Dr. John Hurtado is interim vice chancellor and dean of the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University and interim agency director of the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station. He is also a professor of aerospace engineering and previously served as deputy director and chief technology officer for the Bush Combat Development Complex.

His research areas include theoretical dynamics with extensions to higher-dimensional settings, efficient analytical dynamic formulations for rigid, pseudo-rigid, flexible and variable-mass systems, and game theory in uncertain situations. His patented algorithms for swarm robotics were developed for unique miniature robots that the Smithsonian Institution obtained from Sandia National Laboratories for its permanent collection at the National Museum of American History.

Hurtado joined the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M in 2001. He has been awarded numerous teaching excellence awards, has published more than 120 journal and conference publications, and is a co-owner of three United States patents.
At Texas A&M, he served as associate dean for academic affairs, interim head of the Department of Nuclear Engineering and senior director for interdisciplinary engineering programs.

Hurtado was named a 2021-22 fellow of La Academia de Liderazgo of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, received the 2020-21 College of Engineering Excellence Award for Service, was a 2015-16 SEC Academic Leadership Development Program Fellow (university level) and won a 2010 Association of Former Students’ College-level Distinguished Achievement Award.

He helped create and design curriculum for several new academic programs at Texas A&M, including a Bachelor of Science degree in interdisciplinary engineering, the Zachry Leadership program, the Engineering X (ENGR[x]) program and Engineering Medicine (EnMed).
Prior to his service at Texas A&M, Hurtado held engineering positions in experimental dynamics and robotics at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He received his doctoral degree and Master of Science degree from Texas A&M, and a Bachelor of Science degree from San Diego State University.

Hurtado is an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a member of the American Astronautical Society.