Happening @ Michigan https://events.umich.edu/list/rss RSS Feed for Happening @ Michigan Events at the University of Michigan. AE Chair's Distinguished Seminar: "Future Directions for the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics" (October 17, 2019 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/63902 63902-15985744@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, October 17, 2019 4:00pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Daniel Hastings
Department Head, MIT Aeronautics and Astronautics Cecil and Ida Green Education Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics

The MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics has been undertaking a strategic assessment of its directions. This is motivated by three forcing functions. First the creation of the College of Computing at MIT and the vision that computing broadly defined now infuses all of modern engineering. Second, the aerospace enterprise is thriving and has been undergoing a burst of entrepreneurial activity in the past few years. This is driving the democratization of air and space at scales and applications that universities can approach. Third, as the undergraduate population in the nation has become more diverse, aerospace writ large has dramatically lagged behind.

The talk will explore changes in directions to address these forcing functions and position the Department for the future.

About the speaker...
Prof. Daniel Hastings is the Department Head of the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Previously he was the CEO and Director of the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART).

Professor Hastings earned a PhD and an SM, from MIT in Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1980 and 1978 respectively, and received a BA in Mathematics from Oxford University in England in 1976. He joined the MIT faculty in 1985. With almost 30 years of experience in academia, Professor Hastings was MIT’s Dean of Undergraduate Education from 2006 to 2013, head of the MIT Technology and Policy Program and director of the MIT Engineering Systems Division.

Professor Hastings was US Air Force Chief Scientist From 1997-1999 and chair of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board from 2002-2005. He currently serves on the Board of the Aerospace Corporation, the Board of the Draper Corporation and the Advisory Board of MIT Lincoln Lab. He has served on several US National Research Council committees including the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board and the Government University Industry Interactions Roundtable.

Professor Hastings is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) and a member of the US National Academy of Engineering. He served on the NASA Advisory Council, the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, the Defense Science Board, the National Science Board and several ad-hoc committees on space technology as well as on Science and Technology management and processes. He has published over 120 papers, written a book on spacecraft environment interactions and won 5 best papers awards. His recent research is focused on Complex Space System Design. His previous work was on spacecraft environment interactions and space propulsion.

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Lecture / Discussion Wed, 28 Aug 2019 12:38:10 -0400 2019-10-17T16:00:00-04:00 2019-10-17T17:15:00-04:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Lecture / Discussion Hastings picture
AE585 Graduate Seminar Series: Optimization and Learning in Safety-Critical Autonomous Systems (October 24, 2019 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/68585 68585-17103251@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, October 24, 2019 4:00pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Chuangchuang Sun
Postdoctoral Associate
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The autonomy of robotics and space systems are fundamental issues, especially for large-scale systems with critical safety issues. Specific problems include robotic mixed-type decision-making problems and spacecraft multi-phase mission planning. We propose both off-line and online algorithms to empower autonomy in real-time.
We develop the off-line algorithm by first formulating such problems as a Quadratically Constrained Quadratic Programming (QCQP), with safety criterions as constraints directly. Subsequently, to solve the QCQP, an efficient optimization algorithm is proposed based on inexact augmented Lagrangian methods. Our algorithm admits simple subproblems with closed-form solutions, which leads to scalability and real-time applicability. Simulation results are presented to validate the effectiveness and efficacy of our algorithms.
Also, for the online algorithm, Control Barrier Functions (CBF) with forward-invariance is adopted to guarantee safety via calibrating the input from control algorithms. However, CBF in high-order systems can often encounter infeasibility due to control limitations. To address that, we learn a differentiable safety hyperplane getting the lower-order states involved. A feedback training scheme is developed to decrease the infeasibility rate recursively. Subsequently, the newly learned safety hyperplane is added as a constraint in the CBF formulation. Simulation results on path planning demonstrate the improvement of the proposed framework.

About the Speaker...

Dr. Chuangchuang Sun is currently a postdoctoral associate in the department of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT. He received his Ph.D. in August 2018 from the Ohio State University and a B.S. degree from the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China in 2013, both in Aerospace Engineering. His research interest focus on control, optimization, reinforcement learning and applications in robotics and space systems.

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Presentation Fri, 18 Oct 2019 11:46:02 -0400 2019-10-24T16:00:00-04:00 2019-10-24T17:30:00-04:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Presentation chuangchuang
AE285 Undergraduate Seminar: Accelerating Teams to High Performance (October 25, 2019 1:30pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/68784 68784-17147190@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, October 25, 2019 1:30pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Mary R. Anderson
Executive Director, Human Resources - Global Markets and Mobility
Ford Motor Company

Mary Anderson has 30 years of experience in the field of Human Resources and Organization Development. She has had the distinguished opportunity to work in three of the top companies in the world including General Electric, General Motors and Ford Motor Company. Mary has a B.A. in business and an M.A. in Human Resources & Labor Relations from Michigan State University.

She began her career at General Electric during the Jack Welch era, and over a ten year period worked for GE Medical, Aircraft Engines and Plastics. In addition to managing and executing the traditional HR functions such as recruitment, compensation planning, succession planning, employee development, labor relations and performance management, she also became certified in GE benchmark processes such as Workout, Change Acceleration (CAP), Six Sigma, Strategic Planning and Team Development.

Mary calls the Metro Detroit area home, and to broaden her sphere of experience and influence in the community, she transitioned to the Truck division of General Motors.

While at GM, Mary ran the $11 million GM Truck training organization and streamlined operations, cutting costs by $1.5 million. She launched the performance management process for GM Truck, which won the Chairman’s award and became a company best practice translated across all divisions globally.

After a successful stint with GM, Mary accepted an exciting offer to work at Ford Motor Company to lead the strategic planning process and performance management for the newly formed North American Operations. She has since held several HR positions including the lead negotiator with the UAW at the local and national levels, as well as assignments with Ford Credit and Product Development including HR oversight for more than 50k engineers, supply chain management leaders, and 9 VPs worldwide.

Mary’s current role as top HR leader for Global Markets and Mobility has provided her the opportunity to help shift Ford’s 115 year business model from traditional OEM to transportation juggernaut including setting up Argo AI – the Autonomous Vehicle subsidiary with a market cap of $4B, the formation of a new Human Centered Design organization, China Business Unit, International Markets organization, and the lead architect for running vehicle products and services as end-to-end businesses.

Mary has left a legacy at Ford by developing the first Global Organization Development practice and creating tools to improve individual, team, and organization effectiveness. She has mentored and taught countless HR professionals and business leaders how to accelerate teams to high performance, lead high-impact change efforts, create enduring strategic plans and deploy them across the business, and how to design elegant and efficient organizations to deliver results.

Mary also gives back to the community through her role on the Advisory board at MSU’s HR & Labor Relations master’s program as well as volunteering as a tutor for students at the Detroit Public Schools and Detroit Boxing Gym.

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Workshop / Seminar Wed, 23 Oct 2019 15:20:13 -0400 2019-10-25T13:30:00-04:00 2019-10-25T15:30:00-04:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Workshop / Seminar Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
AE Chair's Distinguished Seminar Series: "Smart Additive Manufacturing" (October 31, 2019 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/68882 68882-17188742@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, October 31, 2019 4:00pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Abstract
There is a lot of excitement about the potential of smart manufacturing (aka Industry 4.0), with its associated technologies like cloud computing, big data analytics, artificial intelligence and IoT, to revolutionize the manufacturing industry. An excellent application for such “smart” technologies is the additive manufacturing, another area of Manufacturing that is gaining a lot of traction. In this talk, I will share some of my early work on smart additive manufacturing using a few case studies. I will also share an initiative I am leading on establishing a smart additive manufacturing education program at U-M. My goal is to excite you with our vision, get your feedback, and maybe bring some of you along on the journey.

About the Speaker...

Chinedum Okwudire received his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of British Columbia in 2009 and joined the Mechanical Engineering faculty at the University of Michigan in 2011. Prior to joining Michigan, he was the mechatronic systems optimization team leader at DMG Mori USA, based in Davis, CA. His research is focused on exploiting knowledge at the intersection of machine design, control and, more-recently, computer science, to boost the performance of manufacturing automation systems at low cost. Chinedum has received a number of awards including the CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation; the Young Investigator Award from the International Symposium on Flexible Automation; the Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers; the Ralph Teetor Educational Award from SAE International; and the Russell Severance Springer Visiting Professorship from UC Berkeley. He has co-authored a number best paper award winning papers including the 2016 ASME Dynamic Systems and Controls Division’s Best Paper in Mechatronics Award. His recent work on boosting the speed of 3D printers at low cost through feedforward vibration compensation has been featured internationally in popular news media, including NASA Tech Briefs and Discovery Channel Canada.

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Lecture / Discussion Mon, 28 Oct 2019 13:47:40 -0400 2019-10-31T16:00:00-04:00 2019-10-31T17:30:00-04:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Lecture / Discussion Examples of Smart Additive Manufacturing
AE 285 Undergraduate Seminar: Reusable Launch Systems, Space Sustainability and Economic Growth, and the Development of Green Spaceports (November 1, 2019 1:30pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/68981 68981-17205330@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, November 1, 2019 1:30pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Charles J. Lauer
Co-founder & VP Business Development, Rocketplane Global Inc.

This presentation will review the fundamental economic drivers that will create a robust and diverse cis-lunar space economy over the next 30 years and how these forces support the UN Sustainability Goals. New space industries such as lunar and asteroid resource development, in-space assembly and satellite servicing, and active debris removal will be discussed. Reusable launch vehicle developments will be discussed including the Rocketplane Global program here in Michigan and the development of a Green Spaceport under the Michigan Launch Initiative.

Mr. Lauer is a graduate of the University of Michigan College of Architecture & Urban Planning. He is a successful real estate planning consultant and developer, and the President of Peregrine Properties, Ltd. in Lansing, Michigan. Mr. Lauer has been responsible for negotiating, obtaining regulatory approvals and arranging financing for over $350 million in numerous successful real estate development projects; as well as having served as the Planning Commission Chairman in his local community for more than 10 years. He is also a co-founder and Vice President of Business Development for Rocketplane Global, Inc. He has been researching and developing potential business opportunities in space since 1991, and has published many general interest articles and technical papers on commercial space development. Mr. Lauer has been a consultant to Boeing, NASA and several space start-ups on commercial space projects. He is now actively involved in the planning and development of several new spaceport projects around the world; and is an Advocate and a member of the Board of Advisors of the Space Frontier Foundation. He is a member of the IAF Commercial Spaceflight Safety Committee; a member of the Board of Advisors of the International Space Safety Foundation; and a member of the Suborbital Spaceflight Safety Committee of the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety. He is also a Guest Lecturer and a member of the Board of Advisors of the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Commercial Space Operations Program Advisory Board, and a member of the FastForward Working Group studying point-to-point suborbital space transportation policy and technology issues.

Mr. Lauer has also been involved in the development and commercialization of several next-generation renewable energy technologies including advanced wind turbines for land as well as offshore wind farm applications; hybrid wind/solar energy farms; wave energy development, manufacturing and deployment, and new algae-based biofuels production. His focus in this business sector is in creating public-private partnerships in key geographic markets around the world and creating joint venture project teams to implement the technology development and manufacturing capacity necessary to commercialize these Green Technology programs.

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Workshop / Seminar Wed, 30 Oct 2019 16:30:30 -0400 2019-11-01T13:30:00-04:00 2019-11-01T15:00:00-04:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Workshop / Seminar Rocketplane XS reusable launch platform
AE Chair's Distinguished Seminar Series (November 7, 2019 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/65231 65231-16555463@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, November 7, 2019 4:00pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Granham Chandler

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Lecture / Discussion Wed, 04 Sep 2019 13:02:46 -0400 2019-11-07T16:00:00-05:00 2019-11-07T17:30:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Lecture / Discussion Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Chair's Distinguished Lecture: Boundary Layer Stability Analysis of the BOLT Hypersonic Flight Experiment (November 7, 2019 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/68296 68296-17043866@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, November 7, 2019 4:00pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Graham Candler
McKnight Presidential Chair and Russell J. Penrose Professor
Aerospace Engineering & Mechanics
University of Minnesota

The Boundary Layer Transition (BOLT) sounding rocket flight experiment will be launched in May of 2020. BOLT is designed to make detailed measurements of the boundary layer state and the onset of transition to turbulence on ascent at about Mach 5 and on descent at Mach 7.5. BOLT has a complex nose geometry, highly swept leading edges and a concave surface, which challenge the validity of conventional stability analysis methods. At Minnesota we have been developing new approaches for predicting instability growth for complex geometry flows. The seminar will discuss results and progress using high-order, low-dissipation numerical methods to perform “quiet” direct numerical simulations of the BOLT flow field. The simulations reveal four different instability mechanisms; these include with a vortical disturbance associated with boundary layer roll-up on the centerline, traveling crossflow due to boundary layer distortion near the leading edge, and a complex multi-mode instability near the trailing edge. Comparisons to the available wind tunnel data will be presented. The prospects for extending the DNS to laminar flow breakdown and transition to turbulence will also be discussed.

About the Speaker...

Graham V. Candler is the Russell J. Penrose and McKnight Presidential Chair of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics, University of Minnesota. He received his Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University in 1988. His current research interests are in the areas of computational fluid dynamics of hypersonic flows, CFD method development, high-temperature nonequilibrium gas dynamics, re-entry and hypersonic aerodynamics, and stability and transition of hypersonic flows. In his research, he supervised the development of the data-parallel line-relaxation method and the widely used NASA DPLR CFD code; he was instrumental in the development of the STABL boundary layer stability analysis tool, and its three-dimensional version, STABL-3D. He is a co-developer of the unstructured grid extension of the DPLR code, US3D, which is becoming a leading method for hypersonic and re-entry flow simulations. He has used these simulation tools to study a wide range of supersonic and hypersonic flows, including supersonic parachutes, ablating re-entry vehicles, scramjet flow paths, and hypersonic transition processes with high-enthalpy effects. He has published over 400 articles in various journals, conferences, and books.

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Presentation Fri, 11 Oct 2019 11:04:46 -0400 2019-11-07T16:00:00-05:00 2019-11-07T17:30:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Presentation candler
AE285 Undergraduate Seminar: What is Your Communication Style? (November 8, 2019 1:30pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/69057 69057-17222096@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, November 8, 2019 1:30pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Mary Hinesly
Professor of Executive Education
Michigan Ross

About the Speaker...

Mary Hinesly, MBA, DBA, has been with the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan for over fifteen years. She teaches digital business systems, processes, and business communication. Hinesly was the Michigan Ross Teaching Excellence award winner and was recognized as the Honored Instructor at the University of Michigan.

She has over 20 years in the private sector and was a successful COO and acting CEO in the retail industry. Hinesly has also served as the Director of Educational Content and Research for the National Retail Federation.

Hinesly is a highly requested consultant, presenter, and coach on the topic of business, leadership, innovation, communication, and technology. She has been involved with companies on digital transformation and business communication including Google, Cisco, Amazon, Jive, Microsoft, Kellogg’s, PwC, Wacker Chemical, GE, Unilever, LVMH, The New York Times, United Technologies, and more. She presents workshops and seminars for executives. Her research and consulting work focus on business communication and digital transformation.

