Editorial activities

Books

• Springer "Advances in Industrial Control" Series, Advisory board member, 2025 - Present

Peer-reviewed Journals

• IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electroic Systems, Senior editor, 2023 - Present
• IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electroic Systems, Associate editor, 2019 - 2022
• Elsevier, Control Engineering Practice, Associate editor, 2015 - 2019.
• Springer, Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems, Guest editor for special issue on Motion Strategies for Underactuated Robotic Vehicles in the Presence of Constraints

Conferences

• American Control Conference 2026, Publications Chair
• Polish Control Conference 2026, Board Member
• IEEE Conference Editorial Board 2019 - Present, Member
• Southeast Control Conference 2021, General Chair
• Conference on Decision and Control 2020 - 2023, Associate Editor
• American Control Conference 2017, 2020 - 2022, Associate Editor
• AIAA SciTech 2019 and 2021 - 2023, Associate Editor
• AIAA SciTech 2020, Intelligent and Autonomous Aerial Systems, Technical Area Co-Chair
• IEEE Networked and Autonomous Air and Space Systems Conference 2018, Editorial board member

Reviewer

International Universities

• External committee member for the selection of an Associate Professor, 2024, Polytechnic of Milan (Italy);
• External Ph.D. thesis committee member, 2023, Polytechnic of Turin (Italy);

Funding Agencies

• National Science Foundation: -- USA
  • Dynamics, Control and Systems Diagnostics;
  • IIS:Robust Intelligence; Advanced Technological Education;
  • Innovations in Integration of Robotics;
  • Cyberinfrastructure for Sustained Scientific Innovation;
  • EPSCoR RII Track 2;
  • Advanced Technology Education;
  • Graduate Research Fellowships Program (GRFP);
• Office of Naval Research -- USA
• Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) -- France
• Czech Science Foundation -- Czech Republic
• Mitacs -- Canada

Books

• Springer

Journal papers

• AIAA Journal of Aerospace Information Systems
• AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics
• ASME Journal of Autonomous Vehicles and Systems
• ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control
• ASME Journal of Manufacturing Science and Engineering
• Cambridge University Press Robotica
• Elsevier Acta Astronautica
• Elsevier Annual Reviews in Control
• Elsevier Automatica
• Elsevier European Journal of Control
• Elsevier Journal of the Franklin Institute
• Elsevier Mechatronics
• Elsevier Nonlinear Dynamics
• Elsevier Systems & Control Letters
• IEEE Access
• IEEE Control Systems Letters
• IEEE Control Systems Magazine
• IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems
• IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering
• IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control
• IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology
• IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems
• IEEE Transactions on Mechatronics
• IEEE Transactions on Robotics
• IET Control Theory and Applications
• IFAC Journal of Systems and Control
• IISE Transactions
• Taylor & Francis Automatika
• Taylor & Francis International Journal of System Science
• Wiley Asian Journal of Control
• Wiley International Journal of Adaptive Control and Signal Processing
• Wiley International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control
• Wiley Optimal Control, Applications and Methods

Conference papers

• IEEE Conference on Decision and Control 2012 - 2015, 2018 - 2023
• IEEE American Control Conference 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2018 - 2023
• IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation 2019, 2023
• IEEE Multi-conference on Systems and Control 2010 - 2012, 2016
• IEEE International Conference on Control, Decision, and Information Technologies 2018
• IFAC International Conference on Automatic Control 2011, 2014
• AIAA Conference on Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations 2011, 2012
• AIAA Space Logistics Best Paper Award 2011

Outreach

Academic community

• IEEE: Dr. L'Afflitto served as a panelist to the "Meet and greet IEEE AESS" event (2025).
• IEEE: Dr. L'Afflitto chaired the Best Aerospace Controls Student Paper Award Committee (2023).
• IEEE: Dr. L'Afflitto co-chaired the M. Barry Carlton Award Committee (2023).
• IISE: Dr. L'Afflitto and his colleagues Drs. Jorge Sefair and Ranjana Mehta participated to the IISE New Facutly Colloquium Panel at the IISE Annual Conference (May 2023).
• Virginia Tech: Dr. L'Afflitto and his colleagues Drs. Ellis, Jeon, and Gabbard participated to the Undergraduate Research Panel (April 2023). A video is available here.
• IEEE: Dr. L'Afflitto chaired the Best Aerospace Controls Student Paper Award Committee (2022).
• Virginia Tech: Dr. L'Afflitto and his colleagues Drs. M. Kasarda and N. Lau gave an online seminar on how to apply for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (September 2021). Slides are available here and the presentation video is available here.
• Virginia Tech: Dr. L'Afflitto participated to the Slush Rush event (Spring and Fall 2021-2024).
• Virginia Tech: Dr. L'Afflitto gave an online seminar on how to apply for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship (September 2020). Click here to watch the video.
• Blacksburg High-School: Dr. L'Afflitto and some of his graduate students gave a tour of the Advanced Control Systems Lab to local senior-year high-school students and encouraged their interest in STEM-related careers (February 2020).
• NAVAIR: Dr. L'Afflitto and his Ph.D. student J. A. Marshall gave 5 lectures on adaptive control and flight dynamics and control of autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (Summer 2019).
• Roste State College:Dr. L'Afflitto and his students R. B. Anderson, J. A. Marshall, and K. D. Martinez-Soto gave a seminar on quadcopters dynamics and control (February 2019).
• Moore-Norman Technology Center: Pre-engineering students visited ACSL and were illustrated both the advantages and the fun of pursuing a career in STEM (September 2018).
• Roste State College: Involving students from Rose State College in my research on unmanned aircraft (July 2017 - July 2019).
• The University of Oklahoma: Graduate committee member (August 2017 - May 2019).

Undergraduate students

• AIAA Scholarship & Graduate Awards 2010 - 2015 - Referee
• AIAA Region II Mid-Atlantic Student Conference 2012 - 2014 - Referee
• AIAA Region I Mid-Atlantic Student Conference 2009, 2011 - Referee

High-school students

• Blacksburg High School: Local high school students visited the Advanced Control Systems Lab and learned about latest research on drones (February 2020).
• International Space Design Competition, NASA Kenndy Space Center, 2009-2011 - Instructor and referee

Professional organizations

• IEEE Conference Editorial Board - – Associate Editor, August 2019 - Present
• IEEE Technical Committee on Aerospace Control - Member, August 2011 - Present
• AIAA Technical Committee on Atmospheric Flight Mechanics - Member, March 2024 -- Present
• AIAA Technical Committee on Guidance, Navigation, and Control - Member, August 2019 - July 2023
• AIAA Region IV, Oklahoma section - Treasurer, August 2015 - July 2019
• AIAA Young Professionals Committee - Former Region 1 Deputy Director
• AIAA Senior Member
• IEEE Member