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T. Bumbary
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04 / Personnel brief

Aerospace / Flight test / Autonomy

Turner Bumbary

Aerospace engineer. U.S. Air Force First Lieutenant. Test engineer.

Turner’s work connects mechanical engineering, software, systems, and autonomous flight—with experience across research laboratories, industry, and military service.

01 / Story

An engineering trajectory

Research, development, and service—connected by hands-on engineering.

01 / Foundations

Mechanical roots, systems perspective

Turner studied mechanical engineering at Caltech, completing his bachelor’s degree in June 2024. His early research at NASA JPL involved thermal finite-element analysis of cryogenic instruments for measuring lunar regolith conductivity.

A software engineering internship at Meta followed in 2021, integrating native iOS screen sharing. In summer 2022, his systems engineering work at the National Reconnaissance Office focused on satellite and ground-station network architecture and interface control documents.

Early research at JPL

02 / Research

From hardware to autonomous flight

Back at JPL, Turner led mechanical design of LORNA, a long-range autonomous Mars scouting drone, and assembled and tested an adaptive mirror for space telescopes. The work brought together rapid prototyping, sensor fusion, test procedures, and automated measurement.

After a summer 2024 launch-system feasibility study at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, he pursued an MS in Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Tech, completed in December 2025. At the Aerial Robotics and Experimental Autonomy Lab, he led an autonomous counter-UAS capture vehicle from simulation through developmental flight test.

Georgia Tech flight-test research

03 / Service

The current assignment

Turner serves as a U.S. Air Force First Lieutenant and test engineer. His portfolio traces the engineering experience behind that role, from modeling and design to hardware testing and flight-test research.

U.S. Air Force experience

02 / mission

Flight test meets autonomy

Engineering focus

Turner’s engineering work centers on autonomous aerial systems and experimental validation. At Georgia Tech, simulation baselined vehicle capability and tuned flight controllers; developmental flight testing revealed actuator delay, motor saturation, and integrator windup that simulation had not shown.

03 / vision

Aerospace. Robotics. Autonomy.

Areas of interest

These are the intersecting fields that shape Turner’s stated interests, alongside flight test. His portfolio brings together work on autonomous aerial capture, Mars scouting, spacecraft launch concepts, and space-telescope hardware.

04 / Beyond the flight line

Foundations & pursuits

Education

MS Aerospace Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology

Completed December 2025

BS Mechanical Engineering

California Institute of Technology

Completed June 2024

Fellowships & honors

  • Air Force STEM Scholar
  • GEM Fellow

Off the clock

  • Amateur pilot training
  • Long-distance running
  • Side projects
Explore the Mission LogAsk about Turner’s experienceContact Turner