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Presentation Fri, 01 Nov 2019 12:45:48 -0400 2019-11-08T13:30:00-05:00 2019-11-08T15:00:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Presentation Mary Hinesly
AE Chair's Distinguished Seminar Series: "Characterization of Previously Inaccessible Supersonic and Hypersonic Flows" (November 14, 2019 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/69308 69308-17301829@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, November 14, 2019 4:00pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Asst. Professor Nick Parziale, Stevens Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Reacting/high-speed flow investigation with non-intrusive optical techniques permits researchers to probe fluid flows in harsh or otherwise previously inaccessible environments. New insight into the flow physics of the wicked problems in supersonic and hypersonic flows can be had with the clever application of recent advances in laser, camera, and electronics technologies. In this talk, two examples of such efforts will be discussed. The first example is the previously unexplored boundary-layer instability on a slender cone in hypersonic, reacting flow which was characterized by the implementation of focused laser differential interferometry (FLDI). The second example is a laser-based technique that measures velocity in a high-speed gas which utilizes trace amounts of krypton for the purposes of flow tagging called Krypton Tagging Velocimetry (KTV). Example results are given for a study of supersonic shock-wave/turbulent boundary-layer interaction and characterization of Arnold Engineering Development Complex (AEDC) Hypervelocity Tunnel 9 at Mach 10 and Mach 14.

About the Speaker...
Nick’s current research interests include high-speed and reacting flows, chemical-thermodynamics, and heat transfer with applications in the fields of defense and energy/sustainability. Current projects include novel methods of high-speed flow velocimetry, hypersonic boundary-layer instability, shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction, biomass to bio-oil conversion, and nitrogen-based fuels research.

Nick received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from SUNY Binghamton in 2008, then received his MS and PhD degrees in 2009 and 2013 from the Caltech Graduate Aerospace Laboratories (GALCIT). In 2013, he was a PostDoc at Caltech and then a Visiting Assistant Professor at Stevens. Currently, Nick is currently an Assistant Professor (2014-present) in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. Nick spent four summers, from 2014-2017, as an Air Force Summer Faculty Fellow at AEDC White Oak in Silver Spring, MD.

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Lecture / Discussion Mon, 11 Nov 2019 13:46:59 -0500 2019-11-14T16:00:00-05:00 2019-11-14T17:30:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Lecture / Discussion Prof. Nick Praziale
AE285 Undergraduate Seminar: "Space is Open for Business" (November 15, 2019 1:30pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/64938 64938-16491256@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, November 15, 2019 1:30pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Tess Hatch, Investor, Bessemer Venture Partners

Entrepreneurs are flocking to the final frontier, where Moore’s Law has unleashed massive, enduring opportunities. This is how humanity will colonize cis-lunar, the moon, asteroids, Mars and beyond — through the emergence of a distributed, commercial ecosystem infinitely more powerful than any single company or government.

About the Speaker...

Tess is an investor at Bessemer Venture Partners primarily focused on frontier tech, specifically commercial space, drones, and autonomous vehicles. She currently serves as a board director for Phantom Auto and a board observer for Impossible Aerospace, Iris Automation, Rocket Lab, Spire, Velo3D, Forever Oceans, and Smule. Previously, she was a mission manager at SpaceX where she worked with the government on integrating its payloads with the Falcon 9 rocket. Tess earned a Bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan and a Master’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics engineering from Stanford. She is passionate about space exploration and imagines a future where we all travel to space. She hopes to make the trip herself soon.

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Lecture / Discussion Wed, 18 Sep 2019 15:40:33 -0400 2019-11-15T13:30:00-05:00 2019-11-15T15:30:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Lecture / Discussion Space Infographic
AE Dissertation Defense: Contributions to the Development of Entropy-Stable Schemes for Compressible Flows (November 18, 2019 12:15pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/69263 69263-17275361@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Monday, November 18, 2019 12:15pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Ayoub Gouasmi, PhD Candidate, Aerospace Engineering


Entropy-Stable (ES) schemes have gathered a lot of attention over the last decade, especially in the context of under-resolved simulations of compressible turbulent flows, where high-order accuracy and robustness are difficult to simultaneously achieve. ES schemes can enforce a non-decreasing total entropy, in agreement with the second principle of thermodynamics. However, several challenges remain to their practical use.

The current state-of-the-art of ES schemes solves the Navier-Stokes equations for a single-component perfect gas in chemical and thermal equilibrium. This model is not appropriate in applications such as hypersonics and combustion. As a first step towards enabling such applications, we constructed ES schemes for the multicomponent compressible Euler equations. Along the way, we also extended a theoretical result on the correct local behavior of entropy-stable approximations.

While entropy-stability is valuable, it does not imply a well-behaved solution. To better understand how ES schemes may or may not improve solution quality, we revisited, in terms of entropy, two classical shock-capturing problems where stability is not the core issue. We studied the overheating anomalies typically encountered in shock reflection simulations, and the severe accuracy degradation issues of upwind-type schemes in the low Mach regime.


Dissertation Committee:

Chair: Prof. Karthik Duraisamy
Cognate Member: Prof. Smadar Karni
Members: Prof. Philip L. Roe, Prof. Eitan Tadmor (University of Maryland), Dr. Scott M. Murman (NASA Ames Research Center)

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Presentation Fri, 08 Nov 2019 12:23:17 -0500 2019-11-18T12:15:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Presentation Ayoub Gouasmi
AE Dissertation Defense: "Investigation of the Hall Thruster Breathing Mode" (November 18, 2019 3:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/68875 68875-17188735@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Monday, November 18, 2019 3:00pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Hall thrusters can support a wide range of instabilities, many of which remain poorly understood but are known to play a critical role in the fundamental operation of these devices. In this work, the dominant low-frequency oscillations known as the “breathing mode” is investigated to provide a more analytically rigorous yet intuitive description of the instability. The new understanding of Hall thruster oscillations yielded by this effort can improve the reliability of these devices.

Time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence paired with an ion kinetic analysis is used to characterize the near-field and internal thruster plasma during breathing oscillations. A frequency scaling study indicates that several existing theories for the breathing mode are consistent with observed oscillation trends. However, an examination of the dynamic properties of the discharge reveals that these same theories are fundamentally inconsistent with the experimental data.

A novel physical process for the breathing mode is proposed and found to agree with the experimental findings. A model corresponding to this process is developed and shown to predict positive linear growth and realistic real frequencies. A simpler model is derived and used to produce simple analytical descriptions of the real frequency and growth of the breathing mode.

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Lecture / Discussion Mon, 28 Oct 2019 12:29:25 -0400 2019-11-18T15:00:00-05:00 2019-11-18T16:30:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Lecture / Discussion Ethan Dale
Chair's Distinguished Lecture: Recent Developments Towards More Fuel Efficient Space Exploration Missions (November 21, 2019 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/68915 68915-17194954@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, November 21, 2019 4:00pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Anton de Ruiter
Associate Professor
Department of Aerospace Engineering
Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada

Space exploration missions are limited by the propellant available to execute maneuvers, correct trajectories and station-keep. Reducing the propellant required, can lead to longer space exploration mission lifetimes and ranges. Alternatively, replacing some propellant with more scientific instruments would yield greater scientific return. A key to reducing the propellant required is to design space missions that exploit the natural dynamics. The past decades have seen significant research in this direction, leading to novel low-energy trajectory design methods based on dynamical systems theory, opening up a whole new class of possible space exploration missions. This is still an expanding area of research, incorporating newer technologies such as solar-electric propulsion and solar sails. This seminar will primarily focus on missions around irregular bodies such as asteroids. In these regimes, the orbital and attitude dynamics are significantly more coupled than in regimes near spherical bodies such as planets, providing the possibility of using the spacecraft’s attitude to affect the orbital trajectory. A suitable gravitational model will be presented, as well as analysis to understand how the gravitational force varies with a spacecraft’s attitude, and how this can be exploited to modify the orbital trajectory. Future research directions will also be discussed.

About the Speaker...

Anton H.J. de Ruiter is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in the department of Aerospace Engineering at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. He received the Ph.D. degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Toronto in 2005. Between 2006 and 2008 he was a visiting research fellow at the Canadian Space Agency in Montreal, and an assistant professor in the department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Carleton University from 2009 to 2012. His current research interests are in the area of space systems, astrodynamics, space robotics and space mission design. He serves as Editor-In-Chief of the Proceedings of the IMechE, Part G: Journal of Aerospace Engineering, and as Associate Editor in the area of space systems for the IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems. He is the primary author of the book “Spacecraft Dynamics and Control: An Introduction”, published in January 2013 by John Wiley and Sons, which is used as course and reference text at a number of universities around the world. He has published his research findings in 62 journal articles.

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Presentation Mon, 18 Nov 2019 12:33:35 -0500 2019-11-21T16:00:00-05:00 2019-11-21T17:30:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Presentation Prof Anton de Ruiter
AE285 Undergraduate Seminar: “Sibling rivalry or family ties that bind?: NASA’s Return to the Moon” (November 22, 2019 1:30am) https://events.umich.edu/event/64941 64941-16491258@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, November 22, 2019 1:30am
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Trudy Kortes

“NASA is called to land American astronauts, including the first woman and the next man, on the Moon by 2024. We’re committed to achieving this bold goal. Through the Artemis program, we will go to the Moon in a way we have never gone before – with innovative new partnerships, technologies and systems to explore the entire lunar surface. Then we will use what we learn on the Moon to take the next giant leap – sending astronauts to Mars.”
- NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine


Think you have issues with sibling rivalry? Or do you get along with your favorite brother or sister? NASA has named its new program to return to the Earth’s moon “Artemis”, the twin sister of Apollo and Greek mythological goddess of the Moon. With plans to land the first woman and next man on the Lunar South Pole by 2024, U.S. space policy provides the direction for NASA to more effectively organize government, commercial and international efforts to develop a sustainable presence on the Moon and beyond. Come hear one of NASA’s senior managers talk about NASA’s exploration campaign which cuts across three strategic areas: low-Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars & deeper into space and how American leadership will drive an open, sustainable and agile architecture, with international and commercial partners, to get astronauts back on the lunar surface as quickly as possible via the Artemis Program.

About the Speaker

Throughout her successful 30 year NASA career, Trudy Kortes has developed a unique speaking style and brand of leadership, championing compelling tools that elevate leaders and their ability to connect. Her strong reputation for maneuvering technically challenging and complex workplace dynamics to meet objectives and empower leaders and teams is indisputable. And as the winner of the 2017 NASA Headquarters talent show for stand-up comedy, it is her authentic, relatable presence that is perhaps most powerful.

Trudy offers speaking, panel moderation, career mentoring, and consulting services on a variety of leadership and workplace topics. Her focus is on helping women in STEM fields excel and raising across-the-board awareness of the challenges faced along the way as a means to help shift the collective mindset towards one of a healthy, holistic work environment that can meet the demands of a changing world.

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Lecture / Discussion Wed, 04 Sep 2019 14:28:34 -0400 2019-11-22T01:30:00-05:00 2019-11-22T15:30:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Lecture / Discussion Moon
Control Seminar: Why Control Technology Is Powerful, Dangerous, and Arguably Anti-Scientific (November 22, 2019 3:30pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/69719 69719-17392887@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, November 22, 2019 3:30pm
Location: Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Dennis Bernstein
Professor University of Michigan
Department of Aerospace Engineering

Successful control technology, such as quadcopters and walking robots, gives the impression that the field is mature. In the motivational part of the talk, I will show that these applications possess features that make them “easy” to control, while numerous potential applications remain outside our reach. To explain why, I will
first demonstrate that feedback control is a powerful—almost miraculous—technology, and then deliver the bad news that the same technology can be extremely dangerous. In the technical part of the talk, I will describe recent advances in adaptive control aimed at challenges that make many problems—such as scramjet engines and the power grid—hard. Finally, in the provocative part of the talk, I will argue that feedback control is anti-scientific since its ultimate goal is to manipulate the world without fully modeling it.

About the Speaker...

Professor Bernstein’s interests include identification, estimation, and control for aerospace applications. His research has focused on active noise and vibration control, adaptive flight control, and attitude control for space applications. His current interests are in the theory and application of nonlinear system identification, large-scale state estimation for data assimilation, and adaptive control. He was Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Control Systems Magazine from 2003 to 2011. He has coauthored more than 200 journal papers and 400 conference papers, and he is the author of Scalar, Vector, and Matrix Mathematics, third edition published in 2018.

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Presentation Fri, 22 Nov 2019 12:11:50 -0500 2019-11-22T15:30:00-05:00 2019-11-22T16:30:00-05:00 Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Building Aerospace Engineering Presentation Control Flyer
Aerospace Day (November 23, 2019 10:00am) https://events.umich.edu/event/68878 68878-17188738@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Saturday, November 23, 2019 10:00am
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

It's that time of year again to register for Aerospace Day! For those of you who haven't heard about it:

The November biannual Aerospace Day will be held at the University of Michigan in the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building (1320 Beal Ave., Ann Arbor, MI) and will take place on Saturday, November 23rd from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. Also, this event is free!

The U-M Student Chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the U-M Department of Aerospace Engineering will be sponsoring:
● An exciting display of Michigan aerospace engineering students' class projects, featuring remote-controlled blimp and hovercraft races
● Fun STEM activities for K-12 students coordinated by our student project teams
● A separate blimp-building activity for high school students
● Tours of the Michigan aerospace engineering department labs and Wilson Student Team Project Center
● Mini rockets
● Opportunity to learn more about STEM and aerospace engineering
● Breakfast and lunch for all parents and participants (at no cost!)

There are multiple activities that cater to different age groups from K-12 so all students are welcome to sign up! Younger students (elementary/middle school) can participate in various fun STEM activities designed by our project teams. For high school students, we are pleased to offer a separate activity for the day: a mini-project on blimp-building and design. Students will also have the option of touring the aerospace engineering department instead of participating in the activities.

Registration is currently closed.


Please contact us if you have any questions, and we hope to see you at Aerospace Day in November! Once you have signed up additional information will follow.
Haoran Zhang - Aerospace Day Lead (haoranz@umich.edu)
Felix Lui - Outreach Committee Chair (felixlui@umich.edu)

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Reception / Open House Mon, 04 Nov 2019 11:34:26 -0500 2019-11-23T10:00:00-05:00 2019-11-23T16:00:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Reception / Open House Blimp Competition at Aerospace Day
AE Chair's Distinguished Lecture Series: Smart Decision-Making for Energy Efficient and Sustainable Autonomous Systems in Space Missions (December 5, 2019 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/69702 69702-17384709@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, December 5, 2019 4:00pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Ran Dai
Netjets Assistant Professor
The Ohio State University
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department

Many autonomous systems in space missions benefit from prolonged operational time and efficient operations in a variety of long-duration missions, ranging from low-earth orbiting to interplanetary space exploration. Due to limited propellant, dynamic operating environments, complex system behaviors, and strict mission constraints, it is challenging to realize full autonomy with capabilities of sustained power supply and fuel efficient operations. Without human intervention, real-time decision-making, including both motion planning and logic/reasoning decisions, plays a critical role in assuring the reliability and performance of such a system toward accomplishing the mission objectives.

