David R. Williams, Professor Emeritus, Research Professor, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, died on 2 June. He was 71 years old.
Williams had an early interest in aerospace and fluid dynamics, building his first sailboat and a soap box derby car in his teen years. He received his Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology (1976) and went on to receive his M.S. and Ph.D. in Fluid Dynamics at Princeton University in 1979 and 1982, respectively.
In 1982 Williams was an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow in Germany, before joining the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1984, where he taught for 42 years. His research was in the area of unsteady aerodynamics and active flow control for flight vehicle control. Williams retired in December 2025 as Professor Emeritus.
Williams was a member of ASME and an AIAA and American Physical Society Fellow. He was a long-time member of the AIAA Fluid Dynamics Technical Committee.
