George Nacouzi

George Nacouzi
Senior Engineer; Affiliate Faculty, Pardee RAND Graduate School
Santa Monica Office

Education

B.S. in aero/astro engineering, CSU Poly (Pomona); M.S. in aerospace engineering, UCLA; Ph.D. in aerospace engineering, UCI

Overview

George Nacouzi, a senior engineer at the RAND Corporation, supports projects within Project AIR FORCE and the National Security Research Division. He is also a member of the Pardee RAND Graduate School faculty. Some of his current research interests include assessing the performance of space systems including resiliency, commercial space contribution to national security, traditional and non-traditional space domain awareness (SDA), space resilience, small satellite applications including proliferated LEO (PLEO), hypersonic missiles, nuclear command, control and communications (NC3) systems, missile defense systems, counter-proliferation strategies, and effects of evolving technologies on strategic stability. Prior to joining RAND, he worked as a senior systems engineer at TRW and then Northrop Grumman, where he performed system and mission analyses of space and missile defense systems. George was also a senior technnical staff in the aeorthemal analysis department and led groups involved in rocket propulsion, reentry analysis and mission analysis. He has also been a lecturer at the University of California, San Diego, and taught space related courses at Northrop Grumman. Nacouzi received his Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of California, Irvine.

Recent Projects

  • Leveraging commercial space
  • Using AI/ML for Defensive Counterspace
  • Hypersonic Missiles
  • Space Situational Awareness Architectures and C2
  • Nuclear Command and Control

Honors & Awards

  • Research Excellence Award, RAND Project Air Force

Languages

French

Publications