|
|
 |
|
Research with Langley Professors |
|
NIA's Langley Professors each hold a teaching and research position at one of NIA's founding member universities. They work closely as an integrated team with researchers at NASA, NIA, and NIA's member universities to create a unique research and education institute. Langley Professors are in residence at NIA, where they teach graduate courses and advise and mentor graduate students. Each Langley Professor is leading a new multidisciplinary research initiative listed below and supports several NIA GRAs. If you are interested is any of those topics, please contact the faculty member directly for additional information. Contact information and biographies of the Langley Professors may be found on the faculty in residence page.
Please note that to take advantage of these opportunities you will need to become a student at the specific university associated with the Langley professor. You will also need to submit your application to NIA as described under the NIA GRA program.
Dr. Mool Gupta, University of Virginia Langley Professor, leads a program of research in nanotechnology for advanced sensors, actuators and microsystems. As particle size approaches nano dimensions all properties such as electronic, optical, magnetic, mechanical and thermal changes. Also, nanosize particles have very large surface areas for enhanced interactions for various applications. These novel properties of nanosize particles along with the development of methods for the fabrication of nanostructures, will allow unique opportunities for the development of new types of sensors. actuators and microsystems and improvement of existing components. The research program focus is to explore basic scientific and technological issues related to the nanotechnology applications for the development of advanced sensors, actuators and microsystems. For additional information, visit Dr. Gupta's website: http://www.faculty.virginia.edu/laser.
Dr. James Hubbard, Jr., University of Maryland Langley Professor, leads a major research program in designing morphing aircraft that are able to make radical changes in shape to accommodate a particular segment of a multitask mission, for example, changes in camber and wing sweep in going from a gliding segment into a diving segment. These aircraft are inspired by nature and the manner in which birds change the shape of their wings to accommodate various maneuvers. For additional information, visit Dr. Hubbard's website: http://research.nianet.org/morpheuslab/.
Dr. Kathryn V. Logan, Virginia Tech Langley Professor, leads a research program in multifunctional materials for aerospace applications. This emerging area in materials research offers many possibilities for lighter, stronger, and higher performance materials that will enable improved system performance with properties that are not only structural, but also allow the material to perform additional aspects of the system operation. For additional information, visit Dr. Logan's website: http://www.mse.vt.edu/people/faculty/Logan.html.
Dr. David Song, North Carolina A & T State University Langley Professor, leads a program in high confidence cooperative systems and innovative control systems. The research is expected to generate new paradigms and tools for the design of highly reliable and autonomous systems in many safety-critical applications, including medical devices, transportation, space exploration, and national security needs.
Dr. Robert Tolson, North Carolina State University Langley Professor, is continuing his research program in planetary flight sciences. Students will be involved in current planetary missions including Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Phoenix and Mars Science Laboratory. The program pursues research associated with planetary aeroassist technologies. To improve performance for future robotic and manned missions, he has initiated synergistic research between atmospheric scientists, who develop and improve planetary atmospheric models, and planetary entry researchers, who rely on atmospheric models to design entry flight systems and trajectories. Research activities are integrated with research of NASA’s atmospheric science, planetary entry, and sensor development groups, as well as faculty and students from NIA universities. Long-term foci include developing physics based uncertainty and risk analysis simulations of the NASA Exploration and Science missions that utilize atmospheric entry or other aeroassist approaches.
For additional information, visit Dr. Tolson's website: http://research.nianet.org/~rtolson.
Dr. Alan Wilhite, Georgia Institute of Technology Langley Professor, leads a research team in advanced aerospace systems architecture, directed towards the development of advanced collaborative engineering environments to design and analyze advanced spacecraft, launch vehicles, and commercial and military aircraft. Students will simulate the design and engineering decisions for NASA’s new Space Exploration Initiative with guidance from selected professors from NIA universities and NASA researchers. The first class of students was selected by NASA to present their research at NASA’s 1st Space Exploration Conference in Orlando.
|
|
|
Home