Wesley L. Harris is the Charles Stark Draper Professor and head of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). 

His areas of expertise include:  fluid mechanics; aerodynamics; unsteady, nonlinear aerodynamics; acoustics; lean manufacturing processes; and military logistics and sustainment.  Dr. Harris has also managed major national and international aeronautical and aviation programs and personnel in the executive branch of the federal government. 

Prior to coming to MIT, he was associate administrator for aeronautics at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and vice president and chief administrative officer of the University of Tennessee Space Institute.  Dr. Harris earned a B.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Virginia and an M.S. and Ph.D. in aerospace and mechanical sciences from Princeton University.  He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.