Aerospace /engineering/ en CU 麻豆影院 leading 10-university uncrewed aerial systems communications project /engineering/2025/04/10/cu-boulder-leading-10-university-uncrewed-aerial-systems-communications-project <span> CU 麻豆影院 leading 10-university uncrewed aerial systems communications project</span> <span><span>Jeff Zehnder</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-04-10T15:15:44-06:00" title="Thursday, April 10, 2025 - 15:15">Thu, 04/10/2025 - 15:15</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/engineering/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-04/AdobeStock_233841898.jpeg?h=8f74817f&amp;itok=UL8vnjBi" width="1200" height="800" alt="Drone delivering a package."> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/engineering/taxonomy/term/60"> Research </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/engineering/taxonomy/term/2266" hreflang="en">Aerospace</a> <a href="/engineering/taxonomy/term/2267" hreflang="en">Aerospace Engineering</a> <a href="/engineering/taxonomy/term/2153" hreflang="en">Computer Science</a> <a href="/engineering/taxonomy/term/2263" hreflang="en">Electrical Engineering</a> </div> <a href="/engineering/jeff-zehnder">Jeff Zehnder</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p><a href="/aerospace/eric-frew" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="e1da5de8-760c-4070-80e2-1f16da5a1a39" data-entity-substitution="canonical" rel="nofollow">Eric Frew</a> is heading a major project to improve drone communications in anticipation of a future when autonomous aircraft regularly whizz overhead for everything from product deliveries to emergency response.</p><p>A professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the 麻豆影院, Frew is the principal investigator of an $8 million, four-year <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/armd/tacp/ui/uli/2025-university-teams/" rel="nofollow">NASA University Leadership Initiative</a> grant to ensure safe and assured operation of commercial autonomous aircraft in populated areas.</p><p>鈥淭hese are complex scenarios -- a drone flying from Denver International Airport to 麻豆影院 to drop off a package or using drones to monitor wildfires. Consider the benefit if the 麻豆影院 Fire Department could dispatch a drone the moment there鈥檚 an incident t so it gets there before police or fire crews,鈥 Frew said.</p><p>Communications with consumer-grade quad copters are fairly standardized, but Frew鈥檚 team will be studying a much more complex problem 鈥 drones that navigate miles from their operator across challenging terrain where line-of-sight communication with a base station is no longer possible.</p><p>In such cases, cellular networks are the most likely solution for controlling the drone, but that presents unique challenges.</p><p>鈥淲ireless communication is hard,鈥 Frew said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e all had cell phone signals drop out. That鈥檚 fine on the phone with a family member. But if you鈥檙e commanding a flying drone, that鈥檚 a problem.鈥</p><p>The project team comprises some of the best minds in drones, radio signaling and computer science across 10 universities and colleges; the Center for Autonomous Air Mobility and Sensing research partnership; Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences; and the nonprofit Charles Stark Draper Laboratory.</p><p><a href="https://ece.ncsu.edu/people/iguvenc/" rel="nofollow">Ismail Guvenc</a> is a partner on the project. An electrical engineering professor at North Carolina State University, he leads a major aerial experimentation laboratory that will offer the team opportunities to develop and test uncrewed aerial system concepts in a real-world outdoor testbed.</p><p>鈥淭his is advancing the state of the art in an area of critical and timely significance for the United States. We鈥檒l be modeling the behavior of agents, interference, and data in hybrid airborne-terrestrial networks and their impact on the overall performance of the communication network. We will also be supporting real-world experiments and testing needs of project partners at <a href="https://aerpaw.org/" rel="nofollow">Aerial Experimentation and Research Platform for Advanced Wireless (AERPAW)</a>,鈥 Guvenc said.</p><p>Part of the research will focus on designing flight corridors that ensure continued communication. In the case of a trip from DIA to 麻豆影院, that could mean designing a pathway that stays close to cell towers, rather than following the most direct route. Another possibility is using multiple drones as a mesh relay network.</p><p>鈥淭he transmission would multi-hop back through each drone. We can鈥檛 control the ground communications, but we can exploit our own,鈥 Frew said.</p><p>Relay networks will be particularly important in sparsely populated areas with fewer cell towers, like during wildfire response in the Rocky Mountains.