Troy Schank
From a young age, Troy Schank has had a passion for learning, taking things apart, and building new inventions (especially things that float or fly). Dr. Troy Schank is from Fallon, Nevada and was raised on his family's farm. His grandfather often commented on the fact that he could not park tractors in the shop because all of Troy's projects stood in the way. After graduating from BYU's Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1999, Troy went on to receive his PhD from Georgia Tech in Aerospace Engineering. He currently works at Bell Helicopter in the dynamics department doing research and design.
Troy was recently announced as the winner of the Vertical Flight Technical Society Alfred Gessow Award. The award is named for Alfred Gessow, a helicopter pioneer, researcher, author, professor, and founder of the Rotorcraft Center at the University of Maryland now named for him.
Troy received this prestigious award for co-authoring the best technical paper presented at the International 71st Annual Forum and Technology Display held by the American Helicopter Society. His winning paper is entitled “A Smart Position Sensor for Articulated Rotors,” which was selected through a rigorous process of narrowing down over 380 entries. Dr. Schank will travel to Munich, Germany on September 1, where he will present the paper at the annual European Rotorcraft Forum and officially receive the Alfred Gessow plaque.
He is married to his high school sweetheart, BYU 1996 grad Megan Roze Schank, who received her BA in Business Management. They have 4 children: Randall, Quintan, Rhett, and Corinne. Troy enjoys coaching his kids' basketball teams, serving in Boy Scouts, motorcycle riding, and teaching his children how to do a various number of things, including fixing cars, renovating houses, and building a backyard basketball court.