Research Interests
I direct the Simulations of Flow Physics and Acoustic (SOFIA) Laboratory . Our group's research falls into the categories of fluid dynamics and acoustics. We are particularly interested in:
- The fluid mechanics of biological and bio-inspired locomotion.
- Physics and control of flow interactions with moving, deforming boundaries.
- Numerical simulation of transitional and turbulent hypersonic boundary layer flows
- The interaction of sound and fluid flow.
- Development of novel computational methods for investigating unsteady flow physics.
- Control of acoustically-driven instabilities.
Recent papers: (more)
- Wake Sensing for Aircraft Formation Flight
- The Effects of Boundary Topography on Convection in Earth`s Core
- Low-order phenomenological modeling of leading-edge vortex formation
- Near-wall dynamics of compressible boundary layers
- Numerical Study of Hypersonic Flow over an Isolated Roughness with a High-Order Cut-Cell Method
Students and Postdocs
Graduate students:
- Maziar Hemati (5th year)
- Albert Medina (5th year)
- Kwitae Chong (4th year)
- Chengjie (Tony) Wang (3rd year)
- Ethan Young (3rd year)
- Patrick Greene (5th year, co-advised with Profs. John Kim and Xiaolin Zhong)
Undergraduates:
- Brandon Dizon
- Khai Tran
- Darwin Darakananda
Former graduate students:
- Tingting Juan (Ph.D., 2011)
- Marcello Ferrari (Ph.D., 2011), Embraer
- Michael Calkins (Ph.D., 2010, co-advised with Prof. Jonathan Aurnou), NSF post-doc, University of Colorado
- Syed F. Rehman (Ph.D., 2010), Hamilton Sundstrand
- Megan M. Wilson (M.S., 2009), GE Energy, Wind Energy Division
- Jonathan Toomey (Ph.D., 2009), Boeing Company, Phantom Works
- Jeany L. Zhang (Ph.D., 2008), Intel Corp.
Former undergraduate students:
- Sung Park (BS, 2011), graduate student at U. Michigan
- Oliver Ortlieb (undergrad researcher, Summer 2009), Harvey Mudd College
- Ryan Conversano (BS, 2010), grad student in UCLA MAE Dept.
- Emily Chu (BS, 2010), grad student in UCLA MAE
- David Pisani (BS, 2009), grad student in UCLA MAE Dept
- Osamu Tomuro (BS, 2008)
- Daniel Hector (BS, 2007)
- Noah Kim (BS, 2006), grad student at Stanford Univ.
- David Kincaide (BS, 2005)
- Matthew Tuttle (BS, 2004)
Recent visitors:
Teaching
- MAE 103 Elementary Fluid Mechanics (F05)
- MAE 150A Intermediate Fluid Mechanics (W05,W07,W09,F09,W10,F10,F11)
- MAE 153A Engineering Acoustics (S04,S06,S08)
- MAE 157 Basic Mechanical Engineering Laboratory (W04)
- MAE 250A Foundations of Fluid Dynamics (F04,F06,F07,F08,W11,W12)
- MAE 250B Viscous and Turbulent Flow (S11)
- MAE 250E Spectral Methods in Fluid Dynamics (S05)
- MAE 150G/250G Fluid Dynamics of Biological Systems (formerly 259A,150D) (W06,W08,S09,S10)
Education
- Post-doctoral researcher (2001-2003), Cambridge University Engineeering Department
- Ph.D. 2002, Caltech, Mechanical Engineering
- M.S. 1997, Caltech, Mechanical Engineering
- B.S. 1996, Cornell University, Mechanical Engineering
Other information
- Associate Editor, Theoretical and Computational Fluid Dynamics, 2010-present
- Member, AIAA Fluid Dynamics Technical Committee, 2007-present
- Co-founder, Southern California Symposium on Flow Physics, 2007-present
- NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award, 2007-2012
- Susan and Henry Samueli MAE Teaching Award, June 2006
- Richard Bruce Chapman Award, Caltech, June 2002
- Caltech GSC Teaching Assistant Award, June 2000