Dr. John Christian’s research focuses on spacecraft navigation, computer vision, applied geometry, and astrodynamics. Navigation algorithms developed by his research team have been selected for use on numerous lunar and interplanetary missions. Additionally, Dr. Christian has supported the design and operations of both human and robotic spaceflight missions.

Prior to joining the faculty at Georgia Tech, he held academic appointments at West Virginia University (Assistant Professor, 2013-2017) and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Assistant Professor, 2017-2020; Associate Professor, 2020-2021). Prior to his positions in academia, Dr. Christian was a civil servant aerospace engineer at the NASA Johnson Space Center (2010-2012) in the GNC Autonomous Flight Systems Branch.

Dr. Christian is the recipient of an AFOSR Young Investigator Program (YIP) award, the 2015 WVU Statler College New Researcher of the Year, and numerous NASA Group Achievement Awards. He is the author or co-author on over 100 journal and conference papers. He is an AIAA Associate Fellow and an Associate Editor of the AIAA Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets. He is also a member of the American Astronautical Society (AAS) Space Flight Mechanics Committee.