</p><div class="ucb-box ucb-box-title-hidden ucb-box-alignment-left ucb-box-style-fill ucb-box-theme-white"><div class="ucb-box-inner"><div class="ucb-box-content"><p>&nbsp;</p></div></div></div><div class="ucb-box ucb-box-title-hidden ucb-box-alignment-left ucb-box-style-fill ucb-box-theme-white"><div class="ucb-box-inner"><div class="ucb-box-content"><p class="lead">This is part of a larger vision of how our work can help society. The goal is to provide tools to industry to understand and exploit the dynamic communications environment in urban, suburban, rural and remote areas.鈥 - <em>Eric Frew</em></p></div></div></div><p>鈥淗ow do we organize stakeholders in that environment? We want to be able to manage team formations, routing and planning so we can work in a hybrid communications system that alternates between air-to-air and air-to-ground communications seamlessly,鈥 Frew said.</p><p>Managing that complex interplay will be an area of study for multiple partners on the project, including <a href="https://faculty.uccs.edu/pbrown/" rel="nofollow">Philip Brown, </a>an assistant professor in computer science at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. His work focuses on using game theory to inform the design of networked control systems.</p><p>鈥淢y lab studies the way that network structure impacts team performance for loosely connected teams, which is what a group of drones are in this case. We鈥檙e evaluating and predicting the performance of network structures, and also using network structures to inform the decisions made by individual autonomous aircraft,鈥 Brown said.</p><p>A key objective of the project is technology transfer to industry. While some grants focus more on early stage research, Frew emphasized their plan to develop software and data to assist business and government going forward.</p><p>鈥淭his is part of a larger vision of how our work can help society,鈥 Frew said. 鈥淭he goal is to provide tools to industry to understand and exploit the dynamic communications environment in urban, suburban, rural and remote areas.鈥</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <script> window.location.href = `/aerospace/cu-boulder-leading-10-university-uncrewed-aerial-systems-communications-project`; </script> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Off</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Thu, 10 Apr 2025 21:15:44 +0000 Jeff Zehnder 7830 at /engineering PhD alum spent 45 days isolated in space. Well, kind of /engineering/alum-spent-45-days-isolated-in-space <span>PhD alum spent 45 days isolated in space. Well, kind of</span> <span><span>Alexander Jame鈥</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-04-02T14:35:17-06:00" title="Wednesday, April 2, 2025 - 14:35">Wed, 04/02/2025 - 14:35</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/engineering/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-04/jsc2024e070804.jpg?h=b58523c7&amp;itok=9iiCFhE-" width="1200" height="800" alt="Robert Wilson and team inside HERA facility"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/engineering/taxonomy/term/64"> Alumni </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/engineering/taxonomy/term/2266" hreflang="en">Aerospace</a> <a href="/engineering/taxonomy/term/415" hreflang="en">Alumni Feature</a> <a href="/engineering/taxonomy/term/2240" hreflang="en">Mechanical Engineering</a> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Robert Wilson (PhDMechEngr'20) spent 45 days locked inside NASA鈥檚 HERA facility, a high-tech simulation designed to test the limits of human endurance in deep space. His mission could help shape the future of space exploration鈥攁nd life back on Earth.</div> <script> window.location.href = `/mechanical/alum-spent-45-days-isolated-in-space`; </script> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Off</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Wed, 02 Apr 2025 20:35:17 +0000 Alexander James Servantez 7820 at /engineering Aircrafts of the future: Boosting aerodynamic performance by engineered surface vibrations /engineering/2025/03/24/aircrafts-future-boosting-aerodynamic-performance-engineered-surface-vibrations <span>Aircrafts of the future: Boosting aerodynamic performance by engineered surface vibrations</span> <span><span>Jeff Zehnder</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-03-24T10:34:49-06:00" title="Monday, March 24, 2025 - 10:34">Mon, 03/24/2025 - 10:34</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/engineering/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-03/rocket.png?h=337b233c&amp;itok=WQzWCEdH" width="1200" height="800" alt="Rendering of a hypersonic rocket."> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/engineering/taxonomy/term/419"> Awards </a> <a href="/engineering/taxonomy/term/60"> Research </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/engineering/taxonomy/term/2266" hreflang="en">Aerospace</a> <a href="/engineering/taxonomy/term/2267" hreflang="en">Aerospace Engineering</a> </div> <a href="/engineering/jeff-zehnder">Jeff Zehnder</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><div><div><div><div><div><p><em>鈥淭his is probably the most radical conceptual advancement for airplanes since the replacement of propellers with jets.