This talk will present our work on developing sophisticated modeling approach, scalable optimization algorithms, and machine learning based optimal control method that collectively contribute to advanced decision-making strategies for efficient and sustainable autonomous systems in space missions. Applications in two types of autonomous systems will be discussed. One focuses on space vehicles in complex missions involving multiphase or hybrid operations where onboard propellant is limited and timely ground support is unavailable. The other type of application is solar-powered rover that harvests energy from the environment and charges the storage batteries as backup to realize sustainable operations. The overall objective of smart decision-making for both types of autonomous systems is to realize high-level efficiency in fuel utilization or energy harvesting under dynamic environments, complex operations, and mission constraints.

About the Speaker...

Ran Dai is the Netjets Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at The Ohio State University. She received her B.S. degree in Automation Science from Beihang University and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Aerospace Engineering from Auburn University. After graduation, she worked as an engineer in an automotive technology company, Dynamic Research, Inc., and conducted research and consulting in the areas of semi-autonomous vehicle guidance and control. From 2010 to 2012, Dr. Dai joined the Robotics, Aerospace, and Information Networks Lab at University of Washington as a postdoctoral fellow, where she involved in an energy management project with application to the next generation of Boeing 787 aircraft power systems. Dr. Dai’s research focuses on control and optimization of autonomous systems, motion planning and estimation of space vehicles, and networked dynamical systems. She is a recipient of the National Science Foundation Career Award and NASA Early Faculty Career Award.

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Presentation Tue, 03 Dec 2019 16:31:19 -0500 2019-12-05T16:00:00-05:00 2019-12-05T17:30:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Presentation Ran Dai
Defense Dissertation: Design and Implementation of Mechanical Metamaterials (December 6, 2019 2:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/69884 69884-17482922@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, December 6, 2019 2:00pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Brittany Essink

Committee:
Chair: Professor Daniel J. Inman
Cognate: Professor Kon-Well Wang
Members:
Professor Henry Sodano
Associate Professor Veera Sundararaghavan

Presentation Info:
Date: 12/6
Time: 2:00 PM
Location: McDivitt Conference Room

The use of mechanical metamaterials, or metastructures, for vibration suppression has recently emerged as an approach to creating vibrationally resilient systems. Although many metastructures predict an improved performance, many have not been experimentally validated due to the previous infeasibility of manufacturing their complex geometries.

Additionally, existing research has only considered designs excited in one or two directions. This research successfully designs and fabricates the first multi-axis mechanical metamaterial design capable of attenuating vibration in three directions of excitation (longitudinal, transverse, and torsional) and experimentally validates its performance against FEM and analytical models.

This work analyzes cases where using a highly damped material will outperform an optimized geometry and determines a dividing line between material damping and vibration absorption in mechanical metamaterial design. These criteria can help determine whether it is necessary to undergo costly geometric optimization processes.

The peak separation capabilities of the multi axis mechanical metamaterial are considered for augmentation through a control system located on the distributed absorber system. A pole placement control system was introduced to adjust the natural frequencies of the absorbers. Additional insight on control use in mechanical metamaterials is discussed, including recommendations on when an active control system should be considered.

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Presentation Tue, 03 Dec 2019 12:02:31 -0500 2019-12-06T14:00:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Presentation Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
AE Chair's Distinguished Seminar Series: "Opportunities and Challenges for Electric/Hybrid-Electric Aircraft Propulsion Systems" (December 12, 2019 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/70218 70218-17549982@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, December 12, 2019 4:00pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Kiruba S. Haran
Associate Professor
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Ambitious goals have been set for future transport aircraft to ensure the sustainability of the aviation industry. This includes a better than 70% reduction in fuel burn. These challenging goals require disruptive technologies beyond the current evolutionary trends. One approach being explored is the use of electric/hybrid-electric propulsion. Small electric aircraft are already being produced and offered commercially, but significant challenges prevent scaling up to commercial aviation. Technology gaps include the availability of lightweight batteries, motors, generators and transmission lines. In a recent report, the National Academy of Engineers has identified power levels and specific-power targets for electrical machines to enable the electrification of different classes of aircraft. Both cryogenic and non-cryogenic machines are being pursued to meet these requirements, and significant advances have made in the last few years. Risks remain in their practical implementation in actual aircraft. This talk will describe the state of the art in airborne electrical machines, approaches for attaining higher power and efficiency, and potential challenges and opportunities in the integration of these technologies in electric/hybrid electric aircraft. Experience from a NASA NRA to develop a high specific power 1-MW motor will also be shared.

About the speaker...

Kiruba Haran obtained his BS in Electrical Engineering from OAU in Nigeria, and a PhD from RPI in Troy, NY. He is an Associate Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Associate Director of the Grainger Center for Electrical Machines and Electromechanics. Over the past five years Kiruba has been working with NASA and industry partners on high specific power motors and drives for electrified aircraft. Prior to this, he was at GE Research for 13 years, developing electrical machine technology for multiple GE businesses. His contributions include demonstration of a multi-megawatt superconducting generator for the US AFRL, which could enable a range of airborne applications including hybrid electric propulsion for large transport aircraft. Kiruba is a former chair of the Electric Machinery Committee of the IEEE Power and Energy Society, and serves on the Steering Committee of the IEEE Transportation Electrification Community, the AIAA Aircraft Electrified Propulsion and Power Working Group, and the editorial board of the IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion. He is an IEEE Fellow and Associate Fellow of AIAA.

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Lecture / Discussion Wed, 11 Dec 2019 13:24:48 -0500 2019-12-12T16:00:00-05:00 2019-12-12T17:30:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Lecture / Discussion Electric aircraft propulsion systems pose challenges
Women in Aerospace Seminar (December 12, 2019 5:30pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/70216 70216-17549976@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, December 12, 2019 5:30pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Michigan Robotics

Hear from female faculty and engineers about joining the aerospace community.

Food and drinks served at a pre-reception from 5:30 to 6pm.

RSVP: https://tinyurl.com/RSVPwia

Presented by Women in Aeronautics and Astronautics (WAA)

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Workshop / Seminar Wed, 11 Dec 2019 12:36:02 -0500 2019-12-12T17:30:00-05:00 2019-12-12T19:30:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Michigan Robotics Workshop / Seminar flyer
Defense Dissertation: Ionization Instability of the Hollow Cathode Plume (December 13, 2019 3:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/69883 69883-17480883@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, December 13, 2019 3:00pm
Location: Lurie Robert H. Engin. Ctr
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Marcel Georgin
Ph.D. Candidate in Applied Physics

Committee: Alec Gallimore, Benjamin Jorns, Ryan McBride, Ioannis Mikellides, and Timothy Sarver-Verhey

In this work, we study the formation of the poorly understood process of the spot-to-plume mode transition in hollow cathodes and the associated plasma instability that generates erosive high-energy ions. We propose a novel mechanism for the onset of this wave, that has its roots in existing experimental and numerical support, whereby an ionization instability between the electrons and neutrals may be destabilized by out-of-phase temperature fluctuations and giving rise to an enhancement in the plasma particle production through ionization. Experimentally, we show that temperature oscillations in the plasma are highly-correlated the presence of plasma turbulence, which is known to drive the heating of electrons in the plasma produced by the cathode. A zero-dimensional model is derived from first principles and is investigated through experiments. The results show that the model is able to largely capture the correct trends in the wave properties with varying experimental parameters.

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Presentation Tue, 03 Dec 2019 11:59:33 -0500 2019-12-13T15:00:00-05:00 Lurie Robert H. Engin. Ctr Aerospace Engineering Presentation Lurie Robert H. Engin. Ctr
Defense Dissertation: "Multidisciplinary Design Optimization of an Aircraft Considering Path-Dependent Performance" (December 16, 2019 2:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/70111 70111-17532718@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Monday, December 16, 2019 2:00pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

John Jasa

Committee:
Co-Chair: Prof. Joaquim R.R.A. Martins
Co-Chair: Dr. Charles Mader
Cognate: Prof. Yin Lu Young
Members:
Prof. Kryzstof Fidkowski
Dr. Justin Gray

Aircraft are multidisciplinary systems that are challenging to design due to interactions between the subsystems. The relevant disciplines, such as aerodynamic, thermal, and propulsion systems, must be considered simultaneously using a path-dependent formulation to accurately assess aircraft performance. The overarching contribution of this work is the construction and exploration of a coupled aero-thermal-propulsive-mission multidisciplinary model to optimize supersonic aircraft considering their path-dependent performance.

First, the mission, thermal, and propulsion disciplines are examined in detail. The aerostructural design and mission of a morphing-wing aircraft is optimized before the optimal flight profile for a supersonic strike mission is investigated. Then a fuel thermal management system, commonly used to dissipate excess thermal energy from supersonic aircraft, is constructed and presented. Engine design is then investigated through two main applications: multipoint optimization of a variable-cycle engine and coupled thermal-engine optimization considering a bypass duct heat exchanger.

This culminates into a fully-coupled path-dependent mission optimization problem considering the aerodynamic, propulsion, and thermal systems. This large-scale optimization problem captures non-intuitive design trades that single disciplinary models and path-independent methods cannot resolve. Although the focal application is a supersonic aircraft, the methods presented here are applicable to any air or space vehicle and other path-dependent problems.

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Presentation Mon, 09 Dec 2019 13:30:37 -0500 2019-12-16T14:00:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Presentation John Jasa
Chair's Distinguished Lecture: What Can the Aerospace Field Do About Its Diversity Problem? (January 9, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/71116 71116-17777082@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, January 9, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Ken Powell
Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and DEI Faculty Liaison
Aerospace Engineering, UM

The other talks this semester will be based on research in Aerospace Sciences and Engineering. This talk is based on research in the Social Sciences - particularly Psychology, Sociology, Economics - and how it applies to education and careers in aerospace engineering.

For the past five years, I have been part of a group of Michigan professors who read this social science literature, and meet to discuss its implications on academic careers - teaching, research, service and hiring of faculty. We also give talks about why and how to improve diversity in faculty hiring to faculty throughout the university, department chairs and deans, and faculty at other universities.

In this talk, I will present some classical and recent social science research about issues that affect our ability to hire and retain a diverse and excellent faculty, particularly in STEM fields, and especially in aerospace engineering. Topics will include implicit bias, stereotype threat, accumulation of disadvantage, and some of the steps we are taking as a university to improve the composition of the faculty. I will also present data about the demographics of the aerospace field, and give you some strategies for being a part of the much-needed solution to Aerospace's diversity challenges.

About the speaker...

Professor Powell is a member and past director of the W. M. Keck Foundation Computational Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, and a co-founder and co-director of the Center for Space Environment Modeling and the the Center for Radiative Shock Hydrodynamics. At the undergraduate level, he teaches freshman computing, compressible flow, aerodynamics and aircraft design; at the graduate level, he teaches aerodynamics and computational fluid dynamics. His research interests include: algorithm development for fluid dynamics, aerodynamics and plasmadynamics; and the application of computational methods to problems in aerodynamics, aeroelasticity, fluid dynamics and space environment/space weather. His articles appear in Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Journal of Computational Physics, and Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, among others. He is also a co-author of Multi-Media Fluid Mechanics. He has received a number of awards for his research, including a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, and a number of awards for his teaching, including the Arthur F. Thurnau Professorship. He is married to Susanne Maria Krummel; they have three children: Jasmine, Ryan and Nicole.

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Presentation Wed, 08 Jan 2020 16:11:58 -0500 2020-01-09T16:00:00-05:00 2020-01-09T17:30:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Presentation Powell
Chair's Distinguished Lecture: The Emergence of Electric Flight and Urban Air Mobility (January 16, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/71533 71533-17836349@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, January 16, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Brian J. German
Langley Associate Professor
School of Aerospace Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology

The era of electric flight has dawned. Battery specific energy is now reaching levels at which electric aircraft propulsion is feasible for short ranged missions, and entirely new aviation markets are blossoming by taking advantage of the reduced operating costs of electric aircraft. Electric drones are ubiquitous, electric flight training aircraft are in production, and—ushering in the era of urban air mobility—electric urban air taxis are nearing certification.

This talk will present recent research focused on the conceptual design, analysis, and operations of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for urban air mobility (UAM). Specific topics include the development of a battery model appropriate for aircraft sizing and an investigation of the flight performance of canonical eVTOL aircraft configurations. Operations research topics for UAM including demand modeling, vertiport placement optimization, and flight scheduling will also be discussed. The talk will conclude by highlighting research and educational opportunities related to electric flight and urban air mobility.

About the Speaker...

Brian German is director of the Georgia Tech Center for Urban and Regional Air Mobility (CURAM) and the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) Langley Associate Professor in the Georgia Tech School of Aerospace Engineering. He specializes in configuration design of electric aircraft, battery electric propulsion modeling, and operations research problems for innovative scheduled and on-demand air services. His work focuses primarily on new types of electric regional aircraft and eVTOL aircraft for urban air mobility. Prof. German is a founding member and former Chair (2014-2016) of the AIAA Transformational Flight Program Committee, which was chartered to explore the opportunities of emerging aircraft electric propulsion technologies, and he is a member of the AIAA Aircraft Electric Propulsion and Power Working Group. Prof. German received the NSF CAREER award in 2012, and he is an Associate Fellow of AIAA.

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Presentation Wed, 15 Jan 2020 16:41:39 -0500 2020-01-16T16:00:00-05:00 2020-01-16T17:30:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Presentation Brian German
AE 285 Undergraduate Seminar: Laying Out the National Space Security Enterprise (January 17, 2020 1:30pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/71594 71594-17844795@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, January 17, 2020 1:30pm
Location: BBB
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Brandon Cesul
Technical Fellow & Principal Systems Engineer, Centauri

The National Space Security Enterprise is changing faster than it ever has in the nearly 70 year history of military space utilization. What is the Space Force? What is Space Command? What’s the difference between all these ASAT tests being reported in the media? What are the policy decisions and international laws that govern military and national security use of space? All these questions and more will be covered by Dr. Cesul’s talk covering an introduction to the US National Space Security Enterprise, the organizations, missions, and outlook for the future of space warfare.

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Workshop / Seminar Thu, 16 Jan 2020 12:36:25 -0500 2020-01-17T13:30:00-05:00 2020-01-17T15:00:00-05:00 BBB Aerospace Engineering Workshop / Seminar Brandon Cesul
Me, the "Other" - A documentary film screening and panel discussion in honor of MLK Day (January 20, 2020 1:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/71086 71086-17777071@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Monday, January 20, 2020 1:00pm
Location: Walgreen Drama Center
Organized By: Michigan Engineering

This MLK Day, come to a special screening of Me, the “Other” - a documentary film about the lives of twelve college students at U-M and nearby schools, living on the frontlines of prejudices around race, ethnicity, religion, gender, class, age, physical and mental health and sexual orientation. Visit the following link to view the trailer: https://metheotherfilm.com/#trailer
 
After the film, stay for a panel discussion with students, staff and faculty exploring ways to improve inclusiveness and equity at U-M Engineering.  

