Honoring a legacy through open education

When "Lecture Notes on Configuration Aerodynamics" was released on Jan. 19, which would have been William Mason's 79th birthday, it marked more than the publication of a new engineering resource. It represented years of collaboration, careful stewardship, and a shared commitment to honoring a colleague's legacy while expanding access to knowledge.

Published by Virginia Tech's Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering (AOE) in association with Virginia Tech Publishing, the open textbook is a grant-funded project of the University Libraries' Open Education Initiative. The project dates back to 2021, when University Libraries published "Aerodynamics and Aircraft Performance" as an open textbook. That effort caught the attention of AOE leadership and sparked interest in a previously unfinished manuscript by Mason, a longtime Virginia Tech faculty member who passed away in 2019.

Sharing scholarship with the world

What followed was a complex, highly collaborative process to publish the manuscript. With the support of Mason's family, including his sister, Carol Bland of Fairlawn, Virginia, the team secured permission to update and publish the work under an open license.

"Our family is delighted to see Bill's work and legacy honored in this way," Bland said.

Pradeep Raj, collegiate professor emeritus of aerospace and ocean engineering, helped lead the effort.

"Dr. Mason painstakingly prepared a comprehensive set of lecture notes that he shared with the students enrolled in his Configuration Aerodynamics class, a course he created from scratch and taught for more than two decades," Raj said. "The manuscript he left behind had a few gaps that he intended to fill over time, but it was more like a 'diamond in the rough.'"

In the years following Mason's passing, the department recognized the value of the material and began exploring its future.

"In the 2020-21 timeframe, the department decided to explore converting the manuscript to an open textbook," said Raj. "Anita Walz of University Libraries enthusiastically embraced the idea, and the publication of the book in January 2026 is largely the result of her leadership and dedication."

"This is a story about honoring people and the importance of relationships," said Walz, assistant director of open education and scholarly communication librarian. "It's a story about the value of teaching materials as scholarship, about how open educational resources (OER) can advance instruction and learning in technical fields, and how collaboration across time can make a difference to students and industry."

"My experience working with University Libraries was excellent," said Raj. "Everyone I worked with was a consummate professional, very knowledgeable about their roles and responsibilities, and always willing to go the extra mile to help me out. Since I had no prior experience in publishing a book, I knew little about the scope of the effort. Anita Walz and Kindred Grey patiently educated me and guided me through the many challenges we faced along the journey."

A collaborative effort

The work was spearheaded by Raj, who served as the manuscript's editor, refining and preparing it for publication. He researched concepts and applications beyond his primary area of expertise to provide accurate and up-to-date content. The project's development was funded and supported by the Libraries' Open Education Initiative Faculty Grant, led by Walz, and published by Virginia Tech Publishing & Press, with production led by Kindred Grey.

Additionally, several dedicated Virginia Tech students, now alumni, Pranay Patel '23, M.S.'24; Sullivan Madden '23; and Joseph Brooks, B.A.'17, B.S.'17, Ph.D. '22; helped bring Mason's unfinished manuscript to fruition, providing production and technical assistance for the publication, including creating alternative text for over 300 figures and converting handwritten mathematical equations to machine-readable formats.