鈥 鈥 M.I. Hussein</em></p><p><a href="/aerospace/mahmoud-hussein" data-entity-type="node" data-entity-uuid="0d8db641-4d3e-44fe-93c9-d5042919bc57" data-entity-substitution="canonical" rel="nofollow">Mahmoud Hussein</a> is not pulling punches about the potential impact of a major aerospace materials research project.</p><p>As the principal investigator of a <a href="https://media.defense.gov/2024/Mar/08/2003409172/-1/-1/1/FY24_MURI_FINAL.PDF" rel="nofollow">$7.5 million, five-year</a> Department of Defense Office of Naval Research (ONR) Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI), Hussein is leading an effort to reshape the fundamental character of fluid-structure interactions to reduce drag on high-speed aerospace vehicles鈥攖he focus of the project.</p><p>鈥淪ince the dawn of aviation, aircraft design has been based on the premise of shaping the surface of the vehicle to create lift and minimize drag. Our team is pursuing a new paradigm where the phononic properties, or intrinsic vibrations, of a surface or subsurface provide an additional pathway to interact with the airflow, to enhance the vehicle performance in an unprecedented manner,鈥 said Hussein, the Alvah and Harriet Hovlid Professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at the 麻豆影院.</p><p>Hussein also has a courtesy appointment in the Department of Physics and an affiliation with the Materials Science and Engineering Program.</p></div></div></div></div></div><div><div><div><div><div><div>&nbsp;</div></div></div><div><div><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><div class="ucb-box ucb-box-title-hidden ucb-box-alignment-none ucb-box-style-fill ucb-box-theme-darkgray"><div class="ucb-box-inner"><div class="ucb-box-content"><h2>&nbsp;</h2></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><div class="ucb-box ucb-box-title-hidden ucb-box-alignment-none ucb-box-style-fill ucb-box-theme-darkgray"><div class="ucb-box-inner"><div class="ucb-box-content"><h2>MURI Partners</h2><p><strong>麻豆影院</strong></p><ul><li>Mahmoud I. Hussein<br><em>Professor &amp; Principal Investigator</em></li><li>Armin Kianfar&nbsp;<br><em>Post-Doctoral Associate</em></li><li>Adam Harris<br><em>PhD Student</em></li></ul><p><strong>University of Maryland</strong></p><ul><li>Christoph Brehm<br><em>Associate Professor</em></li></ul><p><strong>Johns Hopkins University</strong></p><ul><li>Kevin Hemker<br><em>Professor</em></li></ul><p><strong>Purdue University</strong></p><ul><li>Joseph Jewell<br><em>Associate Professor</em></li></ul><p><strong>Applied Physics Laboratory</strong></p><ul><li>Keith Caruso<br><em>Principal Staff Engineer</em></li><li>Ken Kane<br><em>Researcher</em></li></ul><p><strong>University of Kentucky</strong></p><ul><li>Alexandre Martin<br><em>Professor</em></li></ul><p><strong>Case Western Reserve University</strong></p><ul><li>Bryan Schmidt<br><em>Assistant Professor</em></li></ul><p><strong>Office of Naval Research (Program Directors)</strong></p><ul><li>Eric Marineau</li><li>Eric Wuchina</li></ul></div></div></div></div></div><h2>Phononic Subsurfaces</h2><p>Turbulent airflow is detrimental to the fuel economy and the surface temperature of aircrafts as they soar through the atmosphere. This research aims to mitigate the transition to turbulence using <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspa.2014.0928" rel="nofollow">phononic subsurfaces (PSubs)</a> 鈥 synthetic designed materials affixed beneath the surface of a wing or vehicle body that passively manipulate small-amplitude vibrations, and by extension flow fluctuations, point-by-point along the surface.</p><h2>Turbulence and Fuel Economy</h2><p>Passenger planes consume over 10,000 gallons of jet fuel on a single cross-country trip, so improvements in fuel economy could lead to big savings for airlines. The potential in hypersonic crafts is even more dramatic.</p><p>Hypersonic vehicles travel at velocities at least five times the speed of sound. The turbulence that results from such speeds causes the surface of the vehicles to heat up to thousands of degrees, requiring they be constructed of exotic, expensive materials.</p><p>鈥淏y introducing a phononic subsurface to precisely shape the vibrations along the surface, we can alter the way the air interacts with the vehicle such that we ultimately don鈥檛 need to come up with exceedingly high-temperature-resistant materials,鈥 Hussein said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e passively manipulating instabilities in air flow in a manner that is favorable in the boundary layer where the vehicle meets the surrounding air.鈥</p><h2>2015 to Today</h2><p>The concept of PSubs was discovered by Hussein. The work began from a collaboration over 15 years ago between Hussein and then CU 麻豆影院 Professor Sedat Biringen, who died in 2020. As leaders in the newly-born research area of phononics and the longstanding field of fluid dynamics, respectively, they worked together to theoretically demonstrate<span>鈥</span>for the first time<span>鈥</span>a way to manipulate phonons to improve the efficiency of flight, with tremendous potential for the aerospace industry and prospects for application to water vessels as well.