Everyone will then be invited to a catered reception, including an interactive wall where you can share your own stories and ideas for strengthening our community.

Monday, January 20th, 2020, 1-4 PM
Stamps Auditorium, Walgreen Drama Center
Film Screening 1:00-2:30 PM
Panel Discussion 2:30-3:15 PM
Reception 3:15-4:00 PM

Food will be provided. Limited capacity.
All are welcome. No registration is required.

This event is sponsored by the Department of Aerospace Engineering and the Center for Engineering Diversity and Outreach

Questions? Please contact Kimberly Johnson at berlykim@umich.edu.

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Film Screening Mon, 13 Jan 2020 12:42:35 -0500 2020-01-20T13:00:00-05:00 2020-01-20T16:00:00-05:00 Walgreen Drama Center Michigan Engineering Film Screening Me, the Other promotional poster
Chair's Distinguished Lecture: Space Debris Propagation, Prediction, and Removal (January 23, 2020 4:00am) https://events.umich.edu/event/71767 71767-17879419@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, January 23, 2020 4:00am
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Xiaoli Bai
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Since the launch of the first satellite (Sputnik 1) in 1957, humans have created a lot of objects in orbit around Earth. The number of space objects larger than 10 cm is presently approaching 21,000, the estimated population of objects between 1 and 10cm is about 500, 000, and for objects smaller than 1cm the number exceeds 100 million. Both the number of space objects and the number of conflicts between these objects are increasing exponentially.

This talk overviews the research we have been pursuing on to address the challenges posed by the growth of space debris. We will first introduce the Modified Chebyshev-Picard Iteration (MCPI) Methods, which are a set of parallel-structured methods for solution of initial value problems and boundary value problems. The MCPI methods have been recommended as the “promising and parallelizable method for orbit propagation” by the National Research Council. The talk will then highlight our recent results to develop a methodology to predict RSOs trajectories both higher accuracy and higher reliability than those of the current methods. Inspired by the learning theory through which the models are learnt based on large amounts of data and the prediction can be conducted without explicitly modeling space objects and space environment, we are working on a new orbit prediction framework that integrates physics-based orbit prediction algorithms with a learning process. Last, we will present our research in autonomous, performance-driven, and online trajectory planning and tracking of space robotics for space debris removal with the goal to solve the problem in real time.

About the speaker...

Dr. Xiaoli Bai is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She obtained her PhD degree of Aerospace Engineering from Texas A&M University. Prior to joining Rutgers, she was a research scientist at Optimal Synthesis Inc. in Los Altos, California, working with NASA Langley and NASA Ames on advanced research and development projects in the area of air traffic management systems. One consequence of her dissertation is a set of methods which significantly enhances the fundamental processes underlying the maintenance of space debris catalogs. Her current research interests include astrodynamics and Space Situational Awareness; spacecraft guidance, control, and space robotics; and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle navigation and control. Dr. Bai was a recipient of The 2019 NASA Early Career Faculty Award, The 2016 Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Research Program Award, Outstanding Young Aerospace Engineer Award from Texas A&M University in 2018, A. Water Tyson Assistant Professor Award from Rutgers in 2018, Amelia Earhart Fellowship, AIAA Foundation John Leland Atwood Graduate Award, and JPL Graduate Fellow. Dr. Bai have published 30 journal articles since she joined Rutgers in July 2014 (for a total of 38 journal papers). Her research has have been funded by NASA, AFOSR, Air Force STTR, and ONR.Bio: Dr. Xiaoli Bai is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She obtained her PhD degree of Aerospace Engineering from Texas A&M University. Prior to joining Rutgers, she was a research scientist at Optimal Synthesis Inc. in Los Altos, California, working with NASA Langley and NASA Ames on advanced research and development projects in the area of air traffic management systems. One consequence of her dissertation is a set of methods which significantly enhances the fundamental processes underlying the maintenance of space debris catalogs. Her current research interests include astrodynamics and Space Situational Awareness; spacecraft guidance, control, and space robotics; and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle navigation and control. Dr. Bai was a recipient of The 2019 NASA Early Career Faculty Award, The 2016 Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Research Program Award, Outstanding Young Aerospace Engineer Award from Texas A&M University in 2018, A. Water Tyson Assistant Professor Award from Rutgers in 2018, Amelia Earhart Fellowship, AIAA Foundation John Leland Atwood Graduate Award, and JPL Graduate Fellow. Dr. Bai have published 30 journal articles since she joined Rutgers in July 2014 (for a total of 38 journal papers). Her research has have been funded by NASA, AFOSR, Air Force STTR, and ONR.

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Presentation Mon, 20 Jan 2020 13:02:09 -0500 2020-01-23T04:00:00-05:00 2020-01-23T17:30:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Presentation Xiaoli Bai
AE285 Undergraduate Seminar: Boeing in Space (January 24, 2020 1:30pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/71820 71820-17888061@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, January 24, 2020 1:30pm
Location: BBB
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Raenaurd Turpin
Chief Engineer and CTO,
Boeing Commercial Satellites

This new age of space exploration will require a robust, interconnected ecosystem of low-earth-orbit, cislunar, and deep-space platforms and operations. Even today, we can see how interconnected systems work in space….and the role that a strong space infrastructure – stretching from LEO to deep space – plays in successful missions. Along with aerospace engineering technologies, innovations from other industries are being applied to space: additive manufacturing, virtual reality, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems…just to name a few. We are standing at another crossroads in human history as we venture deeper into space. At Boeing, we are building the future. Follow our journey – and maybe even join us – as we connect, protect, explore and inspire the world.

About the speaker...

Raenaurd Turpin is the Chief Engineer of Boeing Commercial Satellite Systems and Common Products (CSCP). He also leads advanced satellite architecture development and technology insertion as the Chief Technical Officer (CTO) for Commercial Satellite Business Development. In 2018, Raenaurd was recognized as Boeing Defense, Space, and Security (BDS) Engineer of the Year, in addition to BEYA Black Engineer of the Year. As Chief Architect and System Engineering Lead for the O3b mPOWER campaign, he led the team through a significant evolution of the design. Their efforts yielded increased efficiency (mass, power, operational complexity) and lower design complexity and risk, all while aligning to the customer’s affordability target. As a result, Boeing was awarded contracts to build seven satellites using this advanced digital payload design. Today, the O3b mPower constellation is in production

Turpin has also performed as a Major Supplier Program Manager for National Security Programs. In addition to this program management role, Raenaurd has also lead teams to develop the Next Generation of Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) Satellites and implement Ground-Based Anti-Jam Enhancements for the existing WGS constellation.

Turpin has previously held roles in business capture as well as systems architecture & design, and began his career at Boeing as a phased array antenna analyst and digital signal processing (DSP) subsystem engineer, holding a patent for phased array calibration methodology. He received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering at Arizona State University in 1997, played in the Rose Bowl as member of the PAC-10 Championship Football team, and completed credentials towards MS in Electrical Engineering in 1999.

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Workshop / Seminar Tue, 21 Jan 2020 16:09:31 -0500 2020-01-24T13:30:00-05:00 2020-01-24T15:00:00-05:00 BBB Aerospace Engineering Workshop / Seminar Boeing Spacecraft
Kabamba Award Lecture: Warmstarting Numerical Methods in Model Predictive Control (January 28, 2020 3:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/72123 72123-17940001@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Tuesday, January 28, 2020 3:00pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Dominic Liao-McPherson
PhD Candidate
UM Aerospace Engineering

Model Predictive Control (MPC) is a powerful control methodology that constructs a control law from the solution of a receding horizon optimal control problem (OCP). MPC can systemically handle nonlinearities, coupling, and constraints but can be difficult to implement because of the need to solve non-linear OCPs online. One way to reduce this computational burden is to exploit that in MPC one solves a sequence of OCPs and reuse information from previous problems, a practice commonly called "warmstarting". In this talk, I discuss the theoretical, algorithmic, and practical application of warmstarting in MPC. First, I introduce Time-distributed Optimization (TDO), a unifying framework for studying the system theoretic consequence of warmstarting, which we use to derive sufficient conditions for stability and robustness. Second, I present FBstab, a quadratic programming algorithm with strong robustness properties that is designed to be warmstarted and can exploit the structure of optimal control problems. Finally, I illustrate the applicability of the these methods in the real-world, using diesel engine, autonomous driving, and guided parafoil examples.

About the Speaker...

Dominic Liao-McPherson obtained his BASc (with High Honours) in Engineering Science, Aerospace Option, from the University of Toronto in 2015. Since 2015 he has been a PhD student at the University of Michigan, in the department of aerospace engineering. His research interests lie in model predictive control, reference governors, trajectory optimization, and numerical methods with applications in aerospace, robotics, and autonomous vehicles. He received the 2019 Prof. Kabamba award and a predoctoral fellowship from the University of Michigan and was a finalist in the 2019 ECC best student paper competition.

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Presentation Mon, 27 Jan 2020 14:31:33 -0500 2020-01-28T15:00:00-05:00 2020-01-28T16:00:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Presentation Dominic
Chair's Distinguished Lecture: Understanding the Reactivity of Nonequilibrium Molecular Plasmas for Propulsion and Power Applications (January 30, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/72122 72122-17939994@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, January 30, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Igor V. Adamovich
Professor
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Chemical Physics Graduate Program
Ohio State University

Understanding the kinetics of molecular energy transfer and chemical reactions in nonequilibrium reactive flows and low-temperature plasmas is critical for a number of engineering applications, such as hypersonic aerothermodynamics and propulsion, high-speed flow control, plasma-assisted combustion, and plasma-enhanced catalysis. Non-intrusive laser diagnostics is critical for probing these environments, where chemical reaction pathways and internal energy relaxation are strongly affected by the applied electric field and by the number densities of excited molecular and atomic species. This talk presents recent results on characterization of reacting molecular plasmas in a slow flow reactor and in a supersonic wind tunnel. The plasmas are sustained by a ns pulse discharge combined with DC or RF voltage waveforms, which improves the plasma stability at high pressures and enables selective generation of vibrationally and electronically excited molecules, as well as atomic species and radicals. Electric field, gas temperature, vibrational level populations of diatomic molecules, and number densities of excited metastable electronic states in these plasmas are measured by Electric Field Induced Second Harmonic (EFISH) generation, Coherent Anti-Stokes Ramas Scattering (CARS), Cavity Ring Down Spectroscopy (CRDS), and Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS). These data provide detailed insight into kinetics of ionization, vibrational relaxation, quenching of excited electronic states, molecular dissociation, energy thermalization (“rapid heating”), and plasma chemical reactions, as well as their coupling to the reacting flow.

About the speaker...

Research interests: kinetics of high-speed nonequilibrium reacting flows and low-temperature plasmas, molecular energy transfer, plasma-assisted combustion, plasma flow control, plasma-enhanced catalysis, molecular lasers, laser diagnostics, and kinetic modeling.

Associate Editor, Plasma Sources Science and Technology. Associate Fellow, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Publications include over 150 archival journal papers, over 300 conference papers, over 90 invited lectures at national and international conferences, and 2 patents.

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Presentation Mon, 27 Jan 2020 14:25:29 -0500 2020-01-30T16:00:00-05:00 2020-01-30T17:30:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Presentation Adamovich
Aerospace Department Seminar Series: Aerospace - Beyond the Airframers (January 31, 2020 1:30pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/72216 72216-17957435@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, January 31, 2020 1:30pm
Location: BBB
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Juan de Bedout
Vice President of Advanced Technology
Collins Aerospace

Overview of the products and some of the technology focus areas from one of the aerospace industry’s largest system providers.

About the speaker...

Juan is Vice President of Enterprise Engineering at Collins Aerospace, leading a team of over 2800 engineers across the United States, the United Kingdom, Poland and India. Enterprise Engineering is part of Collins Aerospace headquarters, and works closely with the engineering teams in the Company’s six business units. In this role, Juan is responsible for leading advanced technology planning and investment, driving the vitality of the Global Engineering Center teams, streamlining engineering supplier planning, and promoting continuous improvement throughout Collins’ businesses. Prior to joining United Technologies, Juan was with the General Electric Company where he most recently served as the Chief Technology Officer for GE’s Grid Solutions business. Juan lives with his wife Erika, his son Carlos and his daughter Josephine in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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Presentation Wed, 29 Jan 2020 15:24:04 -0500 2020-01-31T13:30:00-05:00 BBB Aerospace Engineering Presentation Juan de Debout
Chair's Distinguished Lecture: Algorithmic Foundations of Resilient Collaborative Autonomy: From Robust Combinatorial Optimization to Perception (February 6, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/72304 72304-17972525@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, February 6, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Vasileios Tzoumas
Research scientist
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Collaborative autonomous vehicles hold the promise to revolutionize transportation, disaster response, and space exploration. Already, micro-aerial vehicles with on-board cameras have become a multi-billion-dollar industry; and as we enter the new decade, teams of semi-autonomous flying cars, jet fighters, and space-exploration vehicles are being launched. An era of ubiquitous aerospace vehicles is becoming a reality, and along with it autonomous vehicles that can form teams, agree on navigation plans, and perceive the world. However, this future is threatened by denial-of-service (DoS) and deceptive attacks and failures that can compromise the vehicles’ teams, navigation plans, and perception capabilities. These threats lie outside the reach of cybersecurity, and of estimation and control against malicious data. Instead, algorithms at the intersection of perception, planning, and non-convex optimization are needed. I will present two algorithms from my research, and my vision for a resilient collaborative autonomy.


First, I will discuss the first provably optimal algorithms for robust combinatorial optimization against any numbers of DoS attacks. The algorithms can robustify for the first time teams and their navigation plans against DoS attacks. I will demonstrate this via search and rescue, and surveillance experiments. Second, I will present algorithms that robustify visual perception capabilities against deceptive failures (outliers). The algorithms achieve extreme outlier-robustness in near real-time for the first time. I will illustrate this across various perception problems, on datasets for localization and mapping (SLAM), object recognition, and 3D-reconstruction. I will conclude with my vision for a collaborative autonomy that is not only robust but also resilient: I will argue the need for a technological convergence between (i) “cyber” capabilities for a distributed artificial intelligence, driven by adaptive learning and data-driven perception and navigation algorithms, and (ii) “physical” capabilities of morphable structures, self-healing materials, and smart devices.

About the speaker...

Vasileios Tzoumas is a research scientist at the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro), and the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Before that, he was a post-doctoral associate at AeroAstro and LIDS for a bit over a year. He received his Ph.D. in 2018 at the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania (UPenn). In 2017, he was a visiting Ph.D. student at the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, MIT. He holds a Diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (2012); a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from UPenn (2016); and a Master of Arts in Statistics from the Wharton School of Business at UPenn (2016). He aims to enable autonomous, collaborative cyber-physical systems that are resilient against denial-of-service and deceptive attacks and failures. His theoretical focus is at the interplay of perception, control, communication, and computing. His application and experimental focus include multi-robot tasks of autonomous (visual) navigation, information gathering, and surveillance. Vasileios builds on fundamental tools of control theory, robotic perception, computational complexity, and combinatorial and non-convex optimization. He was a Best Student Paper Award finalist at the 2017 IEEE Conference in Decision and Control (CDC).

