Mr. Michael Tanzillo is a Senior Project Engineer in the Systems Analysis Department in the Launch Operations Division at The Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, CA. He earned his B. S. and M. S. degrees in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1998 and 2000, respectively. His thesis was on the “Optimal Escape using Low Thrust Trajectories.”
Mr. Tanzillo joined Aerospace in 1999 as a summer intern and has risen through the ranks as a Member of the Technical Staff, Engineering Specialist, Technical Manager, and most recently to Sr. Project Engineer. His specialty is launch vehicle stability and controllability and flight controls analysis of day of launch (DOL) winds. He has supported countless launches as a member of the DOL team for Atlas III, Atlas V, Titan IV, Delta II, and Delta IV Go/No-Go placarding analyses . Prior to moving to the Launch Operations Division, Mr. Tanzillo made significant contributions as a member of the Vehicle Systems Division (VSD). He has received numerous letters of commendation and certificates of appreciation for his work in DOL. In addition to his technical work, he has volunteered to lead other activities, including understanding the retention of employees. In 2008, he spearheaded an effort to study Intergenerational (IG) Issues within VSD, which garnered corporate attention. He had the opportunity to work with a steering team to hold an internal workshop, the results of which have been briefed by Mr. Tanzillo to upper management. Mr. Tanzillo was also asked to speak about intergenerational issues at the IEEE/AIAA Aerospace Conference in Big Sky, MT last March.
Mr. Tanzillo was a member of the Illinois National Guard from 1992 – 1997 and is a 1993 graduate of Wethersfield High School. He and his wife Jennifer, also an engineer at Aerospace, reside in Redondo Beach, CA.