</p><p>Recently Hussein gathered a team of experts from across the country to take the concept of PSubs to the next level with this hypersonics MURI grant. Over the duration of the project, the group will develop high-fidelity models and fabricate functional prototypes to effectively characterize and demonstrate the technology in high-speed wind tunnels.</p><p>鈥淲e鈥檙e most confident about this endeavor, because the idea is rooted in fundamental science marrying<span>鈥</span>in quite a sophisticated fashion<span>鈥</span>fluid dynamics with condensed matter physics as well as with the emerging field of elastic metamaterials,鈥 Hussein said.</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>鈥淭his is probably the most radical conceptual advancement for airplanes since the replacement of propellers with jets.鈥 鈥 Mahmoud Hussein is not pulling punches about the potential impact of a major aerospace materials research project.</div> <script> window.location.href = `/aerospace/aircrafts-future-boosting-aerodynamic-performance-engineered-surface-vibrations`; </script> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Off</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Mon, 24 Mar 2025 16:34:49 +0000 Jeff Zehnder 7811 at /engineering Four with ties to CU elected to 2025 class of National Academy of Engineering /engineering/four-ties-cu-engineering-elected-2025-class-national-academy-engineers <span>Four with ties to CU elected to 2025 class of National Academy of Engineering</span> <span><span>Emily Adams</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-02-25T13:06:09-07:00" title="Tuesday, February 25, 2025 - 13:06">Tue, 02/25/2025 - 13:06</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/engineering/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2024-10/Engineering_Center_Sunset_2024_MAH_0000015.JPG?h=1f7eb1b0&amp;itok=pO1ad3It" width="1200" height="800" alt="Engineering Center at 麻豆影院"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/engineering/taxonomy/term/419"> Awards </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/engineering/taxonomy/term/2266" hreflang="en">Aerospace</a> <a href="/engineering/taxonomy/term/1935" hreflang="en">Quantum</a> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p>Two CU 麻豆影院 faculty members, a former faculty member and a distinguished alumnus are among 128 new members elected to the National Academy of Engineering for 2025.&nbsp;</p><p>According to NAE, "<span>election to the National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Academy membership honors those who have made outstanding contributions in at least one of the following categories: 'engineering practice, research, or education,' 'pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, major advancements in traditional fields of engineering, or development/implementation of innovative approaches to engineering education' or 'engineering leadership of one or more major endeavors.'"</span></p><p><span>The four will be formally inducted during the NAE's Annual Meeting in October.&nbsp;</span></p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default 3"> <div class="ucb-article-row-subrow row"> <div class="ucb-article-text col-lg d-flex align-items-center" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><h2>Scott Diddams</h2><p><span><strong>For contributions to optical frequency combs and their applications</strong></span></p><p>Electrical engineer and physicist <a href="/ecee/scott-diddams" rel="nofollow">Scott Diddams</a> holds the Robert H. Davis Endowed Chair.&nbsp;He carries out experimental research in the fields of precision spectroscopy and quantum metrology, nonlinear optics, microwave photonics and ultrafast lasers. Diddams earned his PhD degree from the University of New Mexico and previously served as a research physicist, group leader and fellow the National Institute of Standards and Technology. In 2022, he joined the CU 麻豆影院 faculty, where he is also the faculty director of the Quantum Engineering Initiative in the College of Engineering and Applied Science. As a postdoc, Diddams built the first optical frequency combs in the lab of Nobel Prize laureate John Hall, and throughout his career, he has pioneered the use of these powerful tools for optical clocks, tests of fundamental physics, novel spectroscopy and astronomy.