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Presentation Fri, 31 Jan 2020 10:44:39 -0500 2020-02-06T16:00:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Presentation Tzoumas
AE 285 Undergraduate Seminar: Culture and Careers Panel Discussion (February 7, 2020 1:30pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/72478 72478-18009388@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, February 7, 2020 1:30pm
Location: BBB
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Ellen Chang -- Co-Founder, LightSpeed Innovations
Trudy Kortes -- Chief of Human Exploration & Space Operations, NASA Glenn
Kevin Michaels -- Managing Director, AeroDynamic Advisory
Tia Sutton -- Regulatory Engineer, Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association
Anthony Waas -- Chair, U-M Department of Aerospace Engineering

This panel discussion signals the completion of the “Introduction to the Aerospace Enterprise” component of Aero 285, and ushers in the Cultures and Careers components. Please join us for an enlightening panel discussion featuring a diverse group of speakers from academia, industry, government, consulting, and financial sectors. Each panelist will spend a few minutes providing insights into their individual career paths, and then also talk about what constitutes a culture of excellence in any entity within the Aerospace Enterprise. There will also be plenty of time for questions – both pre-submitted and from the audience.

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Workshop / Seminar Tue, 04 Feb 2020 16:54:55 -0500 2020-02-07T13:30:00-05:00 2020-02-07T15:00:00-05:00 BBB Aerospace Engineering Workshop / Seminar Top row: Ellen Chang, Trudy Kortes, Kevin Michaels; Bottom row: Tia Sutton, Anthony Waas
AE585 Graduate Seminar: Distributed Control and Scalable Optimization for Large-scale Autonomy (February 13, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/72595 72595-18024698@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, February 13, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Yang Zheng
Postdoctoral Researcher
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University

Modern cyber-physical systems, such as drone formation, robot swarms, and transportation systems, can be of large scale and have sparse and distributed control logic due to limited information exchange. Many control and computational problems of practical interest remain unsolved due to the issues of non-convexity and complexity. The first part of this talk focuses on how to recover convexity for distributed control problems. I will present a new distributed control framework centered on the notion of sparsity invariance, which allows deriving convex approximation/reformulation of the largest known class of distributed control problems with sparsity constraints. I will show that the notion of sparsity invariance goes beyond the well-known notion of quadratic invariance. The second part of this talk focuses on the scalability of solving large-scale convex optimization problems. In particular, I will consider the class of semidefinite optimization problems. By exploiting the properties of chordal graphs and sparse positive semidefinite matrices, I will present a decomposition method that can scale sparse semidefinite optimization to large-scale instances, achieving massive scalability. The resulting algorithms have been implemented in the open-source solver: CDCS (Cone Decomposition Conic Solver). Extensions to a class of polynomial optimization, i.e., sparse sum-of-squares optimization, will be briefly discussed.

About the speaker:

Yang Zheng received the DPhil (Ph.D.) degree in Engineering Science from the University of Oxford, UK, in 2019. He received the B.E. and M.S. degrees from Tsinghua University, China, in 2013 and 2015, respectively. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the SEAS and CGBC at Harvard University. His research interests lie in the interface of learning, optimization, and control of network systems, and their applications to cyber-physical systems, especially autonomous vehicles and traffic systems. His work was acknowledged by several awards, including the Best Student Paper Award Finalist at the 2019 European Control Conference, the Best Student Paper Award at the 17th IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems, and the Best Paper Award at the 14th Intelligent Transportation Systems Asia-Pacific Forum. He is the recipient of the National Scholarship, Outstanding Graduate in Tsinghua University, and the Clarendon Scholarship at the University of Oxford. In 2018, he received the ABTA Doctoral Research Award in Engineering Science, and in 2019, he received the Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-financed Students Abroad.

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Workshop / Seminar Thu, 06 Feb 2020 10:35:07 -0500 2020-02-13T16:00:00-05:00 2020-02-13T17:30:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Workshop / Seminar Distributed Control and Autonomy - Yang Zheng
Aerospace Department Seminar Series: Ethics Deep Dive (February 14, 2020 1:30pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/72830 72830-18079390@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, February 14, 2020 1:30pm
Location: BBB
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

George F. Halow
Professor of Practice
Aerospace Engineering

George Halow is a Professor of Practice in the University of Michigan Aerospace Engineering Department. He has 30+ years of industry experience, most of it as an executive in many functional areas (product development, manufacturing, business strategy, finance). He will provide a multi-disciplined (lectures, case studies, video, and open dialog) review of ethics in engineering and business, with the Friday, February 14th lecture being a deep dive into a prevailing ethical topic of interest in the aerospace industry.

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Presentation Wed, 12 Feb 2020 16:03:12 -0500 2020-02-14T13:30:00-05:00 BBB Aerospace Engineering Presentation George Halow
Chair's Distinguished Lecture: Numerical modeling of plasmas for space propulsion and nuclear fusion (February 18, 2020 3:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/72410 72410-18000393@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Tuesday, February 18, 2020 3:00pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Bhuvana Srinivasan
Assistant Professor
Director of Plasma Dynamics Computational Laboratory
Virginia Tech

A detailed understanding of plasma physics is critical to overcoming physics and engineering challenges such as those posed by long-duration operation of electric propulsion devices and the development of nuclear fusion concepts. At the Plasma Dynamics Computational Laboratory at Virginia Tech, we study fundamental processes such as plasma sheath physics and plasma-material interactions to support and overcome some of the physics challenges of advanced space propulsion concepts. Furthermore, nuclear fusion, which remains one of the biggest unsolved problems of the previous and present centuries, may hold the key to long-duration, high-payload spaceflight in addition to potentially satisfying terrestrial energy demands. Research at the laboratory also supports a wide array of fusion concepts including magnetic confinement fusion, magneto-inertial fusion, and inertial confinement fusion. The high-energy-density hydrodynamics research being performed to study these concepts extends to astrophysics and national security applications. A common challenge across these varied applications is the necessity for high-fidelity computational models for kinetic and fluid plasmas. Recent advances in plasma modeling, from magnetohydrodynamic to fully kinetic, will be presented. This research seminar will describe novel kinetic and multi-fluid models and will discuss original research contributions in two representative applications: plasma-material interactions relevant to plasma thrusters and high-energy-density hydrodynamics.

About the speaker...

Dr. Bhuvana Srinivasan is an Assistant Professor in the Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean engineering at Virginia Tech where she has been developing a computational plasma physics program. Prior to joining Virginia Tech, she was a postdoc and a scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. She received her PhD from the University of Washington. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in spacecraft propulsion, advanced spacecraft propulsion, computational plasma physics, and hypersonic aerodynamics. She is the Director of the Plasma Dynamics Computational Laboratory which comprises two postdocs, eight PhD students, and a number of masters and undergraduate students. The research areas in her group include plasma-material interactions in thrusters and magnetic fusion devices, instabilities in high-energy-density fusion and astrophysical plasmas, ionospheric plasma instabilities, and numerical algorithm development for fluid and kinetic models. She is a recipient of the NSF CAREER award as well as the Outstanding Assistant Professor award and Faculty Fellow in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech. Her research is supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Department of Energy Office of Science, the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration, the National Science Foundation, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory

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Presentation Mon, 03 Feb 2020 13:30:57 -0500 2020-02-18T15:00:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Presentation Bhuvana Srinivasan
Chair's Distinguished Lecture: A Molecular-Level Understanding of Hypersonic Flows (February 20, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/72921 72921-18094696@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, February 20, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Tom Schwartzentruber
Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics
University of Minnesota

Predicting what happens as a hypersonic vehicle flies through the atmosphere involves a lot of interesting physics. The strong shock wave, generated ahead of the vehicle, superheats the air to thousands of degrees and partially dissociates the air into atomic oxygen and nitrogen. Surrounded by this high-temperature shock layer, the vehicle heat shield experiences large heating rates and must simultaneously withstand high temperatures and intense surface chemistry driven by reactive atomic species. Furthermore, as the shock-heated gas flows around the vehicle, the flow can transition from smooth laminar flow to chaotic turbulent flow and can form complex shock interactions near control surfaces. Predicting such effects requires understanding the interplay between fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, and chemical kinetics; a research field referred to as aerothermodynamics.

In this talk, I will focus mainly on our current understanding of the high-temperature shock layer. I will explain how we have reached the point where this thin shock layer (often on the order of one centimeter thick) can be studied at the scale of individual molecular collisions. In fact, simulations can now be performed where the only model input consists of the forces between atoms as dictated entirely by quantum chemistry. I will present results from such first-principles simulations along with comparison to experimental shock-tube data, and I will discuss some of the new physical insights gained. I will conclude the talk by highlighting the next big challenge of pursuing molecular understanding for gas-material interactions. This is an exciting field driven not only by NASA and the Department of Defense, but also by commercial endeavors to field satellite mega-constellations in low Earth orbit.

About the speaker...

Tom Schwartzentruber received his Bachelor’s degree in engineering science and his Master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Toronto. He then received his doctorate degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan. For his doctorate work he received the AIAA Orville and Wilbur Wright graduate award. He joined the faculty in the Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics department at the University of Minnesota in 2008, after which he received a Young Investigator Program Award from the AFOSR and the University of Minnesota Taylor Career Development Award for exceptional contributions by a candidate for tenure. He specializes in particle simulation methods such as direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) and molecular dynamics (MD), including coupling such methods with each other and with continuum computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods. Currently, his research group is involved in a number of projects spanning hypersonic nonequilibrium reacting flows, high-temperature gas-surface interactions, hybrid particle-continuum methods, and micro-scale flows.

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Presentation Fri, 14 Feb 2020 10:17:34 -0500 2020-02-20T16:00:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Presentation Tom Schwartzentruber
AE Chair's Distinguished Seminar Series: "A Game and Control Framework for Modeling and Mitigating Advanced Persistent Threats on Cyber-Physical Systems" (February 27, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/73044 73044-18131837@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, February 27, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Dr. Shana Moothedath
Postdoctoral Research Scholar
Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Washington

Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) are sophisticated attacks mounted by intelligent and resourceful adversaries who gain access to a targeted system and gather critical information over an extended period of time. APTs consist of multiple stages, including initial system compromise, privilege escalation, and data exfiltration, each of which involves strategic interaction between the APT and the targeted system. While this strategic interaction can be viewed as a game, the stealthiness, adaptiveness, and unpredictability of APTs imply that the information structure of the game and the strategies of the APT are not readily available. In this talk, we will present a game-theoretic approach to characterize the trade-off between effectiveness for detecting APTs and resource efficiency. Our approach to modeling APTs is based on the insight that the persistent nature of APTs introduces information flows in the system that can be monitored. One monitoring mechanism is Dynamic Information Flow Tracking (DIFT), which taints and tracks suspicious information flows through a system and performs security analysis on the tainted flows at designated locations. Since performing security analysis on all the flows will incur significant memory and performance overhead, efficient defense policies are needed to maximize the probability of detecting the APT while minimizing resource costs. In this work, we develop a multi-stage game framework for modeling the interaction between an APT and a DIFT, as well as designing an efficient DIFT-based defense. Our model is grounded on APT data gathered using the Refinable Attack Investigation (RAIN) flow-tracking framework. We will present the current state of our formulation, insights that it provides on designing effective defenses against APTs, and directions for future work.

About the Speaker...
Shana Moothedath is a Postdoctoral Research Scholar at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA. She received her B.Tech. and M.Tech. degrees in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the Kerala University, India, in 2011 and 2014 respectively, and Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB), India, in 2018. She was awarded the Excellence in Ph.D. Thesis Award 2017-2019 at IIT Bombay and selected as an EECS Rising Star in 2019. Her research interests include network security analysis, structural analysis of large-scale control systems, and applications of systems theory to complex networks.

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Lecture / Discussion Tue, 25 Feb 2020 13:35:46 -0500 2020-02-27T16:00:00-05:00 2020-02-27T17:30:00-05:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Lecture / Discussion System View of APT attacks
POSTPONED: Real World Perspectives: Conversations of Leadership and Diversity in Engineering (March 10, 2020 7:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/73303 73303-18190737@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Tuesday, March 10, 2020 7:00pm
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering

**We regret that the annual 3 Amigos Lecture scheduled for Tuesday, March 10 in the Boeing Auditorium at the Fracois-Xavier Bagnoud building, has been postponed.
We will share the new date and time for the event as soon as they are scheduled. We apologize for any inconvenience.**

It's time again for this annual event led by Steve Battel, President of Battel Engineering and Professor of Practice at the U-M Climate & Space department.

This year's lecture is titled Real World Perspectives: Conversations on Leadership and Diversity in Engineering.

Please join us as Prof. Battel joins with guests Mackenzie Lystrup, Vice-President and General Manager of Ball Aerospace, and Nick Lappos,Chairman of Vertical Lift Consortium in what will be a very interesting discussion.

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Lecture / Discussion Mon, 09 Mar 2020 18:48:14 -0400 2020-03-10T19:00:00-04:00 2020-03-10T21:00:00-04:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering Lecture / Discussion 3 Amigos social card
Defense Dissertation: Dynamic Coverage Control and Estimation in Collaborative Networks of Human-Aerial/Space Co-Robots (March 18, 2020 10:00am) https://events.umich.edu/event/73667 73667-18278624@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Wednesday, March 18, 2020 10:00am
Location: Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

William M. Bentz

Committee:
Assistant Professor Dimitra Panagou (Chair)
Professor Ella M. Atkins (Member)
Professor Ilya V. Kolmanovsky (Member)
Assistant Professor Ram Vasudevan (Cognate Member)

Presentation Info:
March 18, 2020
10:00 AM
1044 FXB (McDivitt Conference Room)

The past twenty years have seen rapid improvements in the performance of small unmanned aerial vehicles as well as the continued miniaturization of low-cost sensors. The intersection of these technologies has given rise to a renaissance of control and decision-making developments geared towards mobile wireless sensor networks (MWSNs). One such development, dynamic coverage control, enables MWSNs to rapidly explore and gather information from uncertain environments. This defense will overview contributions to dynamic coverage in environments containing information decay, stochastic intruders, and power-constrained vehicles.

The extension of coverage to collaborative networks of humans and aerial/space robots shall also be presented. The author considers a human wearing an augmented reality (AR) device while completing multiple interdependent tasks that are time-sensitive and spatially separated. The problem of coverage is here coupled to that of human intent inference. An aerial robot shares the environment and uses machine learning in order to determine both the locations of tasks as well as their temporal context. This enables the streaming of real time task images that are beyond the human’s field of view to their AR display. In such a way, the human can instantaneously cover a greater volume of the environment than is naturally possible.

