Academy of Distinguished Alumni

  • Alumni Image #1:
  • Image Caption Title #1: Interim Upper Stage
  • Image Caption #1: Dunn was an engineering leader in the U.S. space program and led the work on a number of space vehicle systems, including medium launch vehicles, the Interim Upper Stage, Centaur, Titan rocket motors, system integration, and launch systems analysis.
  • Alumni Image #2:
  • Image Caption Title #2: Aerospace Corporation
  • Image Caption #2: He held a variety of technical assignments at this federally funded space enterprise research and development center. The organization provided critical support in the development and operation of the space shuttle. As this ambitious project ramped up, data obtained in some of the analyses Dunn and his team performed was incorporated into the design specifications.
headshot of W. Paul Dunn

Paul Dunn

W. Paul Dunn

B.S., University of Texas at Austin, 1962

past member - deceased

Paul Dunn was a leader at the interface of aerospace and civil engineering whose technical expertise contributed to the success of the U.S. space program. He led objective technical analyses and assessments for a variety of government, civil and commercial organizations. He worked on a number of space vehicle systems, including medium launch vehicles, the Interim Upper Stage, Centaur, Titan rocket motors, system integration, and launch systems analysis.

Dunn was among the first wave of black students who integrated The University of Texas at Austin, earning a B.S. in Civil Engineering. While at UT, he participated on a medal winning intramural track team which set the record for the 880-yard relay, and became a charter member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity..

He went on to earn a master's degree in civil engineering from California State University at Los Angeles, and an MBA from California State University at Dominguez Hills.

After graduateion, Dunn’s professional career included employment at Northrop Corporation, TRW Systems Group and Rocketdyne. He was also a part-time Assistant Professor at California State University, Los Angeles.

In 1977, he joined The Aerospace Corporation, a federally funded research and development center committed exclusively to the space enterprise. As a technical expert, he held the positions of Engineering Specialist, Senior Engineering Specialist, and Senior Project Engineer, and was later appointed Principal Director of the Launch Systems Analysis Directorate, Space Systems Group.

Among his many honors is the Distinguished Graduate Award received in 1993 from The University of Texas at Austin, the highest award given by the Cockrell School of Engineering.