&nbsp;</p><p><em>Related reading:&nbsp;</em></p><ul><li><a href="/today/2024/06/20/cu-boulder-wins-20m-lead-national-quantum-nanofab-facility" rel="nofollow"><span>CU 麻豆影院 wins $20M to lead National Quantum Nanofab facility</span></a></li><li><a href="/today/2025/01/16/quantum-engineers-squeeze-laser-frequency-combs-make-more-sensitive-gas-sensors" rel="nofollow"><span>Quantum engineers 鈥榮queeze鈥 laser frequency combs to make more sensitive gas sensors</span></a></li></ul></div> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content-media ucb-article-content-media-right col-lg"> <div> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--media paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/engineering/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/article-image/scott_diddams_laboratory_jmp_016.png?itok=Vwtgdy-y" width="1500" height="1000" alt="Scott diddams lab"> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default 2"> <div class="ucb-article-row-subrow row"> <div class="ucb-article-content-media ucb-article-content-media-left col-lg"> <div> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--media paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/engineering/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/article-thumbnail/hanspeter-schaub-earns-cu-boulders-highest-award-for-teaching-and-research-cu-boulder-today-university-of-colorado-boulder.png?itok=a4i8BQ9P" width="1500" height="1120" alt="Hanspeter Schaub "> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ucb-article-text col-lg d-flex align-items-center" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><h2>Hanspeter Schaub</h2><p><strong>For contributions to the control of satellite formations and relative orientations utilizing natural forces, including the use of electrostatics</strong></p><p>A distinguished professor and chair of the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at CU 麻豆影院, <a href="/aerospace/hanspeter-schaub" rel="nofollow">Hanspeter Schaub</a> has made pioneering research advances in spacecraft formation flying, space debris mitigation, attitude dynamics, autonomous spacecraft tasking and charged astrodynamics. His work has been instrumental in high-profile space projects, including the development of key components for the UAE Hope mission to Mars and the creation of the widely used <a href="https://avslab.github.io/basilisk" rel="nofollow">Basilisk software&nbsp;</a>for spacecraft mission simulation. He has been recognized multiple times for excellence in research and education, including the 2024 American Astronautical Society <a href="https://astronautical.org/awards/brouwer/" rel="nofollow">Dirk Brouwer Award</a> for transformational research.<span>&nbsp;</span>He is a Fellow of both AIAA and AAS. Schaub has been a member of the CU 麻豆影院 aerospace faculty since 2007 and holds a bachelor's, master's and PhD in aerospace engineering, all from Texas A&amp;M University.</p><p><em>Related reading:&nbsp;</em></p><ul><li><a href="/aerospace/2024/11/07/schaub-one-nine-new-cu-distinguished-professors" rel="nofollow">Schaub one of nine new CU Distinguished Professors</a></li><li><a href="/aerospace/2024/06/03/cu-boulder-industry-partner-space-docking-and-satellite-ai-research" rel="nofollow">CU 麻豆影院, industry partner on space docking and satellite AI research</a></li></ul></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default 3"> <div class="ucb-article-row-subrow row"> <div class="ucb-article-text col-lg d-flex align-items-center" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><h2>Dan Frangopol</h2><p><span><strong>For contributions to life-cycle civil engineering and leadership in its global development and adoption</strong></span></p><p dir="ltr"><a href="/ceae/dan-m-frangopol" rel="nofollow"><span>Dan Frangopol</span></a><span> is a distinguished CU 麻豆影院 professor emeritus with a significant career in the university鈥檚&nbsp;</span><a href="/ceae/" rel="nofollow"><span>Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering</span></a><span>. He joined CU 麻豆影院鈥檚 faculty as an associate professor in March 1983. He was promoted to full professor in 1988 and became an emeritus professor in 2006. Renowned as an expert in structural reliability, optimization and life-cycle engineering, Frangopol earned the title "Father of Life-Cycle Analysis" from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).&nbsp;In November 2023, the ASCE board of directors established the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://engineering.lehigh.edu/news/article/asce-establishes-dan-m-frangopol-medal-life-cycle-engineering-civil-structures" rel="nofollow"><span>Dan M. Frangopol Medal for Life-Cycle Engineering of Civil Structures</span></a><span> in honor of&nbsp;</span><a href="/ceae/dan-m-frangopol" rel="nofollow"><span>Frangopol</span></a><span>. Frangopol, currently a professor at Lehigh University, holds Lehigh鈥檚 inaugural&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.lehigh.edu/~infrk/chair.html" rel="nofollow"><span>Fazlur R. Khan Endowed Chair of Structural Engineering and Architecture</span></a><span>. Frangopol received his diploma in engineering from the Institute of Civil Engineering, Bucharest, Romania, in 1969 and his doctorate of applied sciences from the University of Li猫ge, Belgium, in 1976.