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Presentation Fri, 06 Mar 2020 15:00:19 -0500 2020-03-18T10:00:00-04:00 Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Building Aerospace Engineering Presentation Supporting Picture
Defense Dissertation: Variational and Time-Distributed Methods for Real-time Model Predictive Control (March 19, 2020 10:00am) https://events.umich.edu/event/73664 73664-18278623@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, March 19, 2020 10:00am
Location: Lurie Robert H. Engin. Ctr
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Dominic Liao-McPherson

Committee:
Prof. Ilya Kolmanovsky (Chair)
Prof. Jing Sun (Cognate)
Prof. Alex Gorodetsky
Dr. Ken Butts (External, Toyota)

Time/location:
March 19th 2020, 10:00 AM
GM Conference Room, Lurie Engineering Center (4th floor)

Autonomous systems are beginning to impact many aspects of society, e.g., drones are becoming commonplace and self-driving cars are being developed on an industrial scale. These systems need to make complex decisions onboard; mathematical optimization is a powerful paradigm for approaching these problems. In particular, Model Predictive Control (MPC), a powerful optimization-based methodology for controlling constrained systems, is an important enabler for autonomy. However, solving optimization problems reliably, in real-time, using limited onboard computing resources, is a difficult undertaking.

This dissertation addresses the development, implementation, and validation of several numerical methods for solving optimal control problems (OCPs) in real-time. First, I present FBstab, a novel quadratic programming algorithm with strong robustness properties that is easy to warmstart and can exploit the structure of optimal control problems. Second, I introduce Time-distributed Optimization (TDO), a unifying framework for studying the system theoretic consequences of computation limits, which I use to show that, in some situations, it is possible to recover the stability and robustness properties of optimal MPC despite limited resources. Finally, I illustrate the applicability of these methods in the real-world through a diesel engine control example.

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Presentation Fri, 06 Mar 2020 14:53:33 -0500 2020-03-19T10:00:00-04:00 Lurie Robert H. Engin. Ctr Aerospace Engineering Presentation Dominic Liao-McPherson
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: We Care Office Hours w/ DEI Director (March 19, 2020 10:30am) https://events.umich.edu/event/73525 73525-18252293@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, March 19, 2020 10:30am
Location: Duderstadt Center
Organized By: Center for Engineering Diversity and Outreach (CEDO)

The Colleg of Engineering and DEI Director, Prof. Sara Pozzi, are pleased to offer DEI We Care Office Hours for students, faculty, and staff to voice their concerns about what's on their minds.

For questions or comments, please email wecareCOE@umich.edu

For more information about the diversity efforts at the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan, please visit www.engin.umich.edu/about/diversity

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Other Tue, 03 Mar 2020 16:51:52 -0500 2020-03-19T10:30:00-04:00 2020-03-19T12:00:00-04:00 Duderstadt Center Center for Engineering Diversity and Outreach (CEDO) Other DEI We Care
Chair's Distinguished Lecture: Advanced Manufacturing of Aerospace Composite Structures: Predicting Influence of Imperfections on Composite Material Performance. (March 19, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/73872 73872-18375551@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, March 19, 2020 4:00pm
Location:
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Paul Davidson
Assistant Research Scientist
Aerospace Engineering
University of Michigan

A review of future ideas for commercial aviation points towards four kinds of aircraft designs: high aspect ratio wing (HARW), blended body, Urban Air Mobility (UAM), and supersonic vehicles. From a structural perspective, these aircraft designs necessitate the use of advanced composites and manufacturing methods. Robotic systems like Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) technology for laying down composite material, offers one such manufacturing method, to address the future aviation needs. Even with advancements made in AFP technology, there are issues still plaguing composite manufacturing, namely imperfections. Imperfections refer to deviation from design intent and have ramifications on the performance of the structure. The identification of imperfections and subsequent rework/reject decision consumes about 20% of the total production time and is inconsistent. These inconsistencies in inspection and manufacturing are indirectly accounted for in a design, by increasing safety factors, thereby increasing the weight and cost of a structure.
In this talk, an overview of the challenges posed in the manufacturing of composite structures, as well as a framework to study the effect of manufacturing imperfections on material performance, will be presented. An experimental-computational framework that utilizes a small number of controlled defect coupon tests to develop a validated high-fidelity finite element model will be described. The framework utilizes Kriging regression, Support Vector Classification, and analysis using the Monte Carlo method to determine the risk of defects on the composites. To conclude, I will outline current research problems and opportunities for cross-collaboration between researchers in the areas of structures, materials, NDI, robotics, and data sciences.

About the speaker...

Dr. Davidson is an Assistant Research Scientist in Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He received his MS and PhD degrees from the University of Michigan. From May 2016 to August 2018 he was a Post Doctoral Research Associate in the Composite Structures Lab of the Aero& Astro Department at the University of Washington, Seattle. From May 2013 to October 2015 he worked in the Composite Design and Analysis Lab of General Electric’s Global Research Center. He is also a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Materials Technical Committee, and the vice-chair of Durability and Damage Tolerance (DaDT) Division of American Society of Composites (ASC). His primary research interests include composite mechanics, specifically on the damage, failure and fatigue of composite materials, advanced manufacturing methods, multi-scale analysis, low velocity and high velocity impact damage, and micro-mechanics.

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Lecture / Discussion Tue, 17 Mar 2020 17:50:24 -0400 2020-03-19T16:00:00-04:00 2020-03-19T17:15:00-04:00 Aerospace Engineering Lecture / Discussion Paul Davidson
Aerospace Day at Michigan Aerospace Engineering (April 4, 2020 10:00am) https://events.umich.edu/event/57328 57328-18018169@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Saturday, April 4, 2020 10:00am
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

We regret to inform you that the April 4th Aerospace Day has been cancelled for the safety of our local and student communities. Please visit the Aerospace Engineering website for the next Aerospace Day event in the fall of 2020.

Form more information regarding events on campus, please go to: https://umich.edu/announcements/

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Fair / Festival Thu, 12 Mar 2020 09:36:49 -0400 2020-04-04T10:00:00-04:00 2020-04-04T16:30:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Fair / Festival
Agility Prime, Take Flight - A Flying Car Expo powered by the USAF (Virtual Event) (April 27, 2020 8:00am) https://events.umich.edu/event/74441 74441-18720532@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Monday, April 27, 2020 8:00am
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

The United States Air Force , Dr. Will Roper and the Mobility Directorate are excited to announce that the Agility Prime kick-off, originally scheduled for SXSW but amidst the COVID-19 crisis will be taking place virtually the week of April 27. This is a great opportunity to pursue innovation in an exciting new field from the relative safety of our homes,- “now is the perfect time to make Jetson’s cars real.” - Dr. Will Roper.

The objective of the virtual event is to reinforce the Air Force commitment to partnering with industry, investors, and the interagency to help ensure there is a robust domestic capability in this new aerospace sector. Besides the keynote, there will be live virtual panels for manufacturers to showcase their capabilities alongside investors and academia. The government will also provide briefings and live moderated question and answer sessions to describe the contracting, testing, airworthiness, and import/export processes.

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Conference / Symposium Tue, 28 Apr 2020 09:59:19 -0400 2020-04-27T08:00:00-04:00 2020-04-27T17:00:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Conference / Symposium
Agility Prime, Take Flight - A Flying Car Expo powered by the USAF (Virtual Event) (April 28, 2020 8:00am) https://events.umich.edu/event/74441 74441-18720533@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Tuesday, April 28, 2020 8:00am
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

The United States Air Force , Dr. Will Roper and the Mobility Directorate are excited to announce that the Agility Prime kick-off, originally scheduled for SXSW but amidst the COVID-19 crisis will be taking place virtually the week of April 27. This is a great opportunity to pursue innovation in an exciting new field from the relative safety of our homes,- “now is the perfect time to make Jetson’s cars real.” - Dr. Will Roper.

The objective of the virtual event is to reinforce the Air Force commitment to partnering with industry, investors, and the interagency to help ensure there is a robust domestic capability in this new aerospace sector. Besides the keynote, there will be live virtual panels for manufacturers to showcase their capabilities alongside investors and academia. The government will also provide briefings and live moderated question and answer sessions to describe the contracting, testing, airworthiness, and import/export processes.

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Conference / Symposium Tue, 28 Apr 2020 09:59:19 -0400 2020-04-28T08:00:00-04:00 2020-04-28T17:00:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Conference / Symposium
Agility Prime, Take Flight - A Flying Car Expo powered by the USAF (Virtual Event) (April 29, 2020 8:00am) https://events.umich.edu/event/74441 74441-18720534@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Wednesday, April 29, 2020 8:00am
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

The United States Air Force , Dr. Will Roper and the Mobility Directorate are excited to announce that the Agility Prime kick-off, originally scheduled for SXSW but amidst the COVID-19 crisis will be taking place virtually the week of April 27. This is a great opportunity to pursue innovation in an exciting new field from the relative safety of our homes,- “now is the perfect time to make Jetson’s cars real.” - Dr. Will Roper.

The objective of the virtual event is to reinforce the Air Force commitment to partnering with industry, investors, and the interagency to help ensure there is a robust domestic capability in this new aerospace sector. Besides the keynote, there will be live virtual panels for manufacturers to showcase their capabilities alongside investors and academia. The government will also provide briefings and live moderated question and answer sessions to describe the contracting, testing, airworthiness, and import/export processes.

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Conference / Symposium Tue, 28 Apr 2020 09:59:19 -0400 2020-04-29T08:00:00-04:00 2020-04-29T17:00:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Conference / Symposium
Agility Prime, Take Flight - A Flying Car Expo powered by the USAF (Virtual Event) (April 30, 2020 8:00am) https://events.umich.edu/event/74441 74441-18720535@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, April 30, 2020 8:00am
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

The United States Air Force , Dr. Will Roper and the Mobility Directorate are excited to announce that the Agility Prime kick-off, originally scheduled for SXSW but amidst the COVID-19 crisis will be taking place virtually the week of April 27. This is a great opportunity to pursue innovation in an exciting new field from the relative safety of our homes,- “now is the perfect time to make Jetson’s cars real.” - Dr. Will Roper.

The objective of the virtual event is to reinforce the Air Force commitment to partnering with industry, investors, and the interagency to help ensure there is a robust domestic capability in this new aerospace sector. Besides the keynote, there will be live virtual panels for manufacturers to showcase their capabilities alongside investors and academia. The government will also provide briefings and live moderated question and answer sessions to describe the contracting, testing, airworthiness, and import/export processes.

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Conference / Symposium Tue, 28 Apr 2020 09:59:19 -0400 2020-04-30T08:00:00-04:00 2020-04-30T17:00:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Conference / Symposium
Agility Prime, Take Flight - A Flying Car Expo powered by the USAF (Virtual Event) (May 1, 2020 8:00am) https://events.umich.edu/event/74441 74441-18720536@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, May 1, 2020 8:00am
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

The United States Air Force , Dr. Will Roper and the Mobility Directorate are excited to announce that the Agility Prime kick-off, originally scheduled for SXSW but amidst the COVID-19 crisis will be taking place virtually the week of April 27. This is a great opportunity to pursue innovation in an exciting new field from the relative safety of our homes,- “now is the perfect time to make Jetson’s cars real.” - Dr. Will Roper.

The objective of the virtual event is to reinforce the Air Force commitment to partnering with industry, investors, and the interagency to help ensure there is a robust domestic capability in this new aerospace sector. Besides the keynote, there will be live virtual panels for manufacturers to showcase their capabilities alongside investors and academia. The government will also provide briefings and live moderated question and answer sessions to describe the contracting, testing, airworthiness, and import/export processes.

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Conference / Symposium Tue, 28 Apr 2020 09:59:19 -0400 2020-05-01T08:00:00-04:00 2020-05-01T17:00:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Conference / Symposium
Aerospace Engineering Welcome Week: [Day-One] Transfer Student Virtual Boot Camp (August 24, 2020 1:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/75756 75756-19598165@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Monday, August 24, 2020 1:00pm
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

The departmental preparatory boot camp and orientation will take place virtually on Monday and Wednesday of welcome week for new transfer students. The boot camp covers MATLAB, linear algebra, presentation skills, test preparation tips, and more. Transfer students are strongly encouraged to attend. Registration is required.

Audience: New Undergraduate Transfer Students
Contact: Kimberly Johnson, berlykim@umich.edu

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Other Wed, 19 Aug 2020 21:13:58 -0400 2020-08-24T13:00:00-04:00 2020-08-24T17:30:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Other
Aerospace Engineering Welcome Week: [Day-Two] Transfer Student Virtual Boot Camp (August 26, 2020 1:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/75758 75758-19600125@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Wednesday, August 26, 2020 1:00pm
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Aerospace Engineering Welcome Week: [Day-Two] Transfer Student Virtual Boot Camp
The departmental preparatory boot camp and orientation will take place virtually on Monday and Wednesday of welcome week for new transfer students. The boot camp covers MATLAB, linear algebra, presentation skills, test preparation tips, and more. Transfer students are strongly encouraged to attend. Registration is required!

Audience: New Undergraduate Transfer Students
Contact: Kimberly Johnson, berlykim@umich.edu

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Other Wed, 19 Aug 2020 21:13:33 -0400 2020-08-26T13:00:00-04:00 2020-08-26T14:30:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Other
Aerospace Engineering Welcome Week: Undergrad Student Meet & Greet (August 26, 2020 3:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/75853 75853-19615919@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Wednesday, August 26, 2020 3:00pm
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Join us for the Fall 2020 Undergrad Meet and Greet! During this virtual event students will meet our Department Chair, Dr. Tony Waas and Undergraduate Faculty Advisor, Prof. Luis Bernal. You will also hear directly from WAA, SGT, MASA, and Aerospace Engineering's new Students of Color committee members. Learn what these student groups are all about and how you can get involved.

Registration is not required, but you may submit a question to our faculty or student reps at the link below.

Questions: https://rb.gy/z8u5zk

See you there!

Audience: Undeclared CoE and Aerospace Engineering Undergraduate Students
Contact: Israa Ali (Undergrad DEI Committee Chair), aliim@umich.edu

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Reception / Open House Thu, 20 Aug 2020 08:02:25 -0400 2020-08-26T15:00:00-04:00 2020-08-26T16:30:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Reception / Open House
Aerospace Engineering Welcome Week: Virtual Outreach Information Session (August 27, 2020 1:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/75827 75827-19613921@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, August 27, 2020 1:00pm
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

The department is hosting an informative virtual outreach meeting with outreach student leaders and members. The meeting includes a special presentation from UM Risk Management’s Children on Campus Program Coordinator, Denne Lawton, who will share UM's new outreach policies as it relates to COVID-19 followed by a Q&A. The department will also share new outreach initiatives and opportunities for 2020/21.

Audience: Student leaders actively involved in outreach
Contact: Kimberly Johnson, berlykim@umich.edu

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Reception / Open House Wed, 19 Aug 2020 10:42:48 -0400 2020-08-27T13:00:00-04:00 2020-08-27T14:30:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Reception / Open House
Aerospace Engineering Welcome Week: New Graduate Student Orientation (August 28, 2020 8:30am) https://events.umich.edu/event/75752 75752-19598153@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, August 28, 2020 8:30am
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

The departmental graduate orientation is a virtual event with presentations by faculty and staff from the department, and opportunities for questions.

