He obtained his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 2000. Dr. Bayandor is the founder and director of the Crashworthiness for Aerospace Structures and Hybrids (CRASH) Lab at Virginia Tech. His areas of expertise include aero- and astronautics, unsteady propulsion and energy, planetary exploration missions, space physics, bioinspired flight, and advanced aerospace structures and design.