&nbsp;</span></p><p dir="ltr"><em><span>Related reading:&nbsp;</span></em></p><ul><li><p dir="ltr"><a href="/ceae/2023/11/27/civil-engineering-society-establishes-medal-honor-frangopol" dir="ltr" rel="nofollow">Civil engineering society establishes medal to honor Frangopol</a></p></li></ul></div> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content-media ucb-article-content-media-right col-lg"> <div> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--media paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/engineering/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-02/dan%20frangopol%20ASCE%20OPAL.jpg?itok=5boD3UUL" width="1500" height="1000" alt="Frangopol speaks on-stage at the 2016 ASCE OPAL award ceremony"> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default 2"> <div class="ucb-article-row-subrow row"> <div class="ucb-article-content-media ucb-article-content-media-left col-lg"> <div> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--media paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/engineering/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2024-11/2charles%20hull%20copy%202.png?itok=cX5i_xTq" width="1500" height="1190" alt="Charles Hull"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Charles W. Hull <span>(EngrPhys鈥61) and President Biden</span></p> </span> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ucb-article-text col-lg d-flex align-items-center" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><h2><span>Charles W. Hull</span></h2><p><span><strong>For the invention of 3D printing and the subsequent development of the additive manufacturing industry</strong></span></p><p><span>After Chuck Hull (EngPhys'61) completed his degree, he worked with a DuPont subsidiary before going on to invent the solid imaging process known as stereolithography. This became the basis of the first commercial 3D printing technology, which spurred the dawning of a dynamic industry in the United States. Upon securing a stereolithography patent in 1986, Hull then founded 3D Systems Corp. Hull initiated the 3D printing industry and remains involved in the corporation鈥檚 day-to-day operations through a range of innovative applications, including state-of-the art production of 3D printers to the first home-certified 3D printer, the award-winning Cube. A member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Hull is credited as the inventor on more than 90 U.S. patents in the field of ion optics and 3D printing. As a strong advocate for education and training of youth in all aspects of this rapidly growing technology, Hull received an honorary degree from the University of Colorado Board of Regents in 2016.</span></p><p><em><span>Related reading:&nbsp;</span></em></p><ul><li><a href="/coloradan/charlie-hull" rel="nofollow"><span>CU 麻豆影院 alum鈥檚 invention of 3D printing recognized by President Biden</span></a></li></ul></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Two CU 麻豆影院 faculty members, a former faculty member and a distinguished alumnus will be among 128 new members inducted into the academy in October. </div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Off</div> </div> </h2> <div>Zebra Striped</div> <div>0</div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Tue, 25 Feb 2025 20:06:09 +0000 Emily Adams 7789 at /engineering Life in space from a CU 麻豆影院 alumna who has been there /engineering/2024/11/12/life-space-cu-boulder-alumna-who-has-been-there <span>Life in space from a CU 麻豆影院 alumna who has been there</span> <span><span>Jeff Zehnder</span></span> <span><time datetime="2024-11-12T11:53:33-07:00" title="Tuesday, November 12, 2024 - 11:53">Tue, 11/12/2024 - 11:53</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/engineering/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2024-11/Sarah_Gillis_Fiske1GA.JPG?h=d9527aee&amp;itok=em3jGXK6" width="1200" height="800" alt="Sarah Gillis outside Fiske."> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/engineering/taxonomy/term/64"> Alumni </a> <a href="/engineering/taxonomy/term/60"> Research </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/engineering/taxonomy/term/2266" hreflang="en">Aerospace</a> <a href="/engineering/taxonomy/term/2267" hreflang="en">Aerospace Engineering</a> <a href="/engineering/taxonomy/term/415" hreflang="en">Alumni Feature</a> </div> <a href="/engineering/jeff-zehnder">Jeff Zehnder</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p>Sarah Gillis (AeroEngr鈥17) is a lead space operations engineer and astronaut trainer at SpaceX with literal out-of-this-world experience.</p><p>The 麻豆影院 alumna recently returned from a five-day orbital mission aboard <a href="https://polarisprogram.com/dawn/" rel="nofollow">Polaris Dawn,</a> which took astronauts further from Earth than any have traveled since the end of the Apollo program in 1972.</p><p>On Nov. 11, she spoke to students and community members in a special event at Fiske Planetarium.</p><p>A 麻豆影院 native, Gillis shared what life was like in space for the four-member crew and details of the science and engineering that brought them to orbit and safely home.</p> <div class="align-right image_style-medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/engineering/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/2024-11/Sarah_Gillis_Fiske5GA.JPG?itok=mvevhmTe" width="750" height="510" alt="Gillis posing for a photo with a student."