Audience: New Graduate Students
Contact: Prof. Chris Fidkowski, aero-prospective@umich.edu

Session 1: 8:30 - 10:00am
Overview and MSE Description - Incoming Masters and PhD Students
Zoom Meeting Link: https://umich.zoom.us/j/96638469525

Agenda
- Welcome
- Facilities + Safety
- IT
- Financial Services
- MSE Overview

Session 2: 9:20 - 10:00am
PhD Description - Incoming PhD Students
Zoom Meeting Link: https://umich.zoom.us/j/94160504187

Agenda
- PhD Overview

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Reception / Open House Wed, 26 Aug 2020 22:58:57 -0400 2020-08-28T08:30:00-04:00 2020-08-28T10:00:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Reception / Open House
Aerospace Engineering Welcome Week: Virtual Game Night organized by GSAC (August 28, 2020 7:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/75751 75751-19598148@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, August 28, 2020 7:00pm
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

The aerospace graduate student advisory committee (GSAC) is hosting a virtual game night to kick off the Fall semester and welcome incoming graduate students! The event will be held over Zoom (https://umich.zoom.us/j/91832507573) and is open to all grad students in the department. Join us for a night of team trivia and other activities starting at 7 pm EDT on Friday, August 28.

Contact: Ryan Patterson, rppat@umich.edu

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Reception / Open House Fri, 21 Aug 2020 09:14:17 -0400 2020-08-28T19:00:00-04:00 2020-08-28T20:30:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Reception / Open House
Chair's Distinguished Lecture: What Can the Aerospace Field Do About Its Diversity Problem? (September 3, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/76153 76153-19669623@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, September 3, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Ken Powell
Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and DEI Faculty Liaison
Aerospace Engineering, UM

The other talks this semester will be based on research in Aerospace Sciences and Engineering. This talk is based on research in the Social Sciences - particularly Psychology, Sociology, Economics - and how it applies to education and careers in aerospace engineering.

For the past five years, I have been part of a group of Michigan professors who read this social science literature, and meet to discuss its implications on academic careers - teaching, research, service and hiring of faculty. We also give talks about why and how to improve diversity in faculty hiring to faculty throughout the university, department chairs and deans, and faculty at other universities.

In this talk, I will present some classical and recent social science research about issues that affect our ability to hire and retain a diverse and excellent faculty, particularly in STEM fields, and especially in aerospace engineering. Topics will include implicit bias, stereotype threat, accumulation of disadvantage, and some of the steps we are taking as a university to improve the composition of the faculty. I will also present data about the demographics of the aerospace field, and give you some strategies for being a part of the much-needed solution to Aerospace's diversity challenges.

About the speaker...

Professor Powell is a member and past director of the W. M. Keck Foundation Computational Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, and a co-founder and co-director of the Center for Space Environment Modeling and the the Center for Radiative Shock Hydrodynamics. At the undergraduate level, he teaches freshman computing, compressible flow, aerodynamics and aircraft design; at the graduate level, he teaches aerodynamics and computational fluid dynamics. His research interests include: algorithm development for fluid dynamics, aerodynamics and plasmadynamics; and the application of computational methods to problems in aerodynamics, aeroelasticity, fluid dynamics and space environment/space weather. His articles appear in Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Journal of Computational Physics, and Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, among others. He is also a co-author of Multi-Media Fluid Mechanics. He has received a number of awards for his research, including a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, and a number of awards for his teaching, including the Arthur F. Thurnau Professorship. He is married to Susanne Maria Krummel; they have three children: Jasmine, Ryan and Nicole.

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Class / Instruction Tue, 01 Sep 2020 14:36:17 -0400 2020-09-03T16:00:00-04:00 2020-09-03T17:15:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Class / Instruction Kenneth Powell
Chair's Distinguished Lecture: Safe and Adversarially-Robust Multi-Agent Systems (September 10, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/76151 76151-19669621@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, September 10, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Dimitra Panagou
Associate Professor
Aerospace Engineering
University of Michigan

Planning, navigation and control for multi-agent systems have been fundamental topics of research with numerous applications in unmanned aerial vehicles and robotic networks. Despite significant progress over the years, there are still open challenges due to constraints (in terms of state and time specifications), adversarial or faulty information, environmental uncertainty and scalability. This talk will present some of our recent results and ongoing work on safe and adversarially-robust multi-robot systems. The proposed framework provides provably-correct and computationally-efficient solutions on the mission synthesis of multi-agent systems in the presence of adversarial attacks and spatiotemporal constraints.

About the speaker...

Dimitra Panagou received the Diploma and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, in 2006 and 2012, respectively. Since September 2014 she has been a faculty member with the Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan. Prior to joining the University of Michigan, she was a postdoctoral research associate with the Coordinated Science Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (2012-2014), a visiting research scholar with the GRASP Lab, University of Pennsylvania (June 2013, fall 2010) and a visiting research scholar with the University of Delaware, Mechanical Engineering Department (spring 2009).
Dr. Panagou's research program spans the areas of nonlinear systems and control; multi-agent systems and networks; motion and path planning; human-robot interaction; navigation, guidance, and control of aerospace vehicles. She is particularly interested in the development of provably-correct methods for the safe and secure (resilient) operation of autonomous systems in complex missions, with applications in robot/sensor networks and multi-vehicle systems (ground, marine, aerial, space). Dr. Panagou is a recipient of the NASA Early Career Faculty Award, the AFOSR Young Investigator Award, the NSF CAREER Award, and a Senior Member of the IEEE and the AIAA.

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Class / Instruction Tue, 01 Sep 2020 14:54:48 -0400 2020-09-10T16:00:00-04:00 2020-09-10T17:15:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Class / Instruction Dimitra Panagou
AE285 Engineering Seminar: COVID-19: How the Aerospace Ecosystem Went Into Hybernation Mode (September 11, 2020 1:30pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/76515 76515-19719175@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, September 11, 2020 1:30pm
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Mike Stengel
Senior Associate
AeroDynamic Advisory

The aerospace industry is no strangers to crises, be it economic downturns, oil price shocks, geopolitical events, or acts of terrorism. The industry has also faced outbreaks of disease as well, but COVID-19 has posed the most challenging circumstances in the entire history of the business. How did the industry respond in the wake of growing cases? How have airlines shifted into “survival mode” and what measures have they taken? How long is this hibernation period sustainable? What are the impacts on suppliers to airlines, like manufacturers and maintenance providers? What’s the outlook for the recovery, and what could the industry potentially look like on the other side? What does this mean for students looking to enter aerospace? What opportunities will arise, and which avenues will become more difficult? In this seminar, AeroDynamic Advisory Senior Associate Mike Stengel will outline the series of events that have characterized the COVID-19 outbreak, and the outlook for the aerospace industry.


About the speaker...

Mike Stengel is a Senior Associate at AeroDynamic Advisory and self-proclaimed aerospace industry geek. Over his consulting career, Mike has gained experience in over 50 client engagements focusing on strategy, market analysis, M&A/due diligence, technology, and customer satisfaction. Key clients that Mike has worked with have included aerospace manufacturers, airlines, maintenance providers, investors, and government agencies. Mike graduated from the University of Michigan with a BS in Aerospace Engineering, and is an FAA-licensed commercial pilot.

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Class / Instruction Tue, 01 Sep 2020 16:21:15 -0400 2020-09-11T13:30:00-04:00 2020-09-11T15:00:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Class / Instruction Mike Stengel
Chair's Distinguished Lecture: Verified Artificial Intelligence and Autonomy (September 17, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/77087 77087-19796482@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, September 17, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Sanjit A. Seshia
Professor
Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (EECS)
UC Berkeley

Verified artificial intelligence (AI) is the goal of designing AI-based systems that have strong, verified assurances of correctness with respect to mathematically-specified requirements. This goal is particularly important for autonomous and semi-autonomous systems. In this talk, I will consider Verified AI from a formal methods perspective and with a special focus on autonomy. I will describe the challenges for and recent progress towards attaining Verified AI, with examples from the domain of intelligent cyber-physical systems, with a particular focus on autonomous vehicles and aerospace systems.

About the speaker...

Sanjit A. Seshia is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. He received an M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University, and a B.Tech. in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. His research interests are in formal methods for dependable and secure computing, with a current focus on the areas of cyber-physical systems, computer security, machine learning, and robotics. He has made pioneering contributions to the areas of satisfiability modulo theories (SMT), SMT-based verification, and inductive program synthesis. He is co-author of a widely-used textbook on embedded, cyber-physical systems and has led the development of technologies for cyber-physical systems education based on formal methods. His awards and honors include a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, the Frederick Emmons Terman Award for contributions to electrical engineering and computer science education, the Donald O. Pederson Best Paper Award for the IEEE Transactions on CAD, and the IEEE Technical Committee on Cyber-Physical Systems (TCCPS) Mid-Career Award. He is a Fellow of the IEEE.

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Class / Instruction Fri, 11 Sep 2020 09:23:20 -0400 2020-09-17T16:00:00-04:00 2020-09-17T17:30:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Class / Instruction Sanjit Seshia
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Info Session, Hosted by TBP (September 17, 2020 6:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/76510 76510-19719169@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, September 17, 2020 6:00pm
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Tau Beta Pi

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory—we call it JPL, or simply the Lab—is a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) for robotic space and Earth science missions. It is a unique national research facility in Pasadena, CA managed for NASA by Caltech.

Join us for an in-depth look at what JPL has to offer in career opportunities. Learn more about the company, culture, projects, and career trajectory of our employees. Technical representatives from Engineering, Science, and Research will be sharing about their experiences. Q&A and Trivia with prizes as well.

New ideas are all around us, but only a few will change the world. That's our focus at JPL. We ask the biggest questions, then search the universe for answers--literally. You could be working on the next mission to Mars, Europa, and beyond. We hire the best and brightest minds to power our world-leading innovation, solving technical and scientific problems of national significance.

Positions Recruiting: Full-time, Intern, Co-op
Degrees Recruiting: Bachelor’s, Master’s, Ph.D.
Majors Recruiting: Aerospace Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Data Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
Citizenship Requirements: U.S. Citizenship or Permanent Resident
Collecting Resumes: Yes

Register Here: https://jpl.recsolu.com/external/events/M8v6LaUKWLvhDWCb318l5A
A Zoom link will be emailed to you upon registration.

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Careers / Jobs Tue, 01 Sep 2020 19:39:51 -0400 2020-09-17T18:00:00-04:00 2020-09-17T19:00:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Tau Beta Pi Careers / Jobs Image of Mars Rover, with text "University Recruiting - Virtual Jet Propulsion Laboratory Information Session. September 17 | 6:00pm EST"
Fall 2020 - AE285 Seminar Series, Architecting a System for Human Spaceflight, Rob Meyerson, Delalune Space (September 18, 2020 1:30pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/76906 76906-19774606@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, September 18, 2020 1:30pm
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Rob Meyerson
Founder and CEO
Delalune Space

Rob Meyerson, the former president of Blue Origin, will present "Architecting a System for Human Spaceflight." The pros and cons of the Space Shuttle system will be discussed, along with a review of the Blue Origin New Shepard suborbital space system. Booster propulsion, escape systems, and human factors will be considered in the discussion.


About the speaker...

Rob Meyerson is the founder and CEO of Delalune Space, a management consulting company focused on the aerospace, mobility, technology and investment sectors. Rob is the former President of Blue Origin.

Rob oversaw the steady growth of Blue Origin from 2003 to 2018, building the company from its founding into a more than 1500-person organization. Under Rob’s leadership, Blue Origin developed the New Shepard system for suborbital human and research flights, the BE-3 LOX/LH2 rocket engine, the BE-4 LOX/LNG rocket engine, the New Glenn launch vehicle and the company vision for humanity in space; including the Blue Moon lunar lander, human spacecraft, habitats and in-space tugs. During this time, Rob oversaw Blue’s growth in staff (10 to 1500+), budget ($10M to $1B), revenue (zero to confidential) and facilities (one location to six, 50K to 1M+ sq ft).

Prior to joining Blue, Rob was a Senior Program Manager at Kistler Aerospace, where he was a member of the leadership team developing a two-stage reusable launch vehicle. Rob began his career as an aerodynamicist at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC).

Rob earned a B.S. degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of Houston. He is an AIAA Fellow, a Trustee at the Museum of Flight, and a member of the University of Michigan College of Engineering Leadership Advisory Board. Rob was awarded the Space Flight Award by the American Astronautical Society in 2017 for his accomplishments at Blue Origin.

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Class / Instruction Tue, 08 Sep 2020 16:31:32 -0400 2020-09-18T13:30:00-04:00 2020-09-18T15:00:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Class / Instruction Rob Meyerson
Chair's Distinguished Lecture: Simulation and Modeling of High-Speed Disperse Two-Phase Flows (September 24, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/76157 76157-19669628@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, September 24, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Jesse Capecelatro
Assistant Professor
Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering
University of Michigan

Disperse two-phase flows are composed of liquid droplets or solid particles suspended in a carrier fluid. Examples of such flows are numerous within engineering and science. While the past several decades have seen significant progress in developing predictive modeling capabilities, largely due to the advent of high-performance computing, the majority of these efforts have focused on dilute suspensions of particles under low-speed (incompressible) conditions. This talk will focus on recent progress towards understanding and predicting particle-laden flows in more extreme environments, in which gas-phase compressibility and back-coupling from particles to the fluid have an order-one effect. Some relevant examples include solid propellant combustion, coal dust explosions, volcanic eruptions, and the fluidization of regolith from a rocket exhaust plume during planetary/lunar landing. The latter example acts as the primary motivation of this talk. We will examine the fundamental processes of turbulent particle-laden flows, including state-of-the-art phenomenology from experimental observations, existing theories, and simulation techniques. New numerical methods uniquely designed to address this class of flows will be presented, in addition to high-resolution simulations that allow us to probe turbulence and Mach number effects at the sub-particle scale and at scales that encompass millions of particles.

About the speaker...

Jesse Capecelatro is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan. His research group develops numerical methods and data-driven approaches for the prediction and optimization of “messy turbulent flows” relevant to energy and the environment (often multiphase and reacting). Prior to joining Michigan in 2016, Dr. Capecelatro was a research scientist at the Center for Exascale Simulation of Plasma-coupled Combustion (XPACC) at the University of Illinois. He received a B.S. from SUNY Binghamton in 2009, a M.S. from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2011, and a Ph.D. from Cornell in 2014. He is a recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, and the ASME Pi Tau Sigma Gold Medal Award.

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Class / Instruction Tue, 01 Sep 2020 14:52:26 -0400 2020-09-24T16:00:00-04:00 2020-09-24T17:15:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Class / Instruction Jesse Capecelatro
Fall 2020 - AE285 Seminar Series, Stealth…An Airplane Design Challenge, Grant Carichner, California Polytechnic State University (September 25, 2020 1:30pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/77556 77556-19885801@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, September 25, 2020 1:30pm
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Grant Carichner
Adjunct Professor
California Polytechnic State University

In any combat scenario it is advantageous to be invisible or nearly invisible to your adversary (recall Desert Storm/bombing of Baghdad in 1991). In any situation it is very important to limit your opponent’s ability to harm you. More than 50 years ago initial stealth efforts focused on incorporating materials into an airplane’s design to reduce radar signatures. This proved to be a difficult and elusive goal. Today ‘stealth’ is designed into virtually every military vehicle.

