Manoj Patankar: A Well-Versed Professional

Manoj Patankar is a leader in higher education and one professional that has truly committed to advancing several areas of his industry. For Patankar, his career is one that is not just about having a profession; it is one that allows him to create progress. While the achievements of this award-winning educator and administrator have taken many forms, they all display an overwhelming sense of dedication to resolving issues that face not only the aviation and academic worlds, but also the general public as well.

The Student

Although Manoj Patankar has gained incredible recognition as an academic leader at notable universities in the United States of America, he believes that his success would not have proven possible without the gift of his own education. Before coming to America, Patankar studied at the Aeronautical Training Center in Mumbai, India, where he earned his Diploma in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering in 1989.

With a passion for aviation and education, Patankar set out for the United States, where he pursued a long path to reach academic heights. After graduating from Saint Louis University in Missouri with a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautics, he completed his Master of Science in Aviation Safety at the University of Central Missouri. Still, after an array of educational and professional experiences, Patankar desired to learn more within his chosen field of study. In 1997, he earned his Doctor of Philosophy in Computing Technology in Education at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Committed to expanding his own knowledge, as well as that of others, Patankar has completed many educational pursuits through research and presentations. This extra attention to academics has won him great recognition, including several official honors and awards. These academic accomplishments include:

• 2001:Sorensen Best Paper Award from the University Aviation Association
• 2004: Sorensen Award for Excellence in Aviation Research and Scholarship from the University Aviation Association
• 2004: Alpha Sigma Nu Jesuit Book Award from the Association of Jesuit Schools and Colleges
• 2004: Presidential Citation for Excellence in Research at Saint Louis University
• 2008:Grant winner Award for Excellencein Research at Saint Louis University

The Educator

As Patankar continued his own education, he became increasingly passionate about instructing other students and passing on his knowledge. As an Instructional Assistant in Aviation Electronics in 1991 at Saint Louis University, Patankar gained his first taste as an educator. He progressed soon after when he became a Graduate Teaching Assistant within the Department of Power and Transportation at the University of Central Missouri.

From 1993 to 2001, Patankar truly committed to a career as an educator as he became an instructor at San Jose State University in the San Francisco Bay Area. Beginning at an Assistant Professor of Aviation, Patankar eventually was promoted to Associate Professor, earning tenure in 1999. At San Jose State University, he gained comprehensive and diverse experience by teaching more than 15 courses for undergraduate students in subjects such as airframes, power plants, systems and avionics.

The Leader in Higher Education

One of Manoj’s leading accomplishments as an educational contributor is his founding of a PhD programs in Aviation at Saint Louis University—only two such academic programs exist in the United States. However, he notes that reaching this achievement is one that took much hard work and experience at the administrative level in higher education.

While serving as an Associate Professor, Manoj Patankar took on an administrative role as the Aviation Program Coordinator at San Jose State University. Through this position, Patankar gained invaluable experience managing research budgets, mentoring students and pursuing efforts to increase enrollment.  With this initial experience, he soon became the Graduate Program Coordinator of Aviation Science at Saint Louis University. Between 2002 and 2004, Patankar achieved several accolades within this role, including managing exceptional budgets, establishing educational conferences, earning tenure in 2004 and launching the country’s first completely online graduate program in aviation safety management.

Remaining at Saint Louis University, Patankar went on to earn rank as Professor and soon became a Department Chair in Aviation Science. Under this position, he effectively managed staff and faculty while maintaining and planning curriculum. As a leader in research and efficient financial management, Patankar was entrusted to plan and oversee a multimillion dollar operating budget. This budget included the use of two FAA-funded research programs.

Expanding on many of the similar responsibilities, Patankar increased his commitment to developing the educational environment at Saint Louis University as the Dean of Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology. After demonstrating his proficiency in this field, Patankar gained greater recognition when he became the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Chief Academic Officer at Saint Louis University in 2009. This achievement entailed several administrative and leadership responsibilities that he effectively carried out. Although having remained an educator within the field of aviation, Patankar proved himself a dedicated academic leader by overseeing the various disciplines found withinten different schools at Saint Louis University.

Manoj Patankar: A Gifted Writer

If there is one skill that Patankar has mastered throughout his many professional and educational endeavors, it is that of optimizing communication efforts. In fact, he has learned six languages in order to improve his dialogue with students and colleagues found throughout the world. In order to offer an exceptional sense of communication to his audiences, Patankar has also mastered the art of writing. In addition to authoring over 50 academic publications, Manoj Patankar is credited as a writer of four important academic texts, including:

• Safety Culture: Building and Sustaining a Cultural Change in Aviation and Healthcare

Along with three other co-authors, this text serves as a reference to help professionals improve safety in healthcare and aviation industries. It is known for outlining an instruction “Safety Culture Pyramid,” which is designed to instruct the four critical levels of safety culture: values, strategies, climate and performance of safety in the workplace.

• Safety Ethics

Patankar and his co-authors created this text to uniquely outline safety ethics topics that apply to not only the aviation industry, but also those pertaining to areas of hospital, occupation and environmental health. While this book details challenging cases found within these industries, it is crafted to help readers and students not only address human and mechanical risks, but also the moral and ethical areas of safety.

Other Works

In 2004, Manoj Patankar and co-author James C. Taylor published two works that served to improve safety in aviation. Risk Management and Error Reduction in Aviation Maintenanceis one thataddresses many of the human errors that can reduce the overall mechanical safety of aircraft. In order to better address and instruct lessons in this field, this text was supplemented with Applied Human Factors in Aviation Maintenance: A Practical Guide to Improving Safety. This companion piece further illustrates human risk factors that can impact the greater hazards of air safety. Through such illustration, this book also outlines comprehensive error reduction techniques that maintenance professionals are suggested to follow to lessen the chance of hazardous conditions among aircraft.  While Manoj Patankar has played a critical role within the university atmosphere, he has also proven a great influence within the aviation industry as these texts are widely referred to professionals in related fields all over the planet.