> </div> </div> <h2><strong>What it is like experiencing launch for the first time.</strong></h2><p>Intellectually, I had studied all the physical changes you go through going to space, but actually going through them is fascinating. For this one moment, you鈥檙e defying gravity as the rocket lifts off the pad and you start accelerating and accelerating. You get pushed into your seat. The Gs get to about 4.5. When you get to second engine cutoff and you鈥檙e just floating, you no longer have pressure pushing you into the seat 鈥 you have fluid in your face. You suddenly feel like when you鈥檙e a kid and you鈥檙e laying upside down off the bed.</p><h2><strong>There鈥檚 an adjustment period once you are in orbit.</strong></h2><p>Every crew member goes through this time on board where you鈥檙e adapting. The first two days are pretty hard in space. You鈥檙e figuring it out. You鈥檙e going through all the physiological changes. You have this brain fog; you have elevated fluid. You can have space motion sickness.</p><p>You鈥檙e probably not feeling your best, in all honesty. How you set up a timeline for crew members in space should account for that. You could not possibly have talked our crew into doing any less on our mission, but hindsight is definitely helpful, and it鈥檚 just a reality that it takes a bit of time for crew members to adapt.</p><h2><strong>Keep an eye on space while following your passions.</strong></h2><p>I always knew how unlikely it was to ever become an astronaut. The statistics are not in your favor right now at our point in human history. I do think that鈥檚 going to change in the very near future if SpaceX is successful in bringing Starship online. You go from having four people in a spacecraft to 100 people in a spacecraft. As you change those numbers, cost of access to space will go down, so the opportunities that will exist will look much different in next 10-15 years.</p><p>For me, knowing how unlikely it was, it was super important to find things I was genuinely interested in. That way, no matter what happening in life, I couldn鈥檛 be disappointed because I was doing things that were interesting and engaging and things I wanted to be pursuing. Follow your curiosity, and it will take you to extraordinary places.</p><h2><strong>The incredible complexity of designing a space suit from scratch.</strong></h2><p>It was about a 2.5-year development program where one day we would show up and we鈥檇 have the left shoulder rebuilt in a certain way. The next Monday we鈥檇 show up and they鈥檇 have a whole new elbow for us to try. Then we鈥檇 go and get in the simulator and understand what worked and what didn鈥檛 and really fed that into the design process of these suits. It was a pretty extraordinary development effort.</p><p>There were times that we were learning stuff that went against industry knowledge. One of the things we discovered pretty late was the risk of electrostatic discharge in the suits. That led to an entire deep dive into understanding material testing.</p><p>One of the last tests we did still on Earth was once the suit had gone through all sorts of iterations, we actually took them to a vacuum chamber at Johnson Space Center and we wore them in the vacuum chamber and ran through the entire depress and repress sequence. It was just an extraordinary test of competence into the suit, understanding what the pressure changes and temperature changes would feel like.</p> <div class="align-left image_style-medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/engineering/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/2024-11/Sarah_Gillis_Fiske6GA.JPG?itok=EsIRcl28" width="750" height="500" alt="Taking a selfie with K-12 students."> </div> </div> <h2><strong>Moving in space without gravity to weigh you down creates challenges.</strong></h2><p>What鈥檚 so cool about moving in a pressurized suit is it鈥檚 really almost physical problem solving. You can only rotate your shoulder so many degrees, or you can only extend your arm so far in the suit. What that means is you have to make sure that a person of a certain stature can perform everything they need to in that pressurized environment. It was a really cool development process with SpaceX to figure out what new mobility aids we needed in the spacecraft. What additional handholds and footholds would be required to make sure we could accomplish all the tasks we needed to.</p><p>On flight day two we got pressurized in the suits and did a dry run (of the spacewalk). It was really fun to actually see how things worked, and what were the things we hadn鈥檛 accounted for. As soon as I went to the controls and interfaced with them, based on where my center of mass was, my feet would suddenly start rotating up, and so I had to find a whole new strategy for how to secure myself when I was at the displays and how to transition out from the displays.</p><h2><strong>Train for the worst day so you can experience the best day.