This seminar will review the history of early stealth efforts and conclude with where the state-of-the-art is today. Air vehicles will be the main focus but it will also become clear that stealth is being added to the designs of land and sea vehicles as well. In this discussion reducing the ‘signature’ of an air vehicle to radar will be the primary focus. However, it should be recognized that IR (infrared), audible, and visual signatures can also be very important. They will be introduced with little discussion. Ultimately, the goal is to have a vehicle survive and be able to fly tomorrow’s missions or successfully penetrate enemy positions to destroy its target. Stealth is a major component of survivability but it is not the only one. What was the first stealth airplane? You may be surprised to learn the answer.


About the speaker...

Mr. Carichner went to work for the Lockheed Skunk Works after earning his BS Engr and MS Engr degrees from UCLA. He retired in 2013 after 48 years at the Skunk Works where he worked on most of the company’s high-profile programs. During his career he started out as an aerodynamicist and eventually became Head of Aerodynamics for the Skunk Works. Future program assignments were either Chief Engineer or Program Manager positions. As Chief Engineer for the JASSM Program he was selected as Lockheed’s Inventor of the Year.

The last 15 years of his career were dedicated to lighter-than-air designs. He created the Aerocraft Program whose design resulted in a hybrid airship demonstrator that had many airplane flight characteristics that has changed the course of future airship design.

Currently, Mr. Carichner teaches Airplane Design at Cal Poly Pomona
Mr. Carichner has written two textbooks. One on airplane design and another on airship design. Both books are published by the AIAA.

Fundamentals of Aircraft and Airship Design: Volume I - Aircraft Design
Fundamentals of Aircraft and Airship Design: Volume II - Airship Design and Case Studies

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Class / Instruction Tue, 22 Sep 2020 12:27:45 -0400 2020-09-25T13:30:00-04:00 2020-09-25T15:00:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Class / Instruction Grant Carichner
Black Students in Aerospace [BSA] Movie Event (September 29, 2020 5:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/77826 77826-19941591@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Tuesday, September 29, 2020 5:00pm
Location:
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

The Black Students in Aerospace (BSA), a new student organization within the Department of Aerospace engineering, would like to invite you to attend our upcoming movie night event.

Over the course of this summer, there has been a resurgence of support, activism, and protests for Black Lives Matter and other human rights issues that have cast a spotlight on the systemic racism present in society. Our organization felt it was important to tie these issues back to the department in order to continue the discourse as well as to bring visibility to the ways their peers are affected.

Because of this, we decided to host a viewing of the documentary I Am Not Your Negro by James Baldwin. The movie will be followed by a guided discussion with a panel of Black engineering students, alumni, and professors from U-M including Alec D. Gallimore, Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering. 

Friday October 2nd
Movie: 6:00pm - 7:30pm (Eastern Time)
Panel: 7:30pm - 8:30pm (Eastern Time)

Please RSVP at https://tinyurl.com/bsa-movie-night

***It is important to note that the film includes brief moments of graphic images, specifically images of lynchings and police brutality.

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Lecture / Discussion Wed, 30 Sep 2020 12:22:25 -0400 2020-09-29T17:00:00-04:00 2020-09-29T18:00:00-04:00 Aerospace Engineering Lecture / Discussion [BSA] Upcoming Movie Event Flyer
Chair's Distinguished Lecture:Enabling Human Operational Performance for Space Exploration (October 1, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/76160 76160-19669630@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, October 1, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Leia Stirling
Associate Professor
Industrial and Operations Engineering
Core Faculty in the Center for Ergonomics
Core Faculty in the Robotics Institute
University of Michigan

Space exploration provides challenges in developing system capabilities to leave Earth’s orbit. While there are many missions that have been performed without a crew, having humans present provides many benefits. Humans have flexibility in decision making, versatility with tool usage, more robust perception, and increased efficiency in mission tasks. However, there are challenges to supporting the human in a space environment, including developing space suits, tools, and appropriate mission plans. In this talk, we consider how spacesuit fit affects human performance and how wearable sensors can inform designing space suits, tools, and extravehicular activity task planning.

About the speaker...

Leia Stirling is an Associate Professor in Industrial and Operations Engineering at the University of Michigan, a Core Faculty in the Center for Ergonomics, and a Core Faculty in the Robotics Institute. Her research quantifies human performance and human-machine fluency to assess performance augmentation, advance exoskeleton control algorithms, mitigate injury risk, and provide relevant feedback to subject matter experts across domains. She received her B.S. (2003) and M.S. (2005) in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and her Ph.D. (2008) in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT. She was a postdoctoral researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School (2008-2009), on the Advanced Technology Team at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering (2009-2012), then an Assistant Professor at MIT (2013 – 2019). She joined the faculty at the University of Michigan in 2019.

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Class / Instruction Tue, 01 Sep 2020 14:53:59 -0400 2020-10-01T16:00:00-04:00 2020-10-01T17:15:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Class / Instruction Leia Stirling
Fall 2020 - AE285 Seminar Series, Startups and Innovation in the Aerospace Enterprise, Ben Marchionna, SkySpecs (October 2, 2020 1:30pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/78029 78029-19955555@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, October 2, 2020 1:30pm
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Ben Marchionna
VP of Global Operations
SkySpecs

Seminar Abstract:

In today’s world, tech startups are often held in high esteem as thriving innovation engines, whereas traditional companies sometimes struggle with getting new, revolutionary products to market quickly. What makes startups able to do this so efficiently? Do the same rules apply to aerospace startups, where the tolerance for risk is much lower?

Interestingly, many common themes can be traced between tech startup operating philosophies and those of the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, founded in the 1940s by Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson, a U-M Aero alum and one of the most famous aircraft designers in history. The Skunk Works achieved legendary status in the aerospace industry as an innovation factory through a unique set of operating principles, now known as “Kelly’s 14 Rules.”

This seminar will focus on the fundamentals of the innovation process, technology development principles, and best practices for “crossing the chasm,” drawing on numerous historical examples and startup stories. Are the “14 Rules” still relevant today? Have tech startups discovered a new secret sauce? How do you foster a culture where team members think vigorously outside the box to invent the impossible?

Bio:

Ben is currently the Vice President of Global Operations at SkySpecs, a venture-backed commercial drone startup in Ann Arbor, MI focused on at-scale autonomous robotics technologies in the wind energy industry. Since launching its autonomous drone inspection product in April 2017, SkySpecs has safely inspected over 150,000 wind turbine blades - both onshore and offshore - at more than 1,500 wind farms on 5 continents.

In his current role, Ben leads a team of 150+ pilots, engineers, technicians, analysts, and operations specialists around the world in the planning, execution, and global scaling of SkySpecs programs and products.

Prior to joining SkySpecs, Ben was a Senior Systems Engineer and graduate of the Engineering Leadership Development Program at the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale, CA. While at the Skunk Works, Ben worked on a variety of revolutionary autonomous aircraft projects from conceptual design through flight test. He graduated from the University of Michigan in April 2011 with a BSE in Aerospace Engineering and from the University of Southern California in December 2014 with an MS in Product Development Engineering.

Outside of work, Ben serves on the Industry Advisory Board of the University of Michigan's Department of Aerospace Engineering and as an appointee of Governor Gretchen Whitmer to the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Task Force for the State of Michigan. Ben was elected to the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics (AIAA) in 2015, making him the youngest Director in AIAA's 85-year history. He has also served as Vice President of the nonprofit Los Angeles County Air Show, Inc.

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Class / Instruction Thu, 01 Oct 2020 11:09:57 -0400 2020-10-02T13:30:00-04:00 2020-10-02T15:00:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Class / Instruction Ben Marchionna
Black Students in Aerospace [BSA] Movie Event (October 2, 2020 6:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/77826 77826-19933615@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, October 2, 2020 6:00pm
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

The Black Students in Aerospace (BSA), a new student organization within the Department of Aerospace engineering, would like to invite you to attend our upcoming movie night event.

Over the course of this summer, there has been a resurgence of support, activism, and protests for Black Lives Matter and other human rights issues that have cast a spotlight on the systemic racism present in society. Our organization felt it was important to tie these issues back to the department in order to continue the discourse as well as to bring visibility to the ways their peers are affected.

Because of this, we decided to host a viewing of the documentary I Am Not Your Negro by James Baldwin. The movie will be followed by a guided discussion with a panel of Black engineering students, alumni, and professors from U-M including Alec D. Gallimore, Robert J. Vlasic Dean of Engineering. 

Friday October 2nd
Movie: 6:00pm - 7:30pm (Eastern Time)
Panel: 7:30pm - 8:30pm (Eastern Time)

Please RSVP at https://tinyurl.com/bsa-movie-night

***It is important to note that the film includes brief moments of graphic images, specifically images of lynchings and police brutality.

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Lecture / Discussion Wed, 30 Sep 2020 12:22:25 -0400 2020-10-02T18:00:00-04:00 2020-10-02T20:30:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Lecture / Discussion [BSA] Upcoming Movie Event Flyer
Chair's Distinguished Lecture: A New Approach to Engineering for Safety and Cybersecurity (October 8, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/76298 76298-19681596@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, October 8, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Prof. Nancy Leveson
Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Aerospace and other systems are becoming increasingly complex and software-intensive. At the same time, human roles are changing along with the types of errors that the operators of these systems are making. These changes in engineering are leading to new causes of accidents. But the traditional approaches to safety engineering, created 50 to 70 years ago, are based on assumptions about system design that are no longer true. In this presentation I’ll suggest what is needed to prevent unnecessary losses, including a paradigm change in how we think about and deal with safety, i.e., basing system engineering on system theory (which is where it started a long time ago).

System theory provides the ability to overcome the deficiencies of traditional analytic reduction and to create new, more powerful approaches to the safety and security of today’s and tomorrow’s systems. Our new systems-theoretic approach to safety is being used successfully in just about every industry around the world and on the most complex systems humans have tried to create. It has been shown through both scientific evaluation and empirical use to be both more powerful and less expensive than the traditional approaches.

About the speaker...

Nancy Leveson is Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT. Prof. Leveson conducts research on all aspects of system safety including modeling and analysis, design, operations, management, and and human factors and the larger arena of system engineering. Her techniques are used in a wide variety of safety-critical industries including aerospace, transportation, chemical plants, nuclear power, medical devices, and many others. One particular common element throughout all her work is an emphasis on applying systems theory to complex systems. She has received many honors, most recently the 2020 IEEE Medal for Environmental and Safety Technologies. She was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2000.

Dr. Leveson is author of two books: Safeware: System Safety and Computers (1995) published by Addison-Wesley and Engineering a Safer World (2012) published by MIT Press. She consults extensively in many industries on the ways to prevent accidents and has served on numerous national and international committees and accident investigations including being an expert consultant for the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, the Presidential Commission on Deepwater Horizon, the Baker Panel on the Texas City explosion, and a Navy committee investigating one of the V-22 Osprey accidents as well as lesser-known accidents.

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Class / Instruction Tue, 01 Sep 2020 14:20:39 -0400 2020-10-08T16:00:00-04:00 2020-10-08T17:15:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Class / Instruction Nancy Leveson
Fall 2020 - AE285 Seminar Series, Impact of Engineering Ethics - Boeing 737 Max, George Halow, UM (October 9, 2020 1:30pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/78281 78281-20002862@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Friday, October 9, 2020 1:30pm
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

George Halow
Professor of Practice
Aerospace Engineering
University of Michigan

Among the most critical traits of effective leaders is ethics. Ethics are a fundamental requirement for leading people, engendering the trust and confidence of your customers, co-workers, and the community at large, and for delivering the best and most reliable products and services. Furthermore, they embody the “right things to do”. It has been said, “it takes years to build a reputation for strong ethics, and just one single lapse to risk destroying it for years to come.” This is especially true in business.

This seminar examines a high-profile breach in ethics – what happened, the immediate impacts, and the lasting legacies it left.

About the speaker...
George Halow is Professor of Practice in Aerospace Engineering, a position he has held since May 1, 2019.

Prior to this, George served 31 years at Ford Motor Company in multiple capacities, including Chief Program Engineer for multiple vehicle lines, including Expedition, Navigator, Ranger, Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis, and Town Car, where he had lead responsibility for both the business and technical elements of running a vehicle program, Chief Functional Engineer, responsible for product design for interior and exterior vehicle components and systems, globally, and many other positions in engineering, manufacturing, and busines strategy.

George’s educational background includes an MBA from INSEAD in France, a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University, and a Bachelor’s in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Maryland.

Throughout his career, George has been very active in support of universities – he was Ford’s Executive Champion for the University of Michigan Student Vehicle Teams, Ford’s representative on the Georgia Tech Ray C. Anderson Sustainability Executive Advisory Board, and gave lectures to students on Ethics & Integrity, Innovation, Leadership, Sustainability, and Career Building. He has published teaching materials on business ethics through the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan, marketed by both Michigan and Harvard, and used by over 30 universities worldwide.

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Class / Instruction Wed, 07 Oct 2020 10:50:10 -0400 2020-10-09T13:30:00-04:00 2020-10-09T15:00:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Class / Instruction George Halow
Chair's Distinguished Lecture: Formal Verification of Automobile and Aerospace Software Systems (October 15, 2020 4:00pm) https://events.umich.edu/event/77995 77995-19949625@events.umich.edu Event Begins: Thursday, October 15, 2020 4:00pm
Location: Off Campus Location
Organized By: Aerospace Engineering

Jean-Baptiste Jeannin
Assistant Professor
Aerospace Engineering
University of Michigan


Software is increasingly present in our transportation systems, from the cars we drive to work to the aircraft we (used to) fly across the country. One particular aspect of this software is that it is often safety-critical, meaning that a serious bug in the software could lead to damage to the vehicle or even loss of life. For this reason the most critical software – such as collision avoidance software – must be thoroughly verified and validated. Formal verification provides a computer-checked proof that the software satisfies a given property, thus providing the highest level of verification and validation. In this talk I will show some recent results of my group on formally verifying several algorithms from the automobile and aerospace industries. I will first present a formal verification of several maneuvers for car collision avoidance, including turning-only maneuvers and braking-while-swerving maneuvers. I will then show how to verify recent designs of aircraft collision avoidance systems that use neural networks, and how to better design them so they don't exhibit bugs. Finally, I will show how to bring formal verification to computational science, with a verification of the Lax theorem for finite difference schemes.

About the speaker...

Jean-Baptiste Jeannin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His research focuses on formal verification of cyber-physical systems and computational schemes, particularly applied to aerospace systems, as well as design and analysis of programming languages. Prior to Michigan, he was a Researcher at Samsung Research America and a Postdoctoral Fellow at Carnegie Mellon University, working with André Platzer. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Cornell University in 2013, where he was advised by Dexter Kozen.

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Class / Instruction Wed, 30 Sep 2020 16:14:15 -0400 2020-10-15T16:00:00-04:00 2020-10-15T17:15:00-04:00 Off Campus Location Aerospace Engineering Class / Instruction Jean-Baptiste Jeannin