vertical lift vehicles. These models drive Extended Reality (XR) simulations for use in human-machine interaction research, synthesis of advanced flight control laws, and development of multimodal, neuro-adaptive pilot cueing methods. He established and leads the Extended Reality Flight Simulation and Control lab, which secured over $3.16M in research funding from NASA, the US Army, the US Navy, NSF, and Lockheed Martin.

His recent recognitions include the 2025 François-Xavier Bagnoud Award, 2025 François-Xavier Bagnoud Award from the Vertical Flight Society (VFS), the 2024 Ward Memorial Lecture Award from the Aerospace Control and Guidance Systems Committee (ACGSC), a 2024 Defense University Research Initiative Program (DURIP) Award, the 2022 Young Investigator Award from the Office of Naval Research (ONR), and the 2019 Barnes McCormick Memorial Scholarship from the Vertical Flight Foundation (VFF).

He serves on the Vertical Flight Society’s Handling Qualities Technical Committee, where he has been both Session Chair and Committee Chair, and is an Associate Editor for the Journal of the American Helicopter Society. He is an AIAA Associate Fellow and sits on the AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technical Committee.

His recent recognitions include the 2025 François-Xavier Bagnoud Award, 2025 François-Xavier Bagnoud Award from the Vertical Flight Society (VFS), the 2024 Ward Memorial Lecture Award from the Aerospace Control and Guidance Systems Committee (ACGSC), a 2024 Defense University Research Initiative Program (DURIP) Award, the 2022 Young Investigator Award from the Office of Naval Research (ONR), and the 2019 Barnes McCormick Memorial Scholarship from the Vertical Flight Foundation (VFF).

He serves on the Vertical Flight Society’s Handling Qualities Technical Committee, where he has been both Session Chair and Committee Chair, and is an Associate Editor for the Journal of the American Helicopter Society. He is an AIAA Associate Fellow and sits on the AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technical Committee.

For more information: https://umbertosaetti.com/