News

Heather Kostak completed an internship this summer with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Her project centered on the AFOSR sponsored Boundary Layer Transition (BOLT) Flight Test Project. As part of the project, she worked on wind tunnel experiments at NASA Langley Research Center, Purdue University, and Texas A&M University. For more information see the APL Press Release.

Part of the team of APL staff members and interns working on BOLT, from left to right: Dennis Berridge (APL), Brad Wheaton (APL), Heather Kostak (Texas A&M), Greg McKiernan (Purdue University) and John Thome (University of Minnesota).

Credit: APL

PhD student Brianne McManamen and Ian Neel completed a 1-month study abroad at the University of Queensland in Brisbane Australia. They were hosted by Professor Richard Morgan to gain experience with hypervelocity wind tunnel testing. 

NAL PhD Candidates Ian Neel, Andrew Leidy, and Casey Broslawski have been selected for Pathway Internships at NASA Langley Research Center (https://www.nasa.gov/langley), which can lead to permanent employment.  

Secretary of the Air Force Dr. Heather Wilson, Major General Cooley, and Dr. Ivett Leyva (AFOSR) tour the National Aerothermochemistry and Hypersonics Laboratory as part of an Air Force 2030 initiative (https://afresearchlab.com).

 

 

 

R. Bowersox receives a 5-year DoD Vannever Bush Fellowship (2017) to perform fundamental research on turbulence transport in hypervelocity extreme non-equilibrium environments.

Imagine an aircraft structure that can change its shape in flight to reduce the sonic boom noise produced by supersonics airplanes — The NAL is part of a new (2017) 5-year NASA ULI team, led by the Aerospace Engineering Department at Texas A&M University, to meet this visionary objective. Boeing, Materials Science and Engineering, and other universities are also a part of this team.

Mr. Alex Pages, BS Aerospace, Adv. Bowersox, Position: Blue Orgin

Miss Shanae Smith, MEngr Aerospace, Adv. Bowersox

Heather Kostak, Aerospace MS Student: Intern USAF AEDC, Summer 2017

Ian Neel, Aerospace PhD Student: Intern NASA Langley RC, Fall 2017

Mr. Andrew Leidy, Aerospace PhD Student, Adv. Bowersox, Intern: NASA Langley Research, Spring 2017

2016

The ONR Sponsored Hypervelocity Expansion Tunnel Installation was Completed

The Texas A&M Large-Scale High-Enthalpy Hypervelocity was designed, constructed and installed during 2015-2016. The lead student Evan Marcotte is now employed at Blue Origin.

The NAL Blow-Down Hypersonic Wind Tunnels hit Run 3000.

The combination of the TAMU Mach 6 Quiet Tunnel and Actively Controlled Expansion Tunnel reached a milestone of 3000 runs. This corresponds to a cumulative stream tube that circumnavigates the world twice.

Congratulations and good luck to the 2016 Graduates

Mr. Evan Marcotte, MS Aerospace, Adv. Bowersox, Position: Blue Origin

Mr. Feng Pan, MS Chemistry, Adv. North, Position: Graduate School

Mr. Chris Russo, MS Aerospace, Adv. Bowersox, Position: Lockheed Martin

Mr. Gabe Aguliar, BS Aerospace, Adv. Bowersox, Position: SpaceX

Congratulations and good luck to the 2016 Summer Scholars

Miss Heather Kostak, Texas A&M University

Mr. Silverio Canchola, Texas A&M University

Mr. Krushi Patel, Ohio State University

Mr. Jay Patrikar, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur

Mr. Christian Sanchez, Texas A&M University

2015

The NAL Welcomes visiting scientist 

Dr. Sreekanth Raghunath from the University of Queensland visited the NAL in 2015

Congratulations and good luck to the 2015 Fall Graduates

Mr. Farhan Siddiqui, Texas A&M University

AFRL Completes Tests in Support of the HIFIRE 5 Flight Test

HIFIRE5 Model in ACE and in Flight – Paper Presented at the 2015 AIAA SciTech Meeting

Congratulations and good luck to the 2015 Summer Scholars

Mr. Gabe Aguliar, Texas A&M University

Miss Cassandra Jones, Arizona State University

Miss Madison McIlvoy, Texas A&M University

Mr. Alex Pages, Texas A&M University

Mr. Farhan Siddiqui, Texas A&M University

Mr. Vishal Srivastava, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur

Mr. Alfonso Vallejo, UT Brownsville

Miss Haley Worsham, Texas A&M University

Congratulations to the 2015 NAL grads:

Andrew Leidy, MEng, Advisory Bowersox, Position: PhD Student in the NAL

Alex Craig, PhD, Advisor Dr. Saric, Position: Assistant Professor, University of Arizona

2014

NAL Directors visit JAXA and Australia with the USAF

Drs. Bowersox and North, with the US AFOSR, visited the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency to discuss research collaborations.

Dr. Bowersox, with the US AFOSR, visited the University of Queensland and the University of New South Wales to discuss research collaborations.

I. Leyva, M. Panesi, K. Tani, R. Bowersox, S. North, I. Wysong, and K. Kobayashi

AFRL Completes HIFIRE 5 Tests in NAL Hypersonic Wind Tunnel 

Drs. Kimmel and Borg successfully tested HIFIRE5 at Mach 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0 in support of flight testes in the ACE Hypersonic Wind Tunnel.