</strong></h2><p>In training we had really prepared for every possible scenario we could come up with for the EVA (extravehicular activity). Really as much as we could use the imagination to prepare bad day scenarios, we had trained for them, and it was so smooth. You train for the worst day so you can actually experience the best day. The spacewalk went exactly as we had hoped.</p><h2><strong>There is so much we do not know about life in space.</strong></h2><p>We partnered with 31 institutions on 36 research experiments, a lot of which came from CU, which I was really excited about. <a href="/today/2024/09/10/polaris-dawns-launch-colorado-scientists-will-study-vision-changes-space" rel="nofollow">Some of my former professors actually contributed experiments to the mission.</a></p><p>Overall, the research was really focused on experiments that needed human involvement, things that could benefit future life as we try and look toward Mars. There鈥檚 a lot of health issues that astronauts encounter over long duration, and this includes space motion sickness, and spaceflight associated neuro-ocular syndrome.</p><p>Many astronauts do have degraded vision over time, and we don鈥檛 actually understand the mechanism at this point. It鈥檚 often associated with the fluid shift that happens where you suddenly have more fluid in your brain, but if we鈥檙e going to actually mitigate that and fix it in the future, we need to get to the heart of the cause, so we did a whole slew of experiments looking at different eye pressure and vision change data.</p><h2><strong>Re-entry is awesome.</strong></h2><p>It鈥檚 so, so cool to reenter Earth鈥檚 atmosphere. We start seeing a glow around the spacecraft at around 100 km. Then as you start to get lower you start to see these neon colors, pinks and oranges, and you actually see some of the sparks flying past the window. As you get lower in the atmosphere you start encountering turbulence with the different layers of the atmosphere. The thrusters are firing all around and it really feels like Dragon is clawing its way back into the atmosphere.</p><h2><strong>The mission does not end at splashdown.</strong></h2><p>We were picked up by the recovery vessel, and about 30 minutes later we climbed out of the spacecraft. We were checked out by the doctors before being flown by helicopter back to Kennedy Space Center, where we met our families. From there the mission wasn鈥檛 over, we had about a week of science and research and data collection post flight. We traveled to Houston pretty immediately for some high-density bone scans.</p> <div class="align-right image_style-medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/engineering/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/2024-11/Sarah_Gillis_Fiske7GA.JPG?itok=gqpfcq4I" width="750" height="500" alt="Gillis crouching next to the Fiske projector."> </div> </div> <h2><strong>Trusting others with your life 鈥 teamwork is critical.</strong></h2><p>Human spaceflight is the ultimate team sport. It鈥檚 not only you have to have an extreme working relationship with the people on that mission 鈥 you are absolutely trusting them with your life to keep you safe. That extends to the people on the ground team as well, you have this entire team supporting you, and even more people behind the scenes beyond that.</p><p>As a trainer, I knew the technical side of Dragon and what you need to do to live and work in space, and what I found most interesting was in one of our early sims, the four of us go in the spacecraft, and we did terribly. We completely messed up the scenario. We were all going in different directions, chasing rabbit holes and ultimately just failed the simulation in so many ways. You have to learn how to work as a team.</p><p>It doesn鈥檛 matter what you bring to the team, you have to learn when to lead, when to follow, how you bring what you can contribute through a different lens because ultimately the success of the crew is what鈥檚 most important versus your own knowledge.</p><h2><strong>Seeing Earth from space changes you.</strong></h2><p>Seeing the Earth from that perspective cannot not change someone. All of our time here on Earth is so precious, your life is only so many hours overall. I have this immense appreciation for maximizing what we are here to do in this world. I think you certainly take calculated risks when you put yourself on a rocket and launch to space, or reenter the atmosphere. Those are all things that you have to believe that the risk is worth it for the benefit. It鈥檚 shifted my perspective a little bit on how cherished our time is with our family and our friends and what we鈥檙e here to do on this Earth. I鈥檓 still reflecting on it. I think it will continue to change me.</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Off</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/engineering/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2024-11/Sarah_Gillis_Fiske1GA.JPG?itok=EHzmLoMX" width="1500" height="1000" alt="Sarah Gillis outside Fiske."> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Tue, 12 Nov 2024 18:53:33 +0000 Jeff Zehnder 7672 at /engineering