Dr. P. K. Menon
Chairman & CEO, Founder, Chief Scientist
Dr. Menon founded Optimal Synthesis Inc. in 1992, and is serving as its Chairman & CEO and Chief Scientist. Previously, he has served as an Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and as a Visiting Scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center. He worked as a Research Scientist at Integrated Systems Inc during 1983-1986, and with the Indian Space Research Organization as a Mission Analyst during 1976-1981. As of 2008, he has published 39 research papers in peer-reviewed journals and has presented more than 100 papers at international conferences.
He is the recipient of the IEEE 1994 M. Barry Carlton Award. San Francisco Section of the AIAA named him the Engineer of the Year in 2000. Dr. Menon has received research awards from the AIAA and NASA. He is a Senior Member of IEEE, a Fellow of AIAA, a member of Sigma Xi and a member of Sigma Gamma Tau, the aerospace honor society.
Dr. Menon received his Ph. D degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1983, an M. E. degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Indian Institute Science in 1975 and a B. E. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Osmania University in 1973.
Dr. Victor H. L. Cheng
President, Chief Technology Officer
Dr. Cheng joined Optimal Synthesis Inc. in 1997, and is currently President and Chief Technology Officer of the company. Prior to joining OSI, Dr. Cheng was a Senior Research Scientist at NASA Ames Research Center, where he also served as Program Manager for program elements under the Terminal Area Productivity Program and the High Speed Research Program. He had also been Senior Research Scientist at Integrated Systems, Inc., and Member of Technical Staff at the TRW Technology Research Center.
He has served on the AIAA Technical Committee on Guidance, Navigation, and Control, the AIAA Program Committee on Aerospace Transportation Management, and the American Helicopter Society Technical Committee on Avionics and Systems. He has also served as Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology and the Journal of the American Helicopter Society. He is the recipient of several NASA Group Achievement Awards, and was named AIAA Engineer of the Year in Information Systems by the San Francisco Section in 1993. He is an Associate Fellow of AIAA, and a member of Tau Beta Pi (National Engineering Honor Society), Eta Kappa Nu (National Electrical Engineering Honor Society), and Sigma Xi (Scientific Research Society).
Dr. Cheng received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees from University of California
at Berkeley in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences in 1980 and
1978, respectively, and a B.S. degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
in Computer and Systems Engineering in 1976. He was the recipient of the
1976 Palmer C. Ricketts Prize in Electrical Engineering from RPI, the
1976 IEEE Charles LeGeyt Fortescue Fellowship, and the Earle C. Anthony
Fellowship in 1977 from University of California.