Dr. Ahsan Choudhuri is the Co-Founder and CEO of ARC Aerospace. ARC Aerospace is an American Aerospace and Defense Technology Company pioneering rapid, agile development of defense systems using an intelligent design-engineering and manufacturing metaverse to match adversaries’ low-cost and attritable military mass.

Dr. Choudhuri is a retired Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering and Associate Vice President at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). He founded UTEP’s legendary Aerospace Center [formerly NASA MIRO Center for Space Exploration and Technology Research (cSETR)]. He held the endowed Mr. and Mrs. MacIntosh Murchison Chair II in Engineering. He also served as the Chairman of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering from 2010 to 2018. Dr. Ahsan Choudhuri’s 25+ Years of academic career evolved within UTEP’s access­and-excellence mission. Dr. Choudhuri is a national aerospace and defense technology leader and entrepreneur committed to creating a next generation of defense technology companies to assert America’s technological superiority.

Dr. Choudhuri had an extensive research portfolio valued more than $320 million in space systems, missile systems, digital engineering, and uncrewed aerial systems, employing nearly 200 faculty, staff, and student researchers in 2023. He formed strategic collaborations and partnerships with NASA, DOD, and the aerospace and defense industries. Dr. Choudhuri served as a key institutional leader in developing and managing the partnership with Lockheed Martin Corporation and NASA. Dr. Choudhuri has been the research supervisor of 123 Ph.D. and M.S. Students and co-authored more than 200 refereed technical publications with his students. Dr. Choudhuri was a member of the Executive Committee of the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium (LSIC), which supports NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, and chaired the Texas Department of Transportation Urban Air Mobility Advisory Committee.

Dr. Choudhuri led the university’s partnership with the County of El Paso and the City of El Paso to expand UTEP academic, research, and economic development expansions in the eastern region of El Paso County, the fastest­growing and most underserved area. His vision has created the Aerospace Center’s Tech 1 Aerospace Campus in Fabens, TX, the Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) Flight Test Range in Tomillo, TX, and the City of El Paso’s Innovation Factory and Advanced Manufacturing District. Dr. Choudhuri’s activities focused on catalyzing a regional talent and technology development ecosystem by providing strategic capabilities in Aerospace and Defense Technologies and Advanced Manufacturing. Dr. Choudhuri Co-led the vision for “El Paso Makes” to build an aerospace and defense manufacturing economy for EL Paso. He has been at the forefront of creating a “real” Launch­Pad of innovation cluster for the economic development of the greater Southwest Border Region by connecting the area’s engineering talents, UTEP’s excellent research and development facilities and capabilities, and regional economic development funds. Dr. Choudhuri led the El Paso region’s winning proposal for the Build Back Better Regional Challenge Grant from the Economic Development Administration. The and the National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engine Grant.

Dr. Choudhuri has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Faculty Award for Research Innovation from NASA, multiple Best Paper Awards from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and Millionaire Research A wards, Outstanding Leadership A ward, and Outstanding Performance for Securing Extramural Funding Award from UTEP. Dr. Choudhuri was nominated for the 2019 and 2022 “El Pasoan of the Year Award” for his work with regional economic development stakeholders. Dr. Choudhuri also received the Mayor’s Distinguished Award from the City of El Paso and the Ridley Innovation Award from the El Paso Chamber of Commerce.

Dr. Choudhuri is a proud alumnus of Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, where he received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma School of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering.