Craig currently leads the Research & Engineering on the Harvard University branch of the Stratospheric Airborne Climate Observing System (SACOS), which involves the design, development, and deployment of a fleet of solar-powered electric aircraft, in partnership with Electra.aero, MIT, and other organizations. At Harvard, he is responsible for resource deployment and direction in order to meet these goals, as well as serving in an educational capacity as advisor for ES100, project supervisor for students, and occasionally lecturing on electric aviation and climate technologies. For several years, he has led the energy storage (battery) and electric propulsion engineering development on the solar-powered aircraft operated with Electra.aero. On the academic side, his primary research focus is on aircraft design optimization, miniaturization technologies, battery modeling, and climate applications of UAVs, especially related to wildfires. Craig has authored, been Principal Investigator (PI), or Key Person on multiple internal and external grants, including Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grants. Over the years, he has participated in numerous field campaigns in various capacities including as engineer, scientist, and project manager. These campaigns have included SACOS, NASA DCOTSS, NSF FOCAL, and ALPHA-SB, that have mostly involved high-altitude balloon or aircraft platforms, with most of the field work conducted out of operating hangar bases or launch sites across the country. He has worked on or with a variety of aerial platforms such as the ER-2 (formerly the U-2 spy plane), Dawn One (solar electric aircraft), and multi-rotor drones. Craig’s academic work has led to invited talks as well as conference talks at institutions such as NASA, ESA, AIAA, and AIChE among others. He serves as reviewer on multiple journals including the Institute of Physics.
Craig Mascarenhas received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toronto in 2015, and his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2017. He also holds a Business Economics Graduate Certificate from the Harvard Extension School, as well as a Federal Aviation Administration Part 107